We arrived in Oxford, OH on Sunday night in advance of some of the work we would be doing in the community in the two days prior to the performance at Miami University’s Hall Auditorium. Patti and David worked hard to pull together some really exciting opportunities for me. On Monday morning, David stopped by the hotel to pick me up (along with Chase and Eli) to drive over to the University. They had scheduled Hocus Focus presentations for two different Introduction to Special Education classes on campus. This is a great opportunity for me to demonstrate the power of the arts in the education process with future teachers. The earlier they are exposed to these concepts, the more likely they are to actually use them in the classrooms. After a powerpoint presentation, we started learning some easy magic tricks. After mastering each one, students participated in a task analysis of each to see how it could be aligned with national or common core state standards of learning.
They were fast learners – and they were able to see the value in “arts integration” for not only special education students, but all learners in general.
In between classroom presentations, we managed to grab a pretty awesome lunch (thank you David) at one of the local restaurants. Great food! One more activity helped close out a fantastic first day in Oxford – a visit to The Knolls, a residential community for seniors. We worked with some of the residents there, teaching them a few tricks but (more importantly) sharing stories, smiles, and some laughs. What a fantastic first day!! You can see more pictures on the Miami University Facebook Page – HERE and HERE.
Today (Tuesday) was another great day. We started off on the Miami University campus working with two groups of students in the University’s mentoring program – one group in the morning and one in the afternoon. These are high school students who are working to improve certain skills – and many of those goals can be achieved when you learn a magic trick. This is my favorite picture of the day. Austin is an amazing young man that will attempt anything – nothing slows this guy down and he did some incredible tricks today.
Tomorrow is the show at Hall Auditorium at 7:30pm – there are still a few tickets available so come have some fun! Click HERE to buy tickets!
