|
Three Innovative Ways to Kick-off the School Year
#1
It's a bird... it's a plane... it's Superteacher!
Recommended for grades K-6
 Take a plunge into the comic book world. Morph into your super, alter ego and fight off your students’ archenemy, Boredom.
During the first week of school, Cassandra Lawrence walks into her classroom donning a mask and a long, red and black cape lined with laminated book covers. She introduces herself as Book Woman, a superhero with the power to rescue students from Boredom by tossing “books” from her cape.
“I laugh when I think of myself throwing that cape on during the first days of class,” says Lawrence, a fourth grade bilingual teacher in Perth Amboy, New Jersey.
“But the kids love it; and getting kids to want to do something takes risks.”
The “something” Lawrence wants her students to do is write. When she introduces them to Book Woman, she is also introducing them to a year-long “Create Your Own Superhero” project. She got the idea from her 10-year-old son who creates his own superheroes: drawing pictures of them and crafting homemade costumes.
Lawrence incorporates the superhero theme at least once a week and in all subjects, especially language arts. She begins the project by having her students create their own superhero. She brings in comic books and manga publications, which stir ideas and create lively class discussions. Then she helps her students write a superhero profile: name, logo, motto, suit's design, and superpowers (which must be used for good and to help others).
"What kid doesn't want to imagine he has special powers at some point?" she says. "This encourages my students to use their imaginations and take creative risks."
Some memorable profiles include Spaghetti Boy, who shoots spaghetti and meatballs in order to catch criminals and feed the hungry, and Chica Chocolate, who gives chocolate to sad people “para endulzar la vida” (to sweeten life).
Throughout the school year, Lawrence has her students write increasingly complex compositions about their superheroes. For instance, she has them write an adventure in which their superhero interacts with Book Woman. Over time, not only does their prose become more vivid and creative, but their artistic abilities also grow as they draw their hero in action. In addition, students who began the project writing in their native language were confidently reading and writing in English by the next summer.
For Lawrence, dressing up as Book Woman is a guaranteed way to grab her students’ attention and get them excited about reading and writing.
“You have to have fun,” she says. “And at the end of the year, if we can send our children off knowing that we did some exciting work with them, then it’s all worth it.”
View more innovative ways to kick-off the school year:
| 
