Express Yourself 1: Connect and Create With Friends Over Poetry, Stories & Art

✔️New learners are always welcome!
✔️This class is loved by diverse learners, including Autistic, persons with ADHD, dyslexia, and dysgraphia, people from around the world, ESL learners, fledgling writers, enthusiastic poets, those getting in touch with their emotions, persons who are self-aware, overwhelmed souls, calm souls, beginner artists, passionate artists, and many who are happy to make a new friend!
✔️Each week is independent!
✔️No prior knowledge is needed!
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All learners are welcome to join these creative sessions at any time. We begin by discussing the week's topic and reading the themed poetry. During this time, we brainstorm personal stories relating to the topic. The learners will focus on these experiences in their creative projects. Our focus is on social-emotional skills, especially emotional awareness and self-expression, and we will work through various aspects of our recent experiences to process our feelings in a relaxed and creative way.

The rest of the class time will be spent creating and composing the creative projects of their choice (art and/or poetry). During the creative time, there will be check-ins to see how each learner is doing and to ask about their creative process. There is no requirement to finish within the class time, as creative projects take varying amounts of time, and learners are encouraged to take the time they need. 

Towards the end of each session, there is a sharing time. Sharing is optional but encouraged and celebrated.

SCHEDULE:

🪞The Week of September 8th = Topic 1: Who Am I?
Inspiration: "Where I'm From" by George Ellen Lyon
*More guided than the later topics

Each learner will brainstorm and create their own version of "Where I'm From" by George Ellen Lyon, as I lead them using my example. The students will be encouraged to share their poems as time permits.

🗏 The Week of September 15th = Topic 2: A Vacation, Staycation, or a Fun Day
Inspiration: "Brown's Vacation" by Amos Russel Wells

We will work in pairs or small groups to compose spoken poems inspired by this poem, which we will share in class (time permitting). Groups may accent their performances with visual aspects like props or art.

🤪The Week of September 22nd = Topic 3: If the World Was Crazy
Inspiration: "If the World Was Crazy" by Shel Silverstein
*More guided than the later topics

We'll write poems or create art portraying our ideas and observations. The students will be encouraged to share their completed poems or artwork.

🔵The Week of September 29th = Topic 4: The Colours of the Year
Inspiration: "The Two Sides of Me" by an anonymous poet

We will either create art using colours that reflect our feelings or write our versions of "The Two Sides of Me" poem by focusing on our emotions and the colours that represent them. These poems will explore our emotions and recent journeys. The students will be encouraged to share their completed projects

🎫The Week of October 6th = Topic 5: Blackout Poetry
We'll make poetry from copies of book pages we've read this year or newspaper articles. Students can choose to complete their poems on paper or digitally. If they are using paper, they will need to be able to print out, copy, or tear out a page from a book, newspaper, or magazine. They should also have art supplies on hand, like markers, crayons, or paint. The students will be encouraged to share their completed poems.

🏡The Week of October 13th = Topic 6: My Happy Place
Inspiration: "Good Heavens" and "Mirage" by Anna Grossnickle Hines and "Balloons", "Hues of Blue", and "Garden Canoes" by Laura Purdie Salas

We will describe a place where we have felt happy using sensory language (imagery) to create poems (list, concrete, haiku, etc.) individually or in groups. There is also the option for students to draw, paint, or illustrate their "happy place" with the focus on happy details. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

😮The Week of October 20th = Topic 7: A Change in Emotion
Inspiration: "Daddy Fell Into the Pond" by Alfred Noyes

We will illustrate or write about a time when our emotions changed quickly. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

💻The Week of October 27th = Topic 8: Technology
Inspiration: "Siri: A Coping Mechanism" by Patrick Roche
(Only the first part will be shared)

We will work in pairs or groups to compose performance poems focusing on technology and its importance in our lives. The students will share their poems in class (time permitting). Groups may also accent their spoken poems with visual aspects like props or art.

🗣️The Week of November 3rd = Topic 9: The Words of the Year
Inspiration: "The Fourth" and "Traffic Light" by Shel Silverstein

We will work with onomatopoeias and new or newly popular words to write poems, design a collage, "draw" an illustration, or make hidden word pictures. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

🥵 The Week of November 10th = Topic 10: The World Has Changed
Inspiration: "Along the East River and in the Bronx Young Men Were Singing" by Ariel Francisco (without focusing on the end) and "Dear Earth" by Karla Kuskin

We will create a collage or a poem about a street or a place that has changed. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

🪼 The Week of November 17th = Topic 11: The Natural World
Inspiration: "Jellies" by Ruth Heller

We will use art and/or poetry to capture the environmental changes, observations, and impact. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

👥 The Week of November 24th = Topic 12: My Companions
Inspiration: "Us" by Shel Silverstein

We will compose poems or artwork about our companions. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

🥗 The Week of December 1st = Topic 13: Conflicted
Inspiration: "I'm Thankful" by Jack Prelutsky

We will express our conflicting emotions through art or poetry. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

🪥 The Week of December 8th = Topic 14: An Ode to an Inanimate Object
Inspiration: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? (Sonnet 18)
By William Shakespeare

We will imagine that one object in our home is writing to another one. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

😵‍💫The Week of December 15th = Topic 15: Food
Inspiration: "Sky Seasoning" by Shel Silverstein and "The Reason I Like Chocolate" by Nikki Giovanni

We will compose poems or art to communicate memories, stories, or patterns (cold/warm-weather preferences, etc.) connected with food. The students will be encouraged to share their completed works in class or on our class site.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN:

Originally, this course was named Journalling 2020, and it was a pandemic hit! Due to the incredible popularity of this class, I created Journalling #2 and Journalling #3 (now Expressing Yourself #2 and #3) to follow it up with new topics and poetry--the learners just couldn't get enough! These classes follow the same format, focusing on self and social-emotional awareness with poetry and art. 

While the first one only has fifteen topics, the second has thirty-four, and the third has more than a year's worth of topics! This first class mostly contains poetry written for children, while the selections in the second feature classic poets and poetry (for example, "our good friend," Emily Dickinson). As for Express Yourself #3, there is an emphasis on diverse and multicultural voices. I have put much effort into searching out diverse poets of varying backgrounds from around the world whose poems are in the public domain and whose topics are relevant to children. 

Expressing Yourself #2
https://outschool.com/classes/express-yourself-2-themed-topics-classic-poetry-social-emotional-reflection-i3l8bRnq?refuid=9YAKPuNb

Expressing Yourself #3
https://outschool.com/classes/express-yourself-3-themed-topics-diverse-poetry-social-emotional-reflection-ml19loLG?refuid=9YAKPuNb

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