Cheryl Graff and Andrew Van Herik are 9th grade teachers at an arts high school in Chicago, Illinois. Ms. Graff is a Diverse Learner Teacher and Mr. Van Herik is an English Language Arts Teacher who co-teach one section of Freshman English I. When the current pandemic forced schools to close their doors and switch to remote learning they noticed a major shift in student attitudes about learning. Ms.Graff noticed attendance rates were low and students shared they missed attending art classes in person. Ms. Graff and Mr. Van Herik quickly responded to their students' needs. Thinking outside the box, they developed a plan to increase student engagement in a remote learning setting.

Ms. Graff connected with professional artists on Twitter to share advice and provide writing prompts for students. So far she has received nine videos and many tweets from artists such as Grammy Award-Winning Singer Lisa Loeb, Screenwriter, Krista Vernoff (head screenwriter for ABC’s hit medical drama Grey’s Anatomy), Actress/Producer/Screenwriter, Nia Vardalos (My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1 & 2), Singer/Songwriter, Lori Lieberman, BMX Pro Rider Matt Wilhelm, Broadway Director, Jerry Mitchell, Lyric Soprano, Amanda Majeski, and TikToker/YouTube personality, Zach King. Ms. Graff and Mr. Van Herik are integrating these videos and tweets from professional artists with students as part of their curriculum so students continue to practice their reading, writing, and speaking skills in an online setting. Ms. Graff and Mr. Van Herik have shared some highlights below:

-Submitted by Cheryl Graff