Hi, just a couple of course ideas I had:

• Poetry

• Science fiction

• Short stories

• Debate and Rhetoric

• Identity and Literature

• Academic writing

End: non

Projects/courses depending on x,y,z are:

*Visualization/Drawings creating a collaborative comic strips

*Improve role play (drama)  to proceed and collaboratively write a small script

*Philosophical dialogues into relativism bringing into fusion: abstract, surreal, activism art (visual and language arts)

*Spoken word collaborative writing and if the girls are open to share it can go into performing arts and grow into a video making (where their faces/identity are always hidden)

Level of English: Beginner to intermediate

I would love to teach lesson on creative writing. Some examples of the projects we can develop in these lessons are:

-Short stories

-Poems

-Small books

-Plays

-Scripts

-Comics, etc.

I also want to combine creative writing with a little bit of performance (drama) and I would love to base it on the book “The Theatre of the Oppressed”. Maybe also do some read-alouds.

I am also interested in teaching a beginner level of Math, in an interactive way that makes sense with real life. I would love for the students to se math in their everyday lives.

Finally, I would love to teach about well-being, for example with the use of meditation or art to express your feelings. This can also be combined with creative writing.

Level of English: Intermediate to Advanced

Level of Subject: depending on the need? (need info from them to adapt to their level & interest)

Start: Summer 2024 (flexible)

Number of ppl. involved: 3 to 6 (flexible)

Frequency: one 2h lesson per week (flexible)

Idea:

• problem-solving

• collaboratively

• apply & enhance Math skills

• structure of lesson :

  1. present a problem & let students come up with possible ways to solve it

  2. provide/ teach some math method (new knowledge) 3. let students solve the problem in small groups (3-4 ppl)

  4. present the way to solve it

  5. extension: some sub/related problem as food for thought as homework (not mandatory)

Resources:

• What’s your math problem? Getting to the heart of teaching problem solving. Gojak, Linda. | Shell education | edition 1 | Book

• https://www.map.mathshell.org/

• https://nrich.maths.org/teachers/secondary

! everything is flexible, feel free to give any feedback !

Level of English: Intermediate to Advanced

Idea:

• We will analyze conflict or events through art, focusing on how Art was used as a form of rebellion... and the consequences.

• I think that we talk about an event, conflict, or people in each class and we tell and analyze the story through art. The arts include visual, performance, literary, etc...

• Discussion-led.

• Have space for the girls to present art they want to talk about.

  
  

I would love to join Bell's course. I'd like to help scaffold the course content for the students' language level.

(I couldnt figure out how to comment on the post directly, so had to add a separate post)

Over the span of the course, every week we would read a couple of pages of one of the books below (the students, as a group, could maybe choose one that speaks to them?) and then the teacher guides discussions on the topic. This would be interactive and build English language skills, and I would maybe also offer some writing time such as small reflections or interpretations.

The reason behind using adult picture books is that I have recently taught a program in year 5 using "The Journey" (A fantastic picture book about a refugee family on the journey to a safer country), and noticed how much all the students were engaged, even the ones that don't speak English as well as the others.

Possible books:

• My Heart

  by Corinna Luyken

  
  

  How often do you check in with your heart? This lyrical and exquisitely rendered picture book is an homage to that timeless self-reflective act. It illustrates tiny acts of self-care as our hearts grow to expand and give love to others. Its message—that we are all worthy and deserving of love—is perfect for every day of the year.

  
  

• She Persisted

  by Chelsea Clinton, illustrated by Alexandra Boiger

  
  

  This book, and the entire series, begs to be shared with your old philosophy professor or your ladies’ night pals. It’s perfect for Women’s History Month (March) and provides facts about women who made contributions to society despite the obstacles they faced. It's approachable and empowering for both genders.

