Meet the Sixth Graders of Young Oaks
Bo Whaley isn't having an easy time at school. He's preoccupied with the thought that his dad, Colonel Whaley, will be deployed to Iraq.
Gari Whaley was happy living in Seattle. But when her mom, an army nurse, is deployed to Iraq, Gari is sent to North Carolina to stay with her aunt, uncle, and cousin. Her mom gives her a camera and tells her to email her lots of pictures in the hope that it will help Gari get situated.
In addition to Bo and Gari, the sixth-grade class includes ten others: Melissa, Martina, Rick, Trey, Sanjay, Kylie, Aimee, Zac, Dillon, and Allison. With Bo and Gari, it makes 12.
The sixth graders are met with a surprise on their first day of school. They've got a new teacher, and she's not at all what they expected. They're expecting to learn about math, science, reading, and history. But instead, they show up to find art lessons scribbled on the chalk board and an area taped out on the floor in the shape of a square.
Say Yes, And…
Their new teacher, Miss Loupe, isn't exactly traditional. She introduces the class to improvisational theater in order to encourage them to use their imaginations.
Inside the Taped Square (a theatrical space, a temporary stage), anything is possible. Miss Loupe demonstrates this fact by miming the action of playing golf. The students are immediately transported to a putting green. The first rule of improvisational theater is to say 'yes, and…' Accept the reality of the space and the story that you and your partners are creating. Doing so makes all things possible. The story starts off with three mottos:
- Art needs a frame
- Art is arranging objects to create beauty
- Theater is the art of saying yes.
Miss Loupe enlists the help of her brother, Marc, deployed in Iraq with Army Special Forces. They email back and forth all the time, and she uses their correspondence to invite her students to play the game of 'Yes, and…'
The students get to know Marc, and he responds to their queries about story ideas and what happens next... Together, they create a story within the enchanted Taped Square.
MIA
At times, Miss Loupe regrets being the only member of her family who didn't pursue a career in the military. She doesn't fit in with the other, straight-laced, teachers: Miss Candy (the librarian), Mr. Nix (first-grade teacher), and Mrs. Heard (the principal).
But one day, Principal Heard pulls Miss Loupe from the class. The students eavesdrop as she receives the crushing news: Marc is MIA. This news hits the students almost as hard. Dark thoughts pass through their minds, as they wonder when they might hear that combination of, Army and, missing, and presumed dead: 'It will feel like this. When it happens to me, it will feel like this.'
Special forces in Iraq
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Operation Yes
Miss Loupe doesn't return to school on Monday, and the sixth graders get a substitute teacher.
That's when Bo and Gari know that if they don't do something, Miss Loupe might never come back. Inspired by improvisational theater, the class bands together on a mission to raise awareness for wounded soldiers and soldiers missing in action (MIA).
Like the mottos Miss Loupe presented on the first day of class, the sixth graders create stages for their 'Operation Yes'.
The plan: superglue toy soldiers all around the school.
They call the toy soldiers LGM: little green men
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Remember: Art needs a frame. This is where Gari's camera comes into play. She's got to take pictures of the soldiers for proof.
Beyond any of their expectations, Operation Yes turns into a full-blown community art activist initiative when they make headlines on the news. They begin to recruit teachers and school staff. It becomes a fundraising campaign to aid wounded soldiers with donors sponsoring toy soldiers. The goal: plant 100,000 soldiers around the school. But their ultimate goal was always to make sure that Miss Loupe could come back to teach the sixth grade.
In the end, Marc is rescued but severely wounded. The Operation Yes campaign continues, building momentum as Marc recovers in a hospital in Germany.
With no small help from the Young Oaks 6th graders, Miss Loupe returns to school and they put on a play to mark the successful completion of Operation Yes. Their stage: A space filled with 100,000 acts of kindness.
Lesson Summary
Operation Yes documents a year in the life of Bo and Gari Whaley, cousins who live on an army base in North Carolina. Their new sixth-grade teacher, Miss Loupe, introduces them to improvisational theater and inspires them into community involvement and art activism. Along the way, the sixth-grade class all struggle through the fears and anxieties of having family members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the end, Operation Yes successfully concludes with a theatrical performance and the wellbeing of all the characters involved.
