The staff at ByronCenter Christian (BCCS) have been taking a deep dive into Storyboards this year–exploring how the Storyboard can support each class’s journey into their Deep Hope and Storyline. As Kristin VanWieren, TFT lead, explains, “The introduction of storyboards began after the majority of our staff received TfT training. In response to goals set after our site visit, BCCS participated in storyboard-focused professional development. We continue to grow, try, and explore new ways of using storyboards to document our classroom journeys and invite student interaction in the process. Each storyboard has its own flair as it reflects the unique learning experiences of this school year.” Below are a few examples.
‍

Abby Helder, Kindergarten

Storyline: Let Your Light Shine

Deep Hope: Dear Children of the King, My deep hope is that we would know Jesus loves us, and know this love gives us a special light inside our hearts. Together, we will help each other shine our lights brightly...showing to all that Jesus is the light of the world.

Let Your Light Shine. Our Storyboard revolves around light. Each source of light represents a way to shine for Jesus. We start with the sun and add a Bible ABC verse to focus our week on. Each throughline is also represented with a light. The students learn that there are many light sources and many ways to shine Jesus’ light...especially if we work together. The students see how their light fits into our storyline and share it on our Storyboard.

I can shine Jesus’ light by being a Beauty Creator. The students enjoy adding beautiful things that they have created up on our storyboard.

I can shine Jesus’ light by being a CreationEnjoyer. When the students are at recess, they often find pieces of God’s creation and they want me to add them to our storyboard.

Deb Vredevoogd, 1st Grade

Storyline: Spread His love, live like Jesus

Deep Hope: My deep hope is that each child would know God’s lavish love for them in Jesus, and would spread that love to others using the unique gifts God has given them.

Our first memory verse is I John 3:1, “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children ofGod! And that is what we are!” The phrase “God’s lavish love” is the basis of my deep hope. When we introduce the verse, we demonstrate the word “lavish” using jelly that we lavish on bread for students to eat. We discuss how God has lavished His love on us, so that we have plenty to spread to others.  During “jam sessions,” students share, and then write or draw on blobs of jam about times when they have seen someone spreading God’s love or when they have done it themselves.

We discuss God’s order in creation when we look at the sky and discover patterns in the sun’s movement and the moon phases in science.

When we learned about Martin LutherKing as a justice seeker, we also discussed what God says about our words.  We tied those two ideas together by thinking of ways that we could use our words to be justice seekers.

Molly Nagelkirk, 7th-8th Grade Language Arts

Storyline: Here for a Purpose

Deep Hope: My deep hope is that we will use language and story to serve God and grow more into our own vitalcharacters in His Story.

The mountain structure of my Storyboard represents our journey through the school year. Each flagpole planted on a mountain is a unit, a “stop” along our journey. A color-coded learning target corresponds to each unit. They establish our larger purpose for the unit which emphasizes my Storyline: “Here for a purpose.” Each learning target is surrounded by artifacts that represent how we lived into the purpose for the unit. The Storyboard serves as a reminder of all we’ve learned and reinforces our current purpose for learning.

Student quotes and projects reflect our learning target, considering how God’s methods of teaching us lessons are paralleled in an author’s development of a theme within a novel.

Seventh graders show how their rereading of The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe deepened their understanding of the novel and God’s Story through reflections.