Piecing it Together

Last Spring, I was overjoyed when a local cafe owner contacted me to donate his book and magazine collection. Disappointment set in when I realized that most of the materials were about cooking, not the best subject for teaching because how many pictures of food are really needed? 


Since then, I have tried in vain to get my English teacher colleagues as excited about these "free" resources as I was. I carted boxes around to various meetings only to left alone to cart the boxes back. 


This year, I introduced the idea of a book club in my classroom and brought the magazines along with me to class to use as a source for pictures and decoration for the posters made to present the books.


I showed my students how to cut pictures of strawberries out to make flames when no picture of fire is available. I demonstrated how pictures can be layered and not organized in a linear way. Eventually, I saw my students posters come to life and not only is our classroom now gorgeous, but hopefully my students can share the art of collages with their future students as well!