  
  

• Milo Imagines the World

  by Matt de la Peña, illustrated by Christian Robinson

  
  

  Milo and his sister pass the time on the subway together. Milo begins noticing the people around him and imagining details about their lives. He draws images in his mind (depicted with primitive childlike crayon drawings). When one immaculate boy enters the subway, Milo imagines his life is ideal. When the siblings reach their destination, they wait in a security line before entering the prison to visit their incarcerated parent. Milo is surprised to see the boy from the subway waiting in the same line. This layered story is about families, assumptions, and the judgments we make of others. It’s as much a social commentary as a beautiful conversation starter.

In this low stress, low pressure course, students would get to explore their language skills through games such as Wordle, Hangman, 20 questions, or other less commonly known verbal games.

Similarly, riddles would offer room to discuss but als challenge the students in a fun way. I could see myself using (appropriate) black stories or guess-the-rule games where the teacher knows the rule for which things can be brought to an island/picnic/etc. such as only words the have a double letter or you're only allowed to bring what you want if you put it in a full sentence.

To keep things light for these students who are often under a lot of stress and fear, I thought focusing on humor might give them an opportunity to relieve some stress and stilll focus on language skills as well as learning about history. We could look at

• jokes from decades ago

• caricatures

• movie clips

and also compare between different countries. In this context, there would be space to draw connections to

• feelings

• personal experiences

• cultural and historic connections to how humor has evolved.

This way, they learn about

• rhyming patterns

• meter

• types of poems

• linguistic devices

and can apply all of this in their final project, which is writing a poem of their own.

To further extend this, the poems could be collected, potentially illustrated, and then published. If this generates money, that could go back into financing Flowers for the Future.

The students will be learning about the logistics of theater plays, preparing them for their final assessment, during which they will take one scene from a popular play/skript and design costumes, stage design, stage directions, and the lighting of the scene. This will be connected to realistic historical aspects and relate to interpretation and analysis.

--> 6-8 lessons

A few lessons prepare the girls for public speaking. The topics that will be touched upon are:

• pathos, logos, ethos

• how to hold a presentation/speech confidently

• how to do research

• how to site

• how to prepare slides (ppt) that support your presentations and do not distract from them

• how to build arguments and counterarguments

• how to debate (?)

As an assessment, each girl will then prepare a presentation on an educational topic. These presentations are offered to all other students to offer them a bigger range of education as well as giving the students of this course a real life audience and clear goal.

This course aims to prepare students who

• want to become teachers

• want to take on leading positions

• want to improve their debating skills

• want to be journalists or researchers of some kind

• and more

Similarly to the How to write Poems Course, the students learn how to write stories and then get time after the course to finish writing a complex and detailed story (however long) as their final assessment.

These stories could be published after completion of the course.

Lessons would touch upon:

• the linguistic and structural aspects of story writing (dialogues, chapters, titles)

• tone and voice

• structuring texts

• creating plot outlines

• creating character profiles

• editing texts

• strong descriptions

• how to convey emotion

The course could have a connection to improv as a thinking tool: one students comes up with a prompt, and two or more students pretend to be those characters having a conversation about it.

Another low pressure, ongoing writing excercise could be using a texting app such as Signal where two people text but pretend they are other people. This can also be structured like a group chat by writing different names at the top of your text to indicate who is texting, or even like a co-written theater skript, where you imagine a group of people in a room and the texting students write theater instructions to keep the plot going (e.g.: Person 1: "Lisa: how dare you talk to me like that?! (storms out of the room)" Person 2: "Dean: Lisa, wait! (follows her) You know that's not what I meant.")

In the course of a few weeks, students will analyze different works by Shakespeare. Through that they will learn about

• rhyming schemes

• figures of speech

• types of poems

• metres

• historical importance of Shakespeare

• history surrounding his pieces (needed for interpretation)

• interpretation skills

• analysis skills

As a final assessment they could either

• analyze another one of Shakespeare's works

• or analyze another classic by learning about the author and time frame like they did with Shakespeare

Recommended age group:

• 16+

Recommended English level:

• advanced