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Express-A-Book

Express-a-Book is an innovative and creative approach to a traditional book club.

Express-a-Book uses the Arts, to create a learner centered, collaborative environment to share ideas. Participants experience the Arts and the format highlights the accessibility and power of the creative process. When we bring people together in a collaborative and creative environment we see learners, of all ages, engage at a high level. The Express-a-Book process supports this notion.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2017

Established

100

Children

4

Countries
Updated
June 2019
It was wonderful to have the opportunity and excuse to jump in the sandbox and find ways to play with, highlight, reflect, and communicate my learning in a unique way.

About the innovation

How to Express-a-Book

What we do?

Express-a-Book was created to serve as the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative’s (MALI) approach to collaborating, connecting and sharing reading, podcasts, talks etc. MALI believes in the power to share and generate ideas through the ARTS!

We have successfully used Express-a-Book at conferences and gatherings in Maine and beyond in a variety of ways. The format has been shared in workshops, videos, short articles and highlighted inTeaching Strategies That Create Assessment-Literate Learnersby Jeffrey Beaudry and Anita Stewart McCafferty.


Why we do it?

Express-a-Book supports learners to:

* Share ideas and resources through an active process

* Use the arts to make information accessible and engaging for learners

* Learn together as a community

* Allow for individuals who do not often engage in art making processes to experience the potential of the arts to enhance learning

* Offer a low cost, simple, scalable and refreshing approach to a 'book club'

* The process has practical applications for a variety of classrooms and settings. Express-a-Book can be applied across disciplines or in professional learning communities, it can take place face to face or electronically, within or across schools, districts, across a region/state/country/ and even the globe.

* Individuals must be willing to stretch and be vulnerable

* The process is an example of teachers teaching teachers and provides the structure for learners of all ages to freely share their voices and ideas.

Express-a-Book was created by members of the Maine Arts Leadership Initiative (MALI), an eight year old statewide (Maine, USA) organization who is committed to the development of Teacher Leaders to ensure deep understanding and meaningful implementation of high quality teaching, learning and assessment in the Arts for all students. Using a Logic Model MALI educators develop ideas, take on challenges, solve problems and implement and share their at the local level and beyond. The ongoing work impacts hundreds of classrooms, schools and most importantly students and their creative beings.

Special thanks to Chris Pinchbeck for brainstorming and helping us with the innovative name Express-a-Book.





Implementation steps

GETTING STARTED

Find or be guided into a group of kindred spirits. Recommended 2-5 people. Participants may represent different grade levels, and/or content OR be interdisciplinary groups, administrators, parents, colleagues, friends....

SUGGESTED QUESTIONS TO ASK:

What are some interests or resources that you are currently exploring or would really like to explore?

How much time do you have available? We recommend an initial 45 minute meeting to set goals and identify topics, approx. 6 weeks of independent time researching and expressing the topic and at least 20 minutes per person to share out ideas at the end of the 6 weeks.

What days and times would you be available to meet?

Will we meet in person or online?

CONNECT

INITIAL CONNECTION MEETING - Decide the format of the group

Will you all read/view an article, book, video, or resource together?

Will you individually choose an article, book, video, or resource?

Will you each choose a section of a larger reading to do?

Define the course of your learning together.

This meeting should be approx. 45 mins - 1 hour.

SET MEETING DATE

Decide on a meeting date and time.

To help schedule a meeting time, we use Doodle Poll. https://doodle.com/

Meet in person or through a digital platform such as Zoom, Facebook, Google Hangouts etc.

The length of time in between to read, research and create will depend on commitments and time constraints. We recommend 6 weeks between the initial meeting and final sharing out. However we have also offered 1.5 hour workshops and seen deep conversations and learning emerge with this framework. Express-a-Book is very flexible!

CREATE

You've absorbed your learning (book, article, ted talk, podcast etc...) now it's time to create!

Here are few prompts to inspire the creative process -

What resonated with you and has you thinking?

Which creative discipline (dance, drama, media arts, music, storytelling, poetry, visual arts etc) will you use to express and communicate your learning?

What medium will you select to communicate?

If you aren’t sure begin doodling, moving, writing, talking whatever you need to do to get ideas flowing. Consider doing several sketches, improvisations/compositions or playing freely before settling on a final idea.

SHARE

Introductions & overview of the discussion - Each individual presents:

Suggested format:

• Share Artistic representation of reading/video/resource

- DON’T TALK TOO MUCH- It is suggested not to give a lot of insight into the

reading/resource itself, but allow time for others to experience what you have created.

• Responses from others

- Feedback, Insight, and Reflection

“I Wonder, I Notice, What if, Talk to, My question is.”

• Artist statement & discussion:

Insight into process & product

- Answer some questions in the responses from others

- Discuss concepts presented further

WRAP UP

Each member offers one or two sentences as a personal response to their Express-A-Book experience.

"I was motivated to keep working on my painting and poem and excited, if a bit nervous, to share. I received great feedback which motivated me to keep working, learning and thinking more deeply about my initial ideas in the article and my art work. I can't wait to share my learning with my students." Lindsay Pinchbeck

"I loved being challenged to stretch myself and because of that I learned so much more and differently than I do in a traditional book club. I have so much respect for both Jake and Lindsay, it was great to have the chance to collaborate with them to develop and go through the process with a new idea. I was so encouraged and inspired by Lindsay and Jake’s creations! The Express-a-Book process brought everyone’s learning to a different place." Argy Nestor

The following quotes are feedback and take aways from HundrED ambassadors and innovators participating in Express-A-Book, Winter 2019.

“The most fascinating thing I thought to be the concept of books connecting us human beings and allowing us to share with one another thoughts and ideas that go beyond the text of a book. ” Luiza Mogosanu, Germany.

“The most amazing part of Expressing a book program was the diversity of creative ways that each of the participants came up with. It opened up new ways the same knowledge could be understood, expressed and explained. I would love to do another one soon.” Vishal Sharma, SMILES, India.

“ It gave me respite and focus and meaning at a time of unsettling flux in my community and physical environment. Artist endeavors and dialogue are often powerfully able to do that. And this certainly did.” Alex Bell, Portland Education, UK.

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