Fall 2021 Workshop Series - our first in-person semester
Throughout the course of our workshop series, we collect data and feedback from our students to see what they are taking away from our programs and how we can build better and more effective programming for them. The overwhelming consensus from our students is that they walked away from our workshops learning how to become better and more effective communicators; feel like they can better understand and express their emotions and the emotions of others; feel more confident in themselves and participating in class; and feel more comfortable around their peers and empathizing with different perspectives.
When asked what they enjoyed and found most valuable in the Unscripted workshops, students said that they thought it was cool to learn about expressing their emotions, and it helped them be more confident in themselves and their mistakes. They enjoyed stepping out of their daily routine, meeting new people, and making new friends. Most students enjoyed being creative and collaborating with their peers in creative pursuits.
“I really enjoyed how the various activities allowed for many of us to be ourselves and tap into this creative persona.”
When asked what they learned in the Unscripted workshops, students said they learned teamwork and that it is fun to work with others. They became less anxious among their peers and learned to be more open in sharing their opinions. They learned that it is good to be open-minded to new things. They learned how to cope with the unexpected.
“I’ve learned how to acknowledge and take creativity from mistakes and even though my ideas may seem crazy or uncommon to some, in the world of improv, anything is possible.”
One of the students’ favorite games was Dr. Know It All because not only was the game fun, but they felt like the games that they play in Unscripted relate to real life situations and they can use the skills they learned from the game in those situations. In this particular game, a small group of students pretend to be a multi-headed “Dr. Know It All”. The doctor knows the answer to every question in the universe, but they can only answer one word at a time, one head at a time. This game stresses the importance of confidence, because when students play confidently together, they can weave a story, which has internal consistency, even if it might be wrong from the outside. By supporting each group member’s choice, the students get to follow the story to a place they might never expect. Other favorite games included Fortunately, Unfortunately; Invention; One Sentence at a Time, and hosting their own show.
After completing the 10-week workshop series:
70% feel like they can better understand their emotions and the emotions of others
68% learned how to become a better communicator
75% feel more confident participating in class
86% feel more comfortable with their peers in the class
We can see this demonstrated in our students’ words:
I'm less quiet and talking to new people is a bit easier
I liked how inclusive the games were and how the lesson of the game translated over to real life situations
I learned that mistakes can become advantages
At Unscripted, our mission is to equip students with the toolkit for personal and professional success (skills like speaking confidently, collaborating effectively, and growing from mistakes) through the power of improvisational theater education. By this metric, we are proud of the progress we have made and excited to continue to grow into a larger, stronger program.