The Power of Memoir and Film Narratives

I am thrilled about starting my first year in fourth grade.  I am continuously planning with the "Culturally Responsive" framework in mine.  During the first three weeks of schools, our fourth grade team will be guiding students through the writing process for producing a narrative based on an influential life event.  After moving through the writing process, each student will be producing an iMovie.  The students' work will be shown a local film festival.  This activity not only reflects the diverse experiences of students, but it also weaves in critical technology skills.  In addition, the students are analyzing, synthesizing, and creating knowledge through both a writing and technology medium.  Students will be given a wide range of choices to create their film narratives which include: a comic strip with scanned documents, personal family photos, and audio of the "Where I'm From" poem template.  Choice will be a deeply embedded Culturally Responsive Teaching strategy to keep students engaged.

I would like to give Janelle Catlett a special thank you for exposing us to a dynamic mentor text that can be used to teach narrative writing and bio poems.  Check out Mama, Where Are You From?  She also walked us through the entire IMovie process.