439: How to Play Genre Trashketball (A Lesson + A Game)

"What's this?" I was crouched alongside a student on the first day of school as she filled out her reading profile. She pointed her pink highlighter at the section of genres, unsure how to proceed. I wanted to know if she liked scifi or romance, dystopia or suspense or YA. She wanted to know what they were, and she wasn't the only one to ask. So I pushed back my plans for the next class a bit, and made time for a lesson on genre instead. And it was such a blast, I want to share it with you today, in case your students are asking the same questions as mine. Today I'll walk you through a speedy way to introduce the idea of genres across artistic disciplines, a fun option for brain-dumping the background knowledge kids may or may not realize they've already got when it comes to genre, and then a game you can play to bring it all together that's not just great retrieval practice, but also helps bond your new community of kids as they get to know each other. Make a Copy of the Slides for this Lesson: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1UMIrcBKJhxxuzjE1i-AkUdQV6y4H5YQO1BvO5pkFyuM/copy Go Further:  Explore alllll the Episodes of The Spark Creativity Teacher Podcast. Grab the free Better Discussions toolkit Snag three free weeks of community-building attendance question slides Get my popular free hexagonal thinking digital toolkit Launch your choice reading program with all my favorite tools and recs, and grab the free toolkit. Join our community, Creative High School English, on Facebook. Come hang out on Instagram.  Enjoying the podcast? Please consider sharing it with a friend, snagging a screenshot to share on the 'gram, or tapping those ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ to help others discover the show. Thank you!