Literacy Through Imagery: A Creative Approach

The Minnesota Educator Academy (MEA) is next week, and as always, COMPAS will have a booth at the conference. Come visit us in booth 507!

This is one of our favorite events because we get to spend the entire day mingling with the educators we serve throughout the year. We get to hear about what is really going in the minds of the teachers who are providing an essential service for our children and youth. We chat with old friends and meet new ones, and develop plans and partnerships.

Sharing a "story without words" with the class

COMPAS will also present a professional development session for educators on creative, curriculum-focused projects developed by our Creative Classroom teaching artists. This year’s topic - Literacy Through Imagery: A Creative Approach - will be presented by COMPAS visual artist Mica Lee Anders.

Literacy is the way we write, read, speak and listen so that we can communicate effectively. We need literacy skills to understand and interpret the world around us. They are important skills for children to develop so they can make sense of their schoolwork and the world around them.

The arts are an ideal tool for advancing literacy. Writing, photography, performance, painting… they all provide students with methods of interaction and communication that engage them in creative thinking and problem solving. How do you take two different and unique pictures of the same chair? How do you use the images to tell a story? What might your story include to make it interesting to listeners? Really, the possibilities are endless. The arts provide a “safe zone” to involve students at multiple levels. They encourage self-expression and risk-taking; approaches that aren’t always options in other subjects.

During the professional development session Mica will share her recent experience using imagery and storytelling to teach literacy skills to elementary school students at Cedar Park Elementary and Richfield STEM School.

She’ll talk about how getting students to think through questions like...

“What is a story?”
“What do you need to tell a story?”
“How do you tell a story without words?”

...got their creative juices going. She’ll also share methods to have small student teams use cameras to create their “story without words;”  and talk about the wonder and success that came from giving young students creative license to explore the process and the creative experience.

We’re looking forward to sharing the great work that COMPAS does! Hope you can join us.

Friday, October 21
11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. | Room 3

Literacy Through Imagery: A Creative Approach
Teaching Artist Mica Lee Anders will highlight an experiential learning technique for literacy and reading which can also be used with ELL. Anders will review a project using technology and imagery to create wordless picture books. A take-away activity will be available for educators to try in their classrooms.
Presenters: Mica Lee Anders, COMPAS teaching artist; Betsy Mowry Voss, COMPAS staff

If you would like more information on how to bring a COMPAS artist into your classroom, please send an email to Julie Strand or fill out our information form.

By COMPAS staff member, Betsy Mowry Voss