RECOGNITION FOR ARTS FOR LEARNING SUPPORTERS

Woodruff Salutes & Arts for Learning Supporters

The Arts for Learning Program congratulates Elizabeth Eppes and Roberta Stutzman for being among the 2011 Nominees of the Woodruff Salutes. The Woodruff Salutes Georgia Arts in Education Leaders Recognition Program is designed to promote the value of the arts in education through recognition, cultivation, and engagement of leaders throughout Georgia who have championed and demonstrated the ability of the arts to positively impact the lives and learning of young people in grades Pre-K through 12. The honorees are chosen for their exemplary leadership in arts education and their impact on the community, state, and discipline they serve.

Elizabeth Eppes is the Coordinator of Visual and Performing Arts with the DeKalb County Schools. The strength of Elizabeth's early program vision served as a catalyst for the collaboration with Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center that brought the Arts for Learning Program to the DeKalb County Schools.

Roberta Stutzman is a former Art Educator at Rainbow Elementary School in DeKalb County and the 2010-2011 Teacher of the Year for Rainbow. Roberta is now a Teaching Artist in Young Audiences' Arts for Learning Program.



Arts for Learning Lessons: Beyond the Pilot

IMAPCTING LITERACY THROUGH THE ARTS

THE PILOT

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 trains teachers to deliver 16 hours of sequential instruction, 2-3 sessions per week, 40-60 minutes per session, to students during the regular school day. Students spend time working througth text with the instructor and reinterpreting what they learn througth hands-on group work. Outcomes are characterized by student driven learning, strengthened critical thinking skills and highly engaged hands-on learning.
 



The second part of the program is 5 hours of of arts instruction in a residency format. Led by a Young 

Audiences teaching artist, the residency allows students to work individually in a particular art form. At the program's conslusion, student are given a chance to share their knowledge and artwork with peers, parents, and the community.

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center introduced this program to Georgia in the spring of 2010. Teachers from seven 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. (See intial post for this blog on October 4, 2010 for more details.)  Returning to their schools, each teacher pair guided their students through the same process of analysis, critical thinking and creativity.

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

YEAR ONE

Fall, 2010

The fall semester marked the first opportunity for schools to apply to be accepted into the Arts for Learning Lessons Program.

Adrian School of Performing Arts



Adrian School of Performing Arts was the first school outside the Metro Atlanta area to collaborate with Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center in the use of the Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Program. Teachers in grades 4, 5 & 7 plus the literacy coach particiapted in a full day of professional development held at their school. With funding support from the Nordson Corporation Foundation, the participating Adrian teachers and students worked with A4L Unit 3: Everyday Heroes. A Young Audiences teaching artist delivered the Hero's Journey Residency. A 7th grade boy, after reading the biography of Roberto Clemente and creating a community collage on that text, commented that that "It (A4L Lessons) is better than just reading a book and answering the questions. It helps you remember the story better". 



Sawyer Road ES

Teachers at Sawyer Road Elementary School introduced Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons to students in grades 3, 4, and 5 of the schools' extended day program. Students met 3-days a week from October - December. The results of their hard work were shared with fellow students. Principal Jill Sims presented them with A4L certificates. Ms. Debbie Burleigh, Assistant Principal, described the Arts for Learning Program as "a wonderful experience for our students and our teachers".

Spring, 2011

In the Spring sememster of the 2010-2011, we returned to our roots in DeKalb County Schools to work with three new elementary schools.

Atherton



Selected Atherton teachers and students in grades 2, 3, 4 and 5 participated in Arts for Learning

Lessons  during the school day. Atherton gave us the model of a music teacher and 5th grade classroom teacher collaborating to deliver this arts and literacy integrated program.

Glen Haven



Glen Haven served as our first school completing a second year of Arts for Learning Lessons. Classroom teachers and YA teaching artist once again delivered Arts for Learning Lessons in an afterschool format for students in grades 4 and 5. From the Glen Haven Arts for Learning Team: "The Arts 4 Learning After School Program provided our students with an additinal literacy safety net. The Instructional Units are correlate to the Georgia Performance Standards which helped our boys and girls to acquire a deeper understanding of literacy while learning more about Art Forms, Techniques, and Elements. We were excited to learn that 96 % of the students that participated in the program (during the Pilot) met or exceeded the Reading Standards on the Georgia Criterion Referenced Competency Test".

Idlewood

Idlewood taught us how to work with an entire grade level. The Art Educator served as A4L Site Coordinator and Team Leader, and all 6 classes of second grade students participated in the Arts for Learning Program and Residency.  One of the teachers carried the A4L arts and literacy strategies into work her students did in Science and also in the creation of cards for Mother's Day.

Special Activities

During this first full academic year of Arts for Learning Lessons in Georgia schools,  Arts for Learning Program Director attended and gave presentations at several state and national conferences, including Georgia Arts Education Association, Beyond School Hours, and National Young Audiences.

Arts for Learning Lessons: Impacting Literacy Through the Arts

 The Arts for Learning Lessons (A4L) Program was highlighted in 2 workshop sessions during the recent Beyond School Hours XIV that was held in Atlanta for educators and staff in afterschool programs. The hands-on activity was the high point for the A4L workshop participants.

THE PROCESS

Glen Haven ES teacher, Kimberli Maxwell, read an excerpt from Jose Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates by Jonah Winter to the participants. Members in each small group were asked to listen to the story of Clemente's early life in Puerto Rico and determine what details were most important. Each group had to agree on the most significant information given the facts they had just heard in the story excerpt.

