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Words are Gifts

An Artsy Idea

11.00am – 11.30am, slice of my day

This time is held for my group of seven third graders. One very impactful workshop I attended this weekend was an idea of integrating the Arts and Literacy. As we were taking in all the different ways this could be introduced.

I heard a ping! I knew exactly how I could incorporate this for my retelling intervention group. In my mind, when planning I have established this group ‘s need as a comprehension and a speaking and listening focus. This helps me craft short lessons for my students to talk in response to texts. What they understand about stories and texts. The structure, the order, the elements…

The artsy idea I am running with is to ask the group to share the story arch or the sequence of the story we are currently reading, using different materials. I know they will be engaged, I know they will love it. It will take time but I hope it will help them engage with the story even more.

Do you have any ideas to help students to retell? I’ll be grateful for more.

Juliette Awua-Kyerematen's avatar

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Juliette Awua-Kyerematen

6 responses to “An Artsy Idea”

  1. Radutti Avatar
    Radutti

    Oh, this is a cool idea. I’m guessing their retell will stick with them so much more deeply. I’ll come see it!

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  2. kimhaynesjohnson Avatar
    kimhaynesjohnson

    Oooooh, so kind of like a graphic novel that isn’t all graphics but depicts the story or text in different art forms? I LOVE THIS IDEA! What I envision that you are saying is almost like groups or individual students are tasked to create the story in art, even perhaps using art already created that is curated (such as pottery or acrylic paintings) to take the story (or even the theme or symbolism) from one end of the text to the other. That’s genius!

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  3. margaretsmn Avatar
    margaretsmn

    I think when we use new materials it helps students to process in a different way, problem solving. I’ve made foldable zines with my students to draw and write the story elements. They are enjoying the process so much more than if I’d given them a graphic organizer.

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  4. Erika Avatar
    Erika

    Great that you are trying out new ideas right away. I have often used somebody, wanted, but, so, finally as starters for different parts of a summary.

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  5. kclaeborn Avatar
    kclaeborn

    This sounds exciting and I hope you go for it! I recently made accordian foldables (with pockets) with my class to tell stories of migration. I saw an idea of making a little insert person that can be moved into the pockets, which helped me to tell the story of migrating from place to place. It was so much fun to tell stories in a new way, and I might try it for retelling too!

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  6. mschiubookawrites Avatar
    mschiubookawrites

    Integrating art in literacy sounds engaging and differentiated. I hope to hear more about how this goes!

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About Me

I am an Elementary school teacher , I taught at an International IB School in Accra, Ghana. I am now teaching in Hanoi. Writing is my passion and I try to write daily, at least in my sentence a day journal, to capture all the blessings around me. I write with groups of writers, such as Teach Write and sometimes Ethical ELA. I also encourage my friends to write , so I created a platform to make that possible -Writing Run.

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