Activity

Handout/ Resource

Sessio
n
1

Hook: Guest Speakers from The Migration

Museum, field trip to 19 Pincelet Street, or
field trip to Museum of London. Make sure
you spend time briefing students on what they
will see. Have the students bring journals and
cameras so they can remember their
experiences for the project.

Post Field Trip Writing Exercise.docx

Another possible idea is to have students

research historical figures and list how their
attributes align with School 21's attributes.
These documents could be modified to fit
what you want.

5WsResilientHistoricalFigure.doc
5WsResilientCommunityMember.doc

Connections (Yarn Activity):

Students begin with a quick-write, reflecting on
their experience from the field trip or guest
speaker the day before. They should include
sensory details about their experience. As
each student shares, they can connect with a
blue piece of yarn as a visual for the way the
whole community is connected. At the end of
the activity, the teacher could cut the pieces of
yarn and students could tie it around their
wrists to remind them of that first fieldwork
experience and their connections to their
experiecne from session 1.
** Students begin brainstorming who they will
interview: choose at least 5 people they would

be interested in interviewing and why/ teacher

narrows down selections and student makes
final decision about their interview after the
week of working on initial interviews.
3

Partner Interview Activity: Serving as a

Practice Interview before students interview
their chosen community member.
- Here is the presentation of the Partner

PartnerParagraphaPalooza.docx

Interview Activity that could be downloaded

and changed for your classroom setting. The
heart of the activity is getting students used to
multiple iterations of the interview process to
get to the heart or most important part of a
story:http://prezi.com/dzwbhjhfwp_c/partner-int
erview/

Above is a photo of a possible classroom

display of Partner Paragraph-a-Paloozas with
each partner's paragraph on top or below
their partner picture.

Homework: Students brainstorm 5-10 Major

Events in their lives that Make them who they
are.
4

hat Makes Our Community Great Photo

W
and Interview
-Students interview and photograph
influential people from the community
-Students create a Pecha Kucha style
presentation to present their findings (Pecha
Kuchas are a fun way to present information
and not take too much time)

Students finish and practice their Pecha

Kuchas

Students Present Pecha Kuchas from What

Makes Our Community Great Pecha Kucha

Write First Draft of 'Partner Paragraph'

style paragraph about Community
Member to Get to the 'Heart' of their story
- This involves interviewing the community
member again with a new set of questions
(guided by Pecha Kucha Critique)

hat Makes Our Community Great Photo

W
and Interview.docx
Pecha Kucha (Example)
-Pecha Kuchas are auto timed powerpoint
slides that only have pictures. Each

Pecha Kucha Critique.docx

-Yes, students only have an hour to write

the 1st draft, but it doesn't have to be perfect,
just try your hardest and let the ideas flow.
8

allery Walk: Students post their first drafts

G
all around the room with chosen photo from
their set of five photos presented during the
Pecha Kucha presentation
Teacher Resources for Leading Gallery
Walk:
Gallery Critique Instructions

BeautifulWorkArticle.pdf

Austin Butterfly Drafts.pdf

peer critique poster KHS.jpg

Gallery Critique Sentence Starters

Gallery Critique in Action
- This is an opportunity for Kind, Helpful and

Video: Ron Berger Introducing this Form of

Critique

Specific Feedback
- Before students participate in the gallery
walk, they read and discuss Ron Berger's
"Beautiful Work" article and go over Austin's
Butterfly Drafts. (Important to create shared
expectations of beautiful work and critique
before beginning the gallery walk session.)
- Develop Rubric for Paragraph and Photo
Display (as commissioned by the museum
where it will be presented, ultimately)
Possibility of creating a rubric together with the
class: - Develop Class Rubric
9

Revise 1st Draft

If students finish their draft early, they should

work on math, read, or work on their artistic
portrait. While students are working,
teachers could have one on one sessions
where they sit down and read the vignette
with a student and offer feedback. Students
should save every draft so they can show
their progress at the exhibition.

10

Critique of 2nd Draft

This is could good time to do a structured

critique. Chris would do two rounds. This is a
good way to reinforce what you want to
include in the writing. It might also be a good
idea for students to get an additional critique
from someone who is older than 18. Here is

an example of what Chris would do: Critique

of Vignettes.docx
11

Revise and prepare pre final draft

12

Critique of pre final draft.

You might think about creating another

critique sheet that would look at some other
part of the writing.

13

Revise and finish final draft

All students must email their final drafts to

____, ____, and themselves.

14

Final Photo and Interview Paragraph Due

Could be published in a collection of
paragraphs and portraits using www.blurb.com
book OR could be an artistic display in a local
building like the library.

Example of Blurb publication with

paragraphs and portraits:
-Iconic
** Instead of a book publication, you could
have students create 'digital stories' - which
are a combination of images with a
voice-over telling a story. Students could read
their paragraphs or have the person they
interviewed read the paragraph as images
display across the screen.
Here is a link to a digital storytelling resource
created by Zoe Randall (a multi-media
teacher helping 6th graders/ 11-12 year olds
tell their stories through the digital story
format): Digital Storytelling Studio Workshop
OR
Students could write and perform poetry or
spoken word pieces that honor their
community member with their portraits
displayed permanently on the walls with a
chosen quote

15

Students begin work on their letters of

invitation to the Exhibition of the work they
created to celebrate the story of the person
they interviewed.

Invitation to Inspirations exhibition.docx

16

Critique invitation letters

Letter Critique.doc

17

18
19

School wide exhibition!