Description
Have your students create a collaborative poster and learn about LeVar Burton in a fun, fresh, and engaging way! Through this activity, students will explore Burton’s influential work as an actor, educator, reading advocate, and cultural icon known for Roots, Reading Rainbow, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. As they work together, they’ll also strengthen their teamwork and communication skills while contributing to one unified final product.
This biography research activity is a wonderful addition to ELA units, media studies, or lessons on influential figures in education and entertainment. Students will connect Burton’s contributions to literacy, representation, and storytelling to broader themes of empowerment, creativity, and social change.
Students will begin by researching LeVar Burton and gathering information about his background, career, and impact on education and the arts. They’ll then record their findings in the designated sections on the poster before working together to color or paint and assemble the final display. Once completed, the six-piece poster can be printed on regular paper or cardstock and will measure approximately 28" x 15" when taped together. For long-lasting classroom use, you can laminate the finished product!
This resource includes student directions, a project rubric, and a brainstorm graphic organizer. It also includes six blank coloring pages that come together to form one cohesive poster, a LeVar Burton answer key, an example of the final project colored, and a digitally colored example to guide and inspire your students.