Mid-week Stuff

Doc Ed at Woodlawn Elementary practicing his table waiting skills for the first graders.

Doc counting down to the shows big finish or maybe waiting for someone to pull his finger.

The day started off with a three shows at Woodlawn Elementary for kindergarten, first and second graders. I've only been doing Doc Ed shows for the kindergarten- age kids since January though I've done the "entertainment for entertainment's sake" type show for them many times over the years.

In fact, my first experience performing in front of an audience was in fairytale plays for daycare groups. Those performances are some of the most memorable times on stage I've ever experienced. But doing an educational presentation about the aquifer and water conservation for an audience of four and five year old kids made me a little nervous.

What I've learned very quickly is that much of what works in a non-educational show also works for educational presentations. It should be high energy (at least in my case) for sure and the range of material covered has to be limited in scope and repetition of the material is helpful too. Plus I strongly believe that it has to have more than a dash of humor and audience participation to make it a solid educational/entertaining experience. Laughter bridges the chasm between the presenter and an audience of potentially fidgety little ones whose attention you must keep for at least thirty minutes. It all worked out fairly well for me today but I'll continue refining my presentation for a while.

The rest of my day was pretty easy. I sketched a bit at my new drawing table and love every minute of it. I'm still working out my next illustration for my portfolio but I think it's still going to be a scene from the Hobbit. After that I tackle Alice in Wonderland. I've already got a sketch started for that one. See ya'!