The writing process can be challenging for many students. Sanna's Language Arts workshops and residencies help students creatively enter the writing process through visual imagery. Sanna can help students explore any topic through a variety of means and can work with you to tailor a workshop or residency that combines her artistic mediums and skill sets with your curriculum and classroom goals. Sanna’s work is anchored in Social Emotional Learning and Culturally Responsive Teaching. Some program options are:

Altered Books & Visual Poetry: Sanna guides students in a transformative process where they turn a random page torn from a book into a piece of art with new and personal meaning. From the available vocabulary on their pages, students are challenged to find, select, choose, and connect words into new meaning. They will use design elements including movement, contrast, color, and line, to guide the reader’s eye and enhance the text. Altered Books is an artistic strategy that can transform a page of text into a piece of art with new intention. This fun and creative program can be adapted to specific needs. This accessible activity works well for students with a variety of abilities.

Planning & Telling Stories Through Sequential Imagery: To begin class, students collaborate with Sanna on a class story which she live-sketches into a storyboard actively showing the process of outlining a story. As she asks for — and edits— images and ideas in real time, she models the way writers make choices about story elements and sequencing, featuring characters similar to the students in the class. Sanna models trial and error, clarifying options, and making decisions for a storyline. Students are eager to use Sanna’s StoryArt process to create their own story. Depending on the number of visits, the product is a first draft or becomes a folded book with edits to both text and image. These strategies are transferable to any type of writing, and this can be adaptable across genres (fiction or nonfiction) such as personal narratives.