Lesson Plans
A Literary Guide to Youth Activism with Canva 101 with Community Word Project
NYPL's Online Programs for Teens
Learn the basics of while also incorporating your love for social justice into a collaborative NYPL Youth Literary Guide. Investigate the newest books into the NYPL catalog that exhibits a creative and critical dialogue. Generate recommendations for teen picks while creating your own creative works inspired by some of the artists explored and important themes selected.
National Assembly of State Arts Agencies: Protest Poetry
Wednesday, August 12, 2020
Presenters: Javan Howard & Katie Rainey
Our students belong to an active and outspoken generation, but many of them are unable to participate in protests on the street. As educators, we can empower our students to speak out and make their voices heard through their art-making. Explore activism through creative writing and how to translate this work to your classroom and empower your students to take action. What do current events mean to us, both individually and as a group? In this workshop, we practice taking those ideas into our art-making, focusing on bringing in different perspectives into the work, whether it’s creative writing or another medium, and make a collaborative art piece to engage our community and speak out against the injustices we see in the world. This session concludes with a debrief and reflection on how we can adapt these activities for students of various ages and populations, as well as where they can take their work to make their voices heard.
The Art of Powerful Messaging: Teaching Resistance Through Art & Literature
How do we amplify our creative voice for change or expression? We will explore critical social and cultural issues that are of importance to us as individuals and empower our art to create powerful messaging that provokes an understanding of the “human nature” behind our experiences. Channeling the creative energy of storytelling, personal experiences and visual art we will use literary elements and traditional themes (the power to overcome obstacles, the will to survive, coming of age, dealing with prejudice or discrimination) to invoke collaborative art pieces that can be used to engage our community and speak out against the injustices we see in the world.
WHO AM I? EXPLORING STEREOTYPES AND IDENTITY THROUGH POETRY
Grades: 6–8
Genre: Poetry
Themes: Race, Identity, and Stereotype
Published By: Teachers & Writers Magazine 2018
NEW YORK CITY, IMAGINATION, AND ME
Grades: 6-8
Genre(s) taught: Prose
Common Core Standards: (Refer to the ELA Standards > Reading Literature > Grade 7)
ELA-LITERACY.RL.7.5
Analyze how a drama’s or poem’s form or structure (e.g., soliloquy, sonnet) contributes to its meaning.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will:
Reflect on their NYC experience and learn about their classmates’ NYC experience;
Use sensory language in their writing;
Use their imaginations to create six-word memoirs;
Engage in free writing and participate in both group and individual exercises that will explore the sights and sounds of the city through poetry, music, and visual art inspired by New York City.
Guiding Questions:
How can we use sensory language to create rich images in our writing?
How can we celebrate our own unique experience of NYC and celebrate other people’s experience?