Imagine a lesson where the hieroglyphs are emojis and your students are the scribes of the digital age. "Emoji Storytellers" taps into a language students already speak fluently to teach the foundational principles of narrative structure—all without writing a single word.
In this activity, students will use the built-in iPad keyboard to create their own visual tales, complete with a beginning, middle, and end. They will translate favorite movie plots, retell personal experiences, or design clever visual puns. This approach makes abstract concepts like plot, character development, and theme tangible and fun. It encourages students to think critically and creatively about how to convey action, emotion, and sequence through symbols.
This lesson is a perfect blend of digital literacy and classic ELA, designed to boost creativity, interpretation, and communication skills. As students share and decode each other's work, they’ll have a blast while gaining a deeper understanding of how we tell stories in a modern world
1. The Hook: Guess the Emoji! (5 mins)
Begin with a fun, interactive warm-up. Project pre-made emoji sequences representing well-known movies (e.g., 🦁👑 for The Lion King) or common phrases. This immediately establishes that emojis can tell a story.
2. Direct Instruction: The Language of Emojis (10 mins)
Briefly review the core elements of a story: Beginning (characters/setting), Middle (event/problem), and End (resolution).
Using the Notes app on a projected iPad, model how to translate a simple fairy tale (like "The Three Little Pigs") into an emoji sequence, explaining your symbolic choices as you go.
3. Guided Practice & Brainstorming (10 mins)
As a class, choose a simple topic (e.g., "My Morning Routine") and build the emoji story together, inviting student suggestions.
Introduce the main task: students can choose to retell a movie/book, narrate a personal experience, or create a visual pun. Have them sketch ideas on paper first using the provided planner.
4. Independent Creation: Emoji Authors at Work (15 mins)
Students use the Notes app on their iPads to create their own emoji stories.
Circulate to provide support, prompting students to think symbolically about how to represent their ideas (e.g., "What emoji could show feeling scared? How can you show movement?").
5. Share & Interpret: The Emoji Gallery Walk (10 mins)
Students pair up and try to "read" each other's stories without any verbal clues.
The author then reveals the intended narrative, discussing any interesting or funny interpretations.
Showcase a few volunteer examples to the whole class for a final group discussion and reflection.
Going further:
Emoji Poetry: Challenge students to create a short poem that focuses on a feeling or a moment (like a haiku) using only emojis, moving beyond a linear plot.
Character Profile: Have students create a character profile for a figure from a book or history using only emojis to describe their personality, journey, and key relationships.
Animated Stories: Students can take screenshots of their emoji story elements and use an app like Keynote or iMovie to create a simple stop-motion animation, adding transitions and timing to enhance their narrative.
Cross-Curricular Connection: Partner with a Science or History teacher to have students summarize a process (like the water cycle or a historical event using emojis.
From the LearnGrowCreate team
Main author: Sharon
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