DLIMH makes second visit to ULS. Heather Mertz makes her debut appearance as co-presenter with author Jayne Rose-Vallee.
I challenged the older students to think about creating a video production to leave as their legacy before they head off to middle school. Knowing ULS as well as I do, I thought their resources would allow them to tackle the bullying issue and community inclusiveness with an audio-visual approach.
We premiered a video we created with Maya Angelou showing one of her famous speeches talking about “Being a Rainbow in Somebody’s Cloud.” We hoped this would motivate or spark some imaginative within them. What we learned by watching the first school to view our “Poetry Imagination Video” was how they moved while watching it and how they wanted to discuss and talk to each other while it was going on. Since then as I continue to watch it with countless schools, I’ve learned to preempt teachers prior to watching it to assure them it’s okay for students to talk while the video is going on. I found they were disciplining children and hushing them to be quiet while watching it. The idea was for it to spark whatever happens – which is normally (I’ve found) communication between them, movement, tapping, swaying, clapping, beating, etc.
We are very fortunate to have ULS in our backyard here in Grosse Pointe. It’s a tremendous school which allows the imaginative and creative mind to thrive and grow. We’re always blessed to share in our hometown and grateful to be invited.
Go Knights!