The next task was to turn to turn to their  box of art supplies and select materials that would help them re-create the parts of the story that they found to be "most important".

THE FINAL PRODUCT

The A4L team presenting the workshop modeled the process students experiences as they move back and forth from reading text to group discussion, writing and hands-on art making. In the A4L Lessons Unit, Everyday Heroes, students complete this same cycle of work as they read the full story of Roberto Clemente's life and create narrative collages to express what they found to be the important details. 

Teachers, students - and workshop participants - all come to realize the powerful learning that results when literacy & the arts are combined.

Some of the final collages from the workshop are shown below.

Partnership Model for Student Success Through Literacy & The Arts

A4L LESSONS PROGRAM & GLEN HAVEN ES PARTNER for STUDENT SUCCESS

A4L Presenters: Barbara O'Brien, Vera McKenzie, Francine Goodman, Kimberli Maxwell

The good news came in November, 2010. The conference proposal to tell other educators about the partnership between Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center's Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons and DeKalb County's Glen Haven Elementary School had been accepted! More importantly, we could now share the success students achieved by working with dedicated teachers in a curriculum based program grounded in literacy and the arts. February, 2011 was circled on the calendar as the date to give two presentations at the  Beyond School Hours XIV national conference in Atlanta, GA.

Inspired by the students' work in the A4L Lessons unit on Everyday Heroes, we designed a workshop that would allow participants to explore strategies for reflective thinking, creative problem solving, and critical thinking through literacy and the arts.

We used a team approach to talk about the partnership between the A4L Lessons program and Glen Haven Elementary School, the professional learning for the teachers, resources and instruction, assessment, and documented success for the students.

 

Participants working on Everyday Heroes Collage

For the participants, having the opportunity to experience the dynamic hands-on aspect of the literacy and arts activities was the highlight of the workshop. They heard an excerpt from the book, Roberto Clemente, Pride of the Pittsburgh Pirates. The next task was to work in small groups (collage communities) just as the A4L students do to determine the important facts in what they heard then represent those facts in a group collage. The sharing at the end of the workshop again supported what we see in students who participate in the A4L Lessons program: the high level of engagement, processing information, decision making and unique responses from each group. 

Sharing Accomplishments

A4L Lessons & Grade Level Reading

Conference Organizers Include A4L Lessons Presentation in Grade Level Reading Strand

Participants attending the national Beyond School Hours Conference XIV in Atlanta could concentrate on a strand of program offerings that focused on helping students read on grade level by the end of 3rd grade. Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center's Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons program was included in the list of 13 presentations available to educators focused on that topic.

Foundations for a Brighter Future, the organization that sponsored the conference,  shared their initiative Grade Level Reading, An Action Framework for School and District Leaders with all conference participants. This publication and the program offerings available at the conference were designed to help educators help students to stay on track with literacy skills. What research tells us is that students who are reading on grade level by the end of the 3rd grade are the students most likely to be successful throughout their school career.

More on Beyond School Hours Conference



Susan McQuade & Barbara O'Brien





A4L Leadership Team Takes Advantage of Conference Offerings

Susan McQuade, Director of Program Initiatives for Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center and Barbara O'Brien, Arts for Learning (A4L) Lessons Program Director, attended the Beyond School Hours national conference in Atlanta.  The conference workshops & large group sessions provided an ideal setting for professional learning as these members of the Leadership Team begin to plan the A4L program for the 2011-2012 program year.

Some of the sessions Barbara & Susan attended included topics on Family Engagement, Project Data Collection, Community Partnerships, Strategies for Teaching English Language Learners, Program Funding Sources and Creating Partnerships for Summer Program Delivery.

Afterschool: Effective & High Quality

National Conference In Atlanta

Beyond School Hours  XIV, the national conference organized by Foundations, Inc., is meeting in Atlanta from February 23-26, 2011. Programs at the conference offer opportunities to focus on student success in school, afterschool and in the community.

In one of the first sessions, we were all reminded that an effective & high quality afterschool experience for students and teachers is created when the following realities are in place:
> The staff sees themselves as educators.
> The responsible adults in the program know what students are learning during the school day
> Leaders are trained in appropriate methods & techniques for afterschool instruction and activities.
> The afterschool team has plans & tools to reflect on and assess the programs along with student progress.

This session was interesting and helpful as the Arts for Learning Lessons Program builds on its initial introduction in DeKalb County as an extended day program at 7 elementary schools.

A4L Lessons Teachers Presenting at Beyond School Hours Conference

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center and DeKalb's Glen Haven Elementary School

Present at National Conference



Francine Goodman, Kimberli Maxwell, Vera McKenzie

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center introduced the Arts for Learning Lessons Program to Georgia in Spring, 2011.  DeKalb County's Glen Haven Elementary School was one of the original 7 school sites for the extended day collaboration around this Arts & Literacy curriculum based program know as Arts for Learning Lessons.

The 3 Glen Haven teachers and Arts for Learning Lessons Program Director, Barbara O'Brien, decided to tell the story of the collaboration, teacher team building, and student achievement in the context of arts & literacy curriculum activities. They submitted a proposal to the Beyond School Hours XIV when this national conference convenienes in Atlanta, February 23-26, 2011.



Barbara O'Brien



Barbara is pleased to announce that the conference proposal has been accepted. Look for the A4L team at 2 sessions of the conference. The topic: Inspiring Everyday Heroes: A Partnership Model for Student Success Through Literacy and the Arts.



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