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RSVP: 2020 watch party

 

Arts-infused instruction

Predicated on a belief in the power of play in the classroom, Literacy Unbound seeks to unbind traditional approaches to the teaching of reading and writing, troubling the divide between critical and creative thinking, demonstrating that intellectual rigor ultimately requires both.  

Our approach brings teachers and students together as creative collaborators to re-imagine challenging, classic texts through multiple modalities. We reinvigorate classroom communities using arts-infused, project-based, collaborative curricula developed around a shared text, increasing student engagement and building community in the process. While many arts-integrated organizations work primarily with students, we believe that by positioning this work as teacher education, we can create enduring practices with sustainable impact.

 

Literacy Unbound in action

Brian Veprek, lead facilitator of the 2018 Summer Institute, talks through the process of the 2018 Literacy Unbound Institute, where players created an immersive performance based on Upton Sinclair's The Jungle

Brian Veprek, one of the lead facilitators of the 2017 Summer Institute, helps bring together teachers and students to create an original piece of performance art based on a novel. For the first time this past summer 2017, Literacy Unbound took place in Teachers College's Learning Theater, a versatile learning space where nothing, from the walls to the lighting, is fixed.

The Literacy Unbound 2017 Summer Institute: remixing Heart of Darkness

Award-winning quintuple threat Lisa Strum shows students unconventional ways to harness their creativity during the Literacy Unbound summer institute at the Smith Learning Theater

Dr. Adele Bruni Ashley gives an overview of the Literacy Unbound pedagogy and experience during the 2017 Summer Institute

Christine Slingerland, a longtime teacher in NYC, brought her teaching experience to the 2017 Summer Institute held in the Teachers College Learning Theater, where she led a workshop in music and vocalization

Jennine Willet takes her experiences as a co-director of Third Rail Projects and leads a workshop on immersive theater experiences at the 2017 Summer Institute

Donna Costello encourages students to use movement to delve into literature for an entirely new artistic experience during the Literacy Unbound's study of The Heart of Darkness in Teachers College's Smith Learning Theater

The 2014 Summer Institute comes to life as players remix Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

 

RSVP: 2020 Watch Party

 

Resources

DON'T JUST READ LITERATURE, EXPERIENCE IT
​Rich meaning-making happens when we find ways to experience literature together. ​

INVITATIONS TO CREATE
​Engaging multimedia prompts designed to support students in their reading and understanding of a shared piece of literature; free to download. 

2020 INSTITUTE WATCH PARTY
​Our culminating event — an original, collaboratively generated film inspired by Jhumpa Lahiri's Pulitzer Prize winning collection of short stories, Interpreter of Maladies. This event requires a reservation; however, there is no cost to attend. RSVP here.