3rd Grade Students Learn Literacy Skill

Getting the Meaning Across

Checking back in with Arts for Learning Lessons teachers and students at Sawyer Road Elementary School in Marietta, GA, we saw teachers and students working together to strengthen the student's ability to determine what is important and to synthesize information. Using "Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates" by Jonah Winter as the main text and the artwork of Romare Bearden for inspiration, the students are learning how to process information by working back and forth between reading, writing and speaking as well as hands-on art making tasks.

The 3rd grade students working with Ms. Susan Grigg discovered the importance of refining and enhancing the visual text of their artwork to align with their spoken text in order to make the meaning of both clearer to an audience.

Arts for Learning Lessons Partners with South Georgia School

Adrian School of Performing Arts

Partnering with Adrian School of Performing Arts, Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center introduced Arts for Learning Lessons to the first school outside Metro Atlanta. Initial planning with Principal Maria Daniels led to teacher selection with training and program dates set for October - December, 2010 and a residency with a Young Audiences visual artist in January, 2011.

After completing the professional learning workshop led by Arts for Learning Lessons Program Director, Barbara O'Brien, teachers and students began working together to develop the literacy skills of determining what is important and synthesizing. Teachers Frankie Malone (4th), Tammy Harrell (5th and Teacher of the Year), Misty Stoval (ELA 6-8), Sharon Wilson (EIP Reading and Math, 4&5) and Rossie Wiggins (Curriculum Coach) began applying newly acquired teaching strategies to improving student literacy skills.
Quoting Ms. Wiggins, "I hope this program will help our students increase their ability to move beyond what they visually are introduced to on a daily basis. I hope to see their imaginations come alive with a willingness to learn while enjoying various activities".

With the Arts for Learning Lessons Program, students are learning how to process information by working back and forth between reading, writing, speaking and hands-on art making tasks. "Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates" by Jonah Winter is the main text and the artwork of Romare Bearden are the resources used in each class session. The goal of this experiences expressed by Ms. Wiggins is to have "students grow from the activity that will involve them in student-centered learning", and by Ms. Wilson when she hopes the students will learn "to think independently and to use a higher level of thinking skills".

Arts for Learning Lessons is an arts-integrated complementary literacy program offered by Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center. The program is research-based and fully aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards in reading and writing and 21st Century Skills. It also serves as a professional learning model for educators, supporting teacher effectiveness in content delivery and innovative, differentiated instructional strategies.

 Adrian School of Performing Arts, located in Adrian, Georgia, serves students in grades pre-K through 8 and is part of Emanuel County school system.

Arts for Learning Lessons at Adrian School of Performing Arts was made possible by a generous donation by Nordson Corporation to Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center.

Follow Sawyer Road Teachers

Sawyer Road Elementary School teachers have agreed to share their hopes and experiences as they work with students to improve reading, writing and establishing 21st Century Skills through work with the Arts for Learning Lessons program. After being introduced to the program during the professional learning recently held at Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, each teacher shared initial expectations for students. The teachers were excited about the potential for increasing student literacy skills through an arts-integrated, research and standards based approach to learning.

View these initial statements and follow along with our four teachers as the Arts for Learning Lessons program unfolds at Sawyer Road Elementary School.

Arts for Learning Lessons Program Kicks Off New Year

Sawyer Road Elementary School

1st Arts for Learning School

2010-2011

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is delighted to welcome Sawyer Road Elementary School as our first Arts for Learning Lessons (A4LL) partner school for the 2010-2011 school year.  The leadership team at Sawyer Road requested Arts for Learning Lessons as a component of the school's extended-day program. Selected students from grades 3, 4, & 5 will hone their reading, writing and art making skills through the Everyday Heroes unit.  The biography of Roberto Clemente and the collage work of Romare Bearden provide a platform for practicing the literacy skills of determining importance and synthesizing.

Teachers from Sawyer Road participated in a day of professional learning held at the Woodruff Arts Center and conducted by Barbara O'Brien, Arts for Learning Program Director.  The training experience combined learning theory, assessment strategies and hands-on art activities.

Sawyer Road Elementary School is a member of the Marietta City Schools system and is an International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO). It is also one of seven schools in Georgia selected as a stop on the 18th Annual Bus Trip sponsored by the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education. 

"On the Road" with Arts for Learning Lessons

Young Audiences' Literacy Programs Shared at COMO

Arts for Learning Lessons was introduced to members of Georgia's leading literacy organizations at the 22nd gathering of the Georgia Council of Media Organizations (COMO) held recently in Athens, GA. COMO ogranizational members include: The Georgia Association of Instructional Technology, Georgia Library Media Association and the Georgia Library Association.

This conference was a great venue in which to share what Young Audiences has identified as the literacy suite of program offerings. Arts for Learning Lessons, (grades 3-8) smART stART (K) and Digital Storytelling (grades 7-12) are arts integrated approaches to literacy for classroom teacher in partnership with Young Audiences' artists and educators.

The 3 programs, aligned with the Georgia Performance Standards, are an important resource for administrators and teachers working to improve student acheivement in reading, writing and speaking.

Look for us on October 21-22 at the Georgia Art Education Association (GAEA).

New Arts-Integrated Literacy Program Comes to Georgia

Arts for Learning Lessons

Teachers Learn Strategies for Student Success

Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons was developed nationally by Young Audiences, Inc. in collaboration with a University of Washington design team led by Dr. John Bransford. The strength of the program is that it educates the whole child by developing the students' ability to learn and process information as they work back and forth between arts and literacy tasks.

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center introduced this program to Georgia in the spring of 2010. Teachers from 7 DeKalb County elementary schools were nominated by their principals to partipate in the Professional Learning experience. During this training, the teachers developed their skill in blending reading, writing and art techniques in order to analyze and interpret their understanding of an assigned book.

Returning to their schools, each teacher pair guided their students through the same process of analysis, critical thinking and creativity. Students demonstrated their new found confidence and communication skills in front of an audience of family and school friends at the completion of the program.

The research components of the Arts for Learning Lessons program were conducted by WestEd and Roanoke College.

The first schools in Georgia to participate in the Arts for Learning Lessons program include:

Glen Haven ES

Jolly ES

Oakcliff ES

Rainbow ES

Rowland ES

Snapfinger ES

Toney ES