Fifth graders at Ocean Avenue Elementary School recently completed a Side x Side illustrated poetry and film program led virtually by teaching artists Anne Ackerman and Casey Ledoux. Integrated with a literacy unit on personal narrative, students created mixed media illustrated poems based on a verse from the book “Brown Girl Dreaming” by Jaqueline Woodson. Using Jacqueline Woodson’s “What I believe” words from the book as inspiration, students wrote their own “I Believe” poems. In response to the reading and class discussions on current events, students created mixed media illustrations that were used as background imagery for individual short films each student created featuring themselves reading their poems. The clips were organized together into one cohesive film by teaching artist and filmmaker Casey Ledoux.