Third-grade students at Lou Henry were abuzz this week with ideas for new worlds and characters to fill their freshly fractured fairytales. Fractured fairytales, by definition, are when writers take a traditional fairytale and fracture the storyline by changing the setting, characters, conflict, fantasy, or lesson, in order to root the story in something old, and write it into something new. Teaching artist, Dr. Qiana Cutts, says this process is especially helpful for elementary students, giving them a template of storytelling, while also making room for self-expression and creative ideation.
The storytelling process was a collaborative process within the classroom, allowing groups of students to determine their collective story for the group project. Both Cutts and the teaching staff were happily surprised to see the students communicate respectfully with one another, debating storyline details and descriptive components of their fairytales. Some story examples include Cinderella in space, a gingerbread man who gets gobbled up by sea creatures, and a riff off Jack and the Bean Stalk called The Cowboy and the Cactus.
“Fractured fairytale is just taking some aspect of what we know to be a traditional fairytale and making it your own,” said Cutts. “I think what I’ve seen with the students, and also talking with the teachers after we have the lessons, is that the student’s identities and their emotions are showing up in the way they want to fracture the stories.”
Cutts says that some students enjoy detailing the gory particulars of horror stories, describing the story’s fantastical setting, or scripting the conflict line to mirror something they’re working through themselves.
“I think the arts is a place where we thrive, where we become our best selves, and where we heal,” said Cutts. “With so much going on in the world, and just so much – so many challenges in different areas of our lives, we need that moment of stillness. So I would encourage everyone to always lean into the artistry because I think that’s where we find our most authentic selves and our most peaceful selves.”
Cutts’ teaching artist residency at Lou Henry is part of the revival of arts integration work started in 2003 with UNI’s Gallagher Bluedorn Performing Arts Center. This Spring, Waterloo Schools is bringing professional teaching artists from across the country to share their lessons with students and engage teachers in the arts integration method of teaching. Earlier this month, teaching artist Quynn Johnson used tap dance to help students learn about self-expression and opinion writing at Becker Elementary. In May, Cierra Kaler-Jones will begin her residency at Lincoln Elementary, teaching students about memoir writing.
“It’s really nice that we’re doing these pilots with the single grade levels, to start drumming up excitement,” said Travis Gratteau-Zinnel, district instructional coach for fine arts. “It’s been very interesting to see. When we think of community we often think of Waterloo at large, and it’s so nice to see the classroom community really flourish and have intentional moments of listening to each other and engaging in a process where everyone is respected.”
Thankfully, the students are just as eager to get started. In the week’s sessions, they’ve been engaged in the storytelling, and have taken a ‘yes and’ approach to the work together.
“There’s been one hundred percent more engagement,” said Kirsten Wrage, Lou Henry literacy coach. “It’s just been great to see kids working together through things, and having really great conversations about their ideas.”
On Thursday, the students performed their fractured fairytales for parents, staff, and community members at their family night for the program’s capstone event. While Lou Henry’s week of programming may have come to an end, students and staff have taken this immersive experience to heart, and are ready to continue leaning into their creativity, one fairytale at a time.
