Power of Words
I spent a week in the fall of 2015 producing a number of creative literacy projects in Bert Ambrose, an elementary school located in Fort St John, B.C.
Be The Best You Can Be! – What an inspiring goal and a brilliant line for a chorus!
When I walked into the classroom I saw a poster the kids had written up at the beginning of the year as a social contract. The last line said, ‘So we can be the best we can be’ “What a great idea for a chorus!” I shrieked as I ran to grab my guitar. The rest (as they say) was history.
Then there was the Buddy Bench…a truly epic idea and a really energetic song!
The Buddy Bench is a specific bench on the playground at Bert Ambrose, and if someone is left out and has no one to play with, they can go sit on the bench. It’s the responsibility of the entire school to keep an eye on the bench, and if they see someone on it, to go and invite them to play.
I loved everything about the Buddy Bench as the kids described it to me, and it became the driving inspiration for our song!
The world needs more Buddy Benches!
Shine Bright – Possibly one of the sweetest songs I’ve ever written with little kids.
I walked into the room on Monday morning only knowing that the Grade 2&3 class wanted to write a song around the idea of shine on this little light of mine. The vast majority of the class put their hands up when I asked how many had written songs before…so I knew I was working with seasoned pros.
One little girl was wearing a sparkly, glittery shirt with the words, dream big, sparkle more, shine bright…and that’s what inspired our lyrics. It’s a super sweet song with a message I 100% endorse!
When I dashed into their room on Friday morning for our last rehearsal they surprised me with the actions they had come up with. (I may have gotten something in my eye as we sang)
I wanted to help the kids visualize the Power of Words. So every student in the school wrote a positive, encouraging message inside of a paper airplane. Everyone made one. Everyone threw one. Everyone got one. Our words don’t always go where we intend, but they always have power.
Making the planes was a fun project for the kids to work on. It was also a great opportunity to think about others and imagine words that could make someone’s day.
On the production side of things, I enlisted 6 camera operators with ipads. With 360 little kids involved we knew we’d only have one shot at this. We got our cameras in place, and I quickly explained to the assembled masses what we were about to do…then I marched up and down in front of my ‘troops’ like King Theoden or Aragorn making an epic speech before we counted down and let the planes fly. Then our camera operators ran around asking kids to read what their planes said into the camera.
It was fun, but it was also a powerful statement for everyone to recognize the power of words to make a difference in someone’s life.
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