Harry potter
Over the past three years, I used the Harry Potter series as a tool for teaching big ideas to elementary kids.
We learned about snakes during Care of Magical Creatures, we read about women in STEM fields and made goop for Potions class, and we decorated hand-sewn weighted pillows in our discussion of bravery and the Patronus Charm.
I designed each class to be accessible for a variety of learners and ages. After introducing the agenda and leading a short centering activity, I invited the witches and wizards to explore one of three or four stations that I had set out in the room. In general, there was a reading station, a craft station, and a movement station.
We learned about snakes during Care of Magical Creatures, we read about women in STEM fields and made goop for Potions class, and we decorated hand-sewn weighted pillows in our discussion of bravery and the Patronus Charm.
I designed each class to be accessible for a variety of learners and ages. After introducing the agenda and leading a short centering activity, I invited the witches and wizards to explore one of three or four stations that I had set out in the room. In general, there was a reading station, a craft station, and a movement station.
Reading Section
I pre-selected and bookmarked a section in one of the Harry Potter books. The witches and wizards were invited to read the section in pairs or to themselves, then answer some discussion questions. This station was entirely self-run, and was a big draw to witches and wizards who excel at independent learning and close reading. |
Craft Station
The craft varied week to week. In a class around anger in the third year we created stress balls out of balloons and decorated them like Aunt Marge. When we discussed belonging and community, we made Marauder's Maps as a visual representation of our communities. This was by far the most popular station. I was intentional in designing crafts that would have a function, and frequently hear from students who still use some of the crafts we made in years past. |
Movement Station
This station featured activities that provided an outlet for the witches' and wizards' wiggles and giggles. For example, one week this activity involved using building blocks to get the Knight Bus (a blue ball) from Privet Drive to the Leaky Cauldron. This station was designed to engage kinesthetic learners. I found it challenging to design, as my own brain does not benefit from such activities. Designing activities for the movement station gave me a reason to research different types of learners and to further develop my curriculum writing skills. |
racial justice
As my interest in racial justice grew, I began to understand the importance of teaching justice concepts at an early age. With this in mind, I wrote a series of lessons around racism and White supremacy for elementary children. The lessons were taught to 4th and 5th graders during Religious Education programming at White Bear Unitarian Universalist Church in Mahtomedi.
The lesson below was taught directly after a lesson on White supremacy, during which we discussed examples of White supremacy in daily life and took time to think about why racial justice work is important. At the end of the lesson we engaged in self-care artwork inspired by the idea that none of us has to tackle White supremacy alone. This example lesson builds off of the work done in the White supremacy lesson; we address White supremacy within Unitarian Universalism, and write letters advocating for change.
The lesson below was taught directly after a lesson on White supremacy, during which we discussed examples of White supremacy in daily life and took time to think about why racial justice work is important. At the end of the lesson we engaged in self-care artwork inspired by the idea that none of us has to tackle White supremacy alone. This example lesson builds off of the work done in the White supremacy lesson; we address White supremacy within Unitarian Universalism, and write letters advocating for change.