Learn Create Inspire
Sharing successes and challenges through teaching while becoming a (hopefully) published author.
Self Talk Art: 54 Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers
Positive self talk art inspired by 54 Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers. This blog post is about our class discussion of ‘should-ing’ on yourself and the positive self talk art we made after the discussion. It was a community building activity that has become a powerful display of the good our classmates see in us—and the good we see in ourselves!
54 Things Wrong With…how kids have been talked about!
I introduced the book 54 Things Wrong with Gwendolyn Rogers by Caela Carter today. This book is amazing and hard. It is one of the Surrey School Book of the Year Nominees for 2022/23.
The activity I did to introduce the book broke my heart. I learned so much about how kids see themselves as well as how they think adults see them. This post reflects on the lesson and my learning.
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.
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.
Found Poetry: Success for All
April is National Poetry Month, what will you do? Here is an example of found poetry created with student generated language from the last six chapter of Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. This post also includes tips for painting in a portable without water and ideas for why this lesson was successful.
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 and Responding the Hard Things: Talking About Ukraine
This post explores how I used loose parts, an interactive lecture, and art to help my students start to understand the invasion of Ukraine. It is filled with examples of what I did and provides a few other activities that could be done to support your teaching. My little students with big hearts want everyone to know that they will welcome any Ukrainian people who come to our school and hope the conflict ends peacefully. This is cross-curricular and hands-on.
Picture Book Study: Exploring the Alternate Experiences of War
As we approach Remembrance Day and Veterans Day, explore the alternate experiences of war through five powerful pictures books. Help teach reading comprehension skills, compassion, and history in a powerful way that every child can participate in. This activity has built in structures to support all students.