Reimagining ELA and Library Instruction with Hands-on Creativity August 20, 2025 12PM EST

Amanda Hunt, MLS

20th year in education

Middle School Library Media Specialist + District Secondary Lead Librarian + Adobe Innovator

“How do your students currently show what they’ve learned—beyond writing?”

Why Creativity in ELA & Libraries?

The power of visual literacy and multimedia expression for comprehension.

Research connection: Students retain more when they visualize concepts.

Student engagement + voice: How creativity supports choice and authentic communication.

Lesson Ideas

Podcast Social Media Logo

Here’s an example of how students can bring their voices to life through Adobe Express. This graphic was designed by a student to promote a student-run podcast they created in class. Using Adobe Express, they combined bold visuals, their own logo, and a catchy tagline to make their podcast feel real and professional—just like something they’d see on Spotify or Instagram.

What makes this powerful is not just the design—it’s how the process pushed them to think critically about audience, purpose, and voice. By creating this post, the student wasn’t only learning digital design; they were strengthening ELA skills like persuasive writing, tone, and summarization. And because it looked authentic, they were motivated to share it with peers, turning classwork into something meaningful and public.

Head to the home page of Adobe Express and under Create choose Logo Maker

Character-Infused Social Posts: Students design Instagram/TikTok-style posts from a character’s POV

Visual Essays: Combine images, text, and design elements to analyze a theme or author’s craft.

GenAI Prompt: Combine images, text, and design elements to analyze Shakespeare's plays

Content Type: Graphic

Multimedia Book Reviews: Blend video, audio, and visuals to share authentic reading reflections.

Poetry in Motion: Students animate poems with text and imagery.

How To Get Started:

  • Start small: Assign a Guided Activity as a choice board option. *Use Adobe Classrooms to assign work easily and within the platform
  • Build gradually: Move from individual projects to collaborative class publications.
  • Differentiation: Using templates to scaffold for struggling learners, and open design options for advanced students.
  • Assessment ideas: Rubrics focused on comprehension, creativity, and communication—not just design.
  • ✨ New Adobe Express Tip: Use the built-in Brand Kit feature to help students maintain consistent fonts, colors, and logos across projects. This not only strengthens design skills but also teaches them about audience, tone, and professional presentation.

Design With Me!

Let's participate in a mini Guided Activity surrounding literacy + generative AI + creativity!