Creating a sense of community in the classroom is crucial, and it requires time and effort from all of us. There are various activities and practices that can help us achieve this goal, but incorporating artful teaching practices can truly strengthen the bond among your students.
I recommend trying this approach with at least intermediate students, after integrating some artful teaching practices in the first few weeks.
STEPS:
Let’s get creative and share a little bit about ourselves!
Ask your students to write an “I AM” poem using the following guidelines:
- Brainstorm ideas about what to share. What makes you unique? Who are you?
- Start with a strong first line that grabs the reader’s attention.
- Use adjectives to describe yourself, including personality traits and emotions.
After writing their poems, have students bring them to class and read them aloud in small groups. Next, distribute two pieces of paper to each student and ask them to write down their two favorite lines from their poems that they feel describe them best. Collect the papers and place them on a table, allowing your students to work together to arrange the lines in order to create a “Collective I Poem” for the class.
This fun and creative activity will allow your students to express themselves while getting to know each other better. Let’s see what unique and interesting things we can learn about each other through our poems!
4. Students read their own lines in the poem and record it.
Check out this example from one of my English classes where each line belongs to a different student:
I AM POEM` ~~~ Collective
I’m an avalanche which falls from the mountains,
Stubborn and ambitious storms of the oceans.
I’m son of the seas
When I want to achieve my dreams.
My life… my hopes… my body… won’t disappear
although I am a ship which is lost in the sea of despair.
I know I will come back here before I die.
That tells me this is not a goodbye.
I will freely fly like a bird with the desire to travel around the whole world
I wonder why time is not enough for a dreaming traveller.
Then, I start to feel like a monster.
I love hugging people like a koala hugging tree
Because I am a lovely person who is free.
I always act logically but decide emotionally.
I wonder where I will be.
No one can judge me.
I want to see positive things in my country.
Who am I? Maybe the lonely star wandering in the sky.
Or the upcoming spring that cannot be prevented.
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♥ I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to Patricia Sobral, Anna Santucci Leoni, and the class of POBS Artful Teaching (Brown University; Spring, 2016) for the inspiration.
