Program / Event Details

Format: Multi-session, in-school residency (two or more sessions per class, delivered across multiple days)

Audience: Elementary grades, with two adaptable tracks based on developmental level:

• Grades 2–4 (original design): Culminates in a collaborative story quilt — a public art installation
• Grade 5+ (adapted track): Culminates in individually authored children’s storybooks, including digital publishing

Description: Across two or more one-hour sessions per class, students read, dissect, and pull themes from Mariah’s Maracas, then apply what they’ve learned to their own creative work. The residency blends literacy instruction with hands-on world-building — brainstorming characters, plot, and setting using storyboarding techniques — and gives students a structured path from initial ideas to a finished creative product.

For younger grades, this culminates in a class story quilt: a collaborative public art piece built from the themes students identify in the book. For older students, the residency can instead guide students through authoring, revising, and digitally publishing their own original children’s books, with one-on-one support from Dr. Ali-Coleman during the drafting and revision phase.

Intended Outcomes:

1. Literacy building — reading comprehension, prediction skills, genre differentiation, and narrative structure (plot, setting, character)
2. Community building — public speaking, active listening, and peer feedback through group and one-on-one discussion
3. Social-emotional learning — building resiliency and processing real-life emotions (migration, friendship, loss, identity, family heritage) through storytelling

Ideal for:

• English Language Arts and literacy-focused curricula
• Social-emotional learning (SEL) and resiliency-building initiatives
• Multi-day artist/author residencies
• Schools seeking a culminating showcase or public art installation
• Digital literacy integration (for older grades using book-making apps)

Duration: Flexible — typically two to three one-hour sessions per class, scheduled across multiple days; can be extended for larger cohorts or additional one-on-one drafting time

Materials/Space Needs: Classroom space; copies of Mariah’s Maracas; construction paper or storyboard tiles; posterboard (for story quilt); classroom laptops/tablets with book-making app access (for digital publishing track, if applicable)

Scheduling Note: As a program, this can be booked across multiple dates to fit a school’s calendar or unit plan. Because the residency has proven adaptable in real classroom settings — including a same-week shift from a 3rd-grade to a 5th-grade format — schools should confirm grade level and desired culminating product (story quilt vs. individual books) at the time of booking so materials and pacing can be tailored accordingly.