The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast | ELA
Education:How To
This week I want to talk about how one-pagers can be a powerful gateway to creative options in your classroom.
Let’s start with the one-pager basics. A one-pager allows students to express their takeaways from, well, just about anything, on a single paper through a combination of words and images. A one-pager can includes quotations, analysis, key terms, imagery, special fonts, symbolic colors, and more. You probably already know that my #1 tip for one-pagers is to give students a template that connects the elements that you want with a location on a template, so kids don’t feel overwhelmed as they begin to experiment.
You can try your first one-pager with a novel, a Ted talk, a poem, a short story, a play, a song, a podcast... You get the idea!
One of the great things about one-pagers is that they open the door to this form of dual expression, where kids are communicating their ideas through both words and visuals. Take a second to talk to them about how prevalent this is in the world. Ask them to consider political campaigns, social media, Youtube, online news. Get them started thinking about how often they see only words or only pictures, and how often it’s actually a combination that expresses ideas most effectively and memorably.
As students realize that their simple first step of a one-pager is actually guiding them into a new genre of expression, one that parallels many forms of real world communication, they may open up to more type of creative projects in class. You may find them more excited about research carousels, infographics, book trailers, and more real-world projects that bring visuals onto the scene to complement their writing. You may find that fewer students scoff that art is a waste of their time.
If you haven’t tried a one-pager yet, this week I want to highly recommend that you dive in! I’ll link my free templates for any novel in the show notes. And if you have, give a little thought to how you can use them as a gateway in students’ minds. It’s a powerful shift in how we see the world, and one that can benefit your creative classroom.
Free One-Pager Templates Here
Black Friday Menu for Next Week Starting Monday (Each Button Goes Live on its Day of the Week)
Go Further:
Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast.
Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook.
Come hang out on Instagram.
Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the ‘gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!
082: Innovative Elective (or Unit) Ideas for ELA
081: Empowering Students with Project-Based Learning
080: Let's Teach Students how to Collaborate
079: Less Testing. More Innovating.
078: The Quick Guide to First Chapter Fridays
077: Integrating the Arts & ELA
076: Host a "This I Believe" Radio Show
075: 10 Review Activities that aren't Boring
074: Infographic Projects for the Win
073: Help for Harkness Discussions
072: Connecting your English Classroom to the World
071: How to talk about Equity and Inclusion, with Liz Kleinrock
070: Help for Student Apathy, with Dave Stuart Jr.
069: 40 Ways to Reduce your Grading Time
068: Confronting Teacher Exhaustion, with Angela Watson
067: Look Forward to Teaching Vocabulary
066: We Need More Diverse Books
065: Final Exams that feel Meaningful
064: A Beginner's Guide to Writing Workshop
063: Using Stations Creatively in ELA
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Navigating Life After 40
How To!
Today’s Tips from AARP
The Minimal Mom
Financial Coaching for Women: How To Budget, Manage Money, Pay Off Debt, Save Money, Paycheck Plans