Learn Create Inspire
Sharing successes and challenges through teaching while becoming a (hopefully) published author.
Social Justice Symposium: Creating and Learning about PSAs
We spent one intense week making TWO PSAs: one visual and one video. The kids learned all about public service announcements and used what they had learned about social justice topics to make PSAs for a student audience. We also made a Kahoot! to test our knowledge after watching and reading all of the PSAs.
Banned Books: Exploring Representation in Literature
Kids literatures is being banned at an alarming rate, which limits access to diversity and #ownvoice authors. This post explores a banned books lesson that I designed for my class. It moves from input to co-creation to transformation in the understanding of book banning with my class. I also reflect on personal experiences in diversity in literature and questions you can ask yourself about literature you have used in your own classroom.
Storytelling Part 4: Becoming a Storyteller
In Part 4 of the storytelling series, I talk about the lessons that helped my kids build their stage presence and add details to their stories. These were fun hands-on lessons filled with laughter.
Storytelling Part 3: Teaching Kids How to Understand Their Stories
In Part Three of the storytelling series, you will learn how my kids started to unpack their stories and recognize the five anchor points they would use to tell their stories.
Exploring Storytelling: Accidentally Creating Comics (Part 1?)
We are exploring different ways of telling stories in my classroom. This blog post outlines how making creatures with playdough ended up becoming a comic using Book Creator….and being woven into our storytelling unit. It was a powerful way to combine tactile learning, storytelling, and technology. This activity was filled with student voice and voice, as well as having an authentic audience. The engagement was high and I had fun!