By Allison Dixon
I recently read a blog post over at The Busy Mockingbird in which the author writes about an accidental collaborative art project she has undertaken with her four year old daughter. Basically, she draws the head and face of a subject, and her daughter draws the body and any other additional features that the four year old deems appropriate. After that, mom adds some colour and shading, and the quirky, surreal piece is finished.
This blog post reminded me of a collaborative picture book project one of my teachers organized when I was in high school. My English 9 teacher collaborated with a teacher at a nearby primary school to run a unit on creative writing: essentially, the high school students each wrote a book for a primary student to read.
Before we began writing, our English 9 class visited the primary school to meet our Grade 3 partners and find out what kinds of things they'd enjoy reading about. I remember there were a lot of requests for books about animals, but my partner specifically requested a book about Christmas.
After meeting our Grade 3 partners we set to work writing and illustrating our books. I remember feeling very motivated and excited to make the book because I wanted to make sure that my partner would enjoy it. At the end of the unit, we visited the school again to read and then give our book to our partners.
I think this is a great example of teachers collaborating across age groups in a mutually beneficial way: the high school students are given a sense of responsibility, and they are also able to see that their writing has meaning and worth to others. The primary students, in return, are able to spend time with older kids, who are natural role models. The act of reading with a role model can have a very positive impact in the value young students attribute to reading for enjoyment.
Hopefully one day I'll be able to try out a collaborative creative writing unit like this in my own class!
I recently read a blog post over at The Busy Mockingbird in which the author writes about an accidental collaborative art project she has undertaken with her four year old daughter. Basically, she draws the head and face of a subject, and her daughter draws the body and any other additional features that the four year old deems appropriate. After that, mom adds some colour and shading, and the quirky, surreal piece is finished.
This blog post reminded me of a collaborative picture book project one of my teachers organized when I was in high school. My English 9 teacher collaborated with a teacher at a nearby primary school to run a unit on creative writing: essentially, the high school students each wrote a book for a primary student to read.
Before we began writing, our English 9 class visited the primary school to meet our Grade 3 partners and find out what kinds of things they'd enjoy reading about. I remember there were a lot of requests for books about animals, but my partner specifically requested a book about Christmas.
After meeting our Grade 3 partners we set to work writing and illustrating our books. I remember feeling very motivated and excited to make the book because I wanted to make sure that my partner would enjoy it. At the end of the unit, we visited the school again to read and then give our book to our partners.
I think this is a great example of teachers collaborating across age groups in a mutually beneficial way: the high school students are given a sense of responsibility, and they are also able to see that their writing has meaning and worth to others. The primary students, in return, are able to spend time with older kids, who are natural role models. The act of reading with a role model can have a very positive impact in the value young students attribute to reading for enjoyment.
Hopefully one day I'll be able to try out a collaborative creative writing unit like this in my own class!