Collecting Literacy Stories Icebreaker
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Cindy Hatt
I enjoyed Ruth Shagoury's icebreaker activity "Collecting Stories" posted some time ago at Choice Literacy. I decided to adapt it to use with my work with literacy leaders here in New Brunswick, Canada.
This year, I'm working with our district's fifteen literacy teachers, assisting with professional development. This work is in addition to the part-time responsibilities I carry as a literacy teacher in a large elementary school. We have nine new literacy teachers in our district this year, so it is important that we build a group in which members are comfortable sharing successes and frustrations. Teachers who have been in this role for the past few years see this group as their sounding-board and "fount" of knowledge and advice.
I want to be sure our newer members feel they can seek and give this support as well. The "Collecting Stories" activity was ideal for our group's second monthly meeting of the year. In this icebreaker, participants are given a series of questions, designed to get them up and moving around the room. They chat informally with their colleagues as they answer the questions and collect anecdotes together.
Our literacy teachers have responsibilities for small-group literacy intervention as well as support to teachers through in-class co-teaching/modeling lessons and monthly professional development meetings. You will see that the prompts are structured to touch on many aspects of the role. You can download the template for the activity at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/cindy.pdf
After the activity, one of the new literacy teachers, Corinna Wojciechowski, said that she planned on using the activity as an opening for her monthly K-3 literacy team meeting at her school. Her adaptation can be downloaded at this link:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/Corinna.pdf
The "Collecting Stories" icebreaker provided an opportunity to talk informally about the experiences of the first month. The structure that guided conversations, as well as ensured that everyone had a chance to speak and be heard on her own terms. My planned 20 minutes for the activity turned into 45 minutes because I didn't want to close down the conversations. We will definitely repeat the activity, revising the questions to fit emerging interests and needs.
I hope Ruth Shagoury enjoys seeing how her activity continues to "morph" into new forms as it is adapted by others.
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