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.