Write like a SUPER HERO

Sometimes teachers need to draw upon super hero powers to help students succeed in the classroom.  At a recent 2^nd grade team meeting, Instructional Coach, Terri Streicher, teamed up with second grade teachers Jesse Hart, Kari Thomsen, Kristen Hatfield, Katie Kensinger,  and Ryan Gotto, Technology Integration Coach, to make some heroic leaps and bounds with writers.

Linn-Mar’s current literacy program is Journeys.  The second grade students had a story coming up in their Journey's textbook Dex: The Heart of a Hero, about a dog who wanted to be a super hero.  During a planning meeting, Terri suggested they use that story as a springboard for an opinion writing piece, “What is the best super power to have?”  What followed was an exchange of ideas, including having kids brainstorm the pros and cons of each super power. 

Ryan Gotto came in and took green screen pictures of the teachers and kids acting out each super power.  Mr. Gotto and Mrs. Streicher co-taught with the teachers on how to put their writing in their blog, too.

The teachers even created a Super Hero themed week with additional activities.  The teachers have all commented how engaging and motivating this writing project has been.  

"We really enjoyed the process of working with Terri and Ryan to create a fun and meaningful learning activity for our second graders. The superhero activity tied in perfectly to our theme and writing focus, and our students were extremely engaged!"

                                                                                                                                     ~Kari Thomsen

The next phase is to come back and co-teach leaving our friends comments on their stories/pictures.  This collaborative effort, shows teachers and coaches improving practice to impact daily instruction of Journeys.  Well done, Bowman Woods coaches and teachers.