Perhaps you have heard of the recent movie Dolphin Tale, an inspirational, family-oriented film about a young dolphin who survived the severe injury of her tail. After seeing trailers for the film this past summer, Kitty Albright, enrichment coach at Clifford M. Granger School in Agawam Public Schools in Massachusetts, was inspired to create enrichment material for her students in grades 1–4 that she could share with her fellow educators. She developed three assignments and published her templates to all teachers within her school. Renzulli Learning’s customer support representative Sharon Rosenthal saw the submission and thought it would be wonderful to share the assignments with Renzulli Learning users across the globe, as opposed to just within Kitty’s school. To optimize Kitty’s submission for the broader audience, John Espy, Renzulli Learning curriculum alignment project manager, combined her three original activities into a single activity, included additional enrichment activities to enhance the offering, and differentiated the challenge levels so that the single assignment would suit all first- through fourth-graders.
At first, Kitty shared the assignment with a few other teachers in her school. Within a week, almost every teacher in the school was using the assignment, and, wherever Kitty went in the school, she was greeted by the excited voices of children talking about Renzulli Learning and Winter, the famous dolphin. Thrilled with the response, both from students and from teachers, Kitty says, “I will continue to use Renzulli Learning as a means to maximize the educational possibilities inherent in current events that are of interest to the kids!”
To access the “Dolphin Tale” Renzulli Learning assignment template:
- Log in to Renzulli Learning as a teacher
- Go to Toolbox > Assignment Maker > Create Using Templates
- Choose “Dolphin Tale” from the drop-down menu under “Quick Template Lookup.”
To submit an assignment template for universal use, please submit your first name, last name, school, district, state, and assignment template title to jhalter@compasslearning.com.
