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The School District of Philadelphia & Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership ARTS BRIDGES BUILDING LITERACY THROUGH AN INTEGRATED ARTS COLLABORATIVE MODEL YEAR 3 2008-2009 United States Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement Arts in Education Model Development & Dissemination Grant
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Page 1: The School District of Philadelphia Philadelphia Arts … · The School District of Philadelphia & Philadelphia Arts in Education ... Ethan Allen Elementary School ... • Students

The School District of Philadelphia&

Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership

Arts Bridges

Building literAcy through An integrAted

Arts collABorAtive Model

yeAr 32008-2009

United States Department of Education, Office of Innovation and ImprovementArts in Education Model Development & Dissemination Grant

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Page 3: The School District of Philadelphia Philadelphia Arts … · The School District of Philadelphia & Philadelphia Arts in Education ... Ethan Allen Elementary School ... • Students

The School District of Philadelphia&

Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership

Arts Bridges

Building literAcy through An integrAted

Arts collABorAtive Model

yeAr 3 2008-2009

Project funded by United States Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, Arts in Education Model Development & Dissemination Grant

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School Reform CommissionThe School District of Philadelphia

Robert L. Archie, Jr., Esq., ChairmanDenise McGregor Armbrister, Commissioner

Joseph A. Dworetsky, CommissionerAmb. David F. Girard-DiCarlo, Ret., Commissioner

Johnny Irizarry, Commissioner

Arlene C. Ackerman, Ed.D., Superintendent of SchoolsLeroy D. Nunery II, M.B.A., Ed.D., Deputy Superintendent

Tomás Hanna, Associate Superintendent of Academic SupportDavid Weiner, Associate Superintendent of Academics

Penny Nixon, Associate Superintendent of SchoolsLinda P. Chen, Deputy, Teaching and Learning

Pearl B. Schaeffer, Chief Executive OfficerRaye M. Cohen, Director of Education

Megan Borderieux, Director of Administration

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The School District of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership and began their collaboration in 2006-2007 on Arts Bridges: Building Literacy Through an Integrated Arts Collaborative Model, a grant of federal funds to The School District of Philadelphia by the United Sates Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, under the Arts in Education Model Development & Dissemination Grant Program, to implement a comprehensive arts-integrated program. The intent of this grant is to demonstrate that the arts will improve literacy skills of the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students.

Designed as a quasi-experimental research project, this four-year program engages students at five schools in arts-based learning collaborations, integrating the arts into the core literacy curriculum. Each grade level collaborative project includes two arts residencies with leading Philadelphia arts institutions and teaching artists addressing critical grade level literacy goals as defined by The School District of Philadelphia Literacy Curriculum; establishes a six-month arts integrated, thematic approach to address these goals; and develops scope and sequence curricula for classroom implementation. The fourth grade was the focus of the first year of this program. In 2007-2008, fifth grade students were added; and in 2008-2009, sixth grade students will come onboard completing the vision of this program. The original group of fourth grade students will have completed three full years in the program by May 2009.

Arts Bridges Year Two began with an emphasis on professional development for cohort teams of class-room teachers, arts specialists, arts organization managers, and teaching artists. This emphasis on pro-fessional development grew out of the formative and summative results of the Arts Bridges assessment plan that involved gathering data from many sources during the pilot year. This data came from surveying all professional development workshops, from on-site observations by PAEP personnel, curriculum con-sultants, and School District of Philadelphia evaluators, and from the end of year conference report-out by teachers, principals, teaching artists, and arts organization managers. Relying heavily on what we learned, PAEP concluded that to produce the most effective method of using the arts to build literacy skills, we needed an approach that was specific and highly directed toward teacher-identified literacy goals. Working with our consultants, we devised a model in which arts skill sets are aligned with literacy goals directly taken from The School District of Philadelphia literacy curriculum. This alignment provided the infrastructure from which arts projects were designed and implemented in Arts Bridges schools. Since matched skill sets drove the arts processes, whether it was in the literacy residencies or the visual art or music residencies, connections between the specific art skills and their matched literacy skills were made apparent to the students. Classroom teachers, arts specialists, literacy artists, and the visual or music artists constantly reinforced this learning from multiple perspectives.

The Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership and The School District of Philadelphia proudly present this catalogue as a year-three record of student achievement.

Art Bridges

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Ethan Allen Elementary School

Arts Partners

Philadelphia Museum of ArtAh-Young Kim, Museum Educator

Teaching Artists

Marie Elcin, Visual ArtistSusan Windle & Ellen Mason, Poets

Participating Teachers

Linda Cardonick, 4th GradeMalcolm Simkallay, 4th GradeErika Leach, 4th GradeRhoda Laptiste, 5th GradeMelissa Canuso, 5th GradeRon Berger, 5th GradeKathleen Kremis, 5th GradeEugene Inniss-Griffith, 6th GradeBonnie Wilson, 6th GradeKathleen Taylor-Sauermelch, 6th GradeKathy Edger, Art SpecialistSharon Reich, Music Specialist

Project

Philadelphia Museum of Art, Visions of a Different Dream, and the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade Ethan Allen teachers collaboratively developed and implemented art and poetry projects that strengthened students’ un-derstanding in the three targeted literacy skills of:

• Compare and contrast• Vocabulary building• Figurative language

Students explored ways that poetry can be used to express, enhance, and transform the self and commu-nity. This included building a strong vocabulary, using poetic tools (literacy devices) for effective communica-tion, comparing concepts of strength in literacy texts, discovering our own strengths through writing, build-ing strong relationships through mutual listening and creative collaboration. Working with the visual artist students in each grade produced 3 projects exploring drawing, print, and textile techniques. The projects in-volved planning and execution through group collabo-ration and targeted the literacy skills as well through art skill development.

Project Theme

The overall theme of the project for 4th, 5th, and 6th grades was “Strength.” Working within this theme of “Strength,” chosen by the teachers and artists, the poets defined their mission as “Finding Our Strength through Words” and the visual artist made a connec-tion to this by using the theme of personal strength and the strength of words and images.

Project Learning Goals/Standards

The students applied each of the targeted literacy skills in their creation of original art work to learn by doing. The learning goals and standards for these projects were:

• Identify and use figurative language • Build vocabulary• Compare and contrast elements within and • between texts• Strengthen students’ sense of being individuals

within community• Build skills in oral presentation• Gain knowledge of and practice with the poetic

line as fundamental to poetry• Learn how to understand a poem by listening

carefully to the words • Build capacity for writing by increasing comfort

level with the writing process• Introduce collaborative writing

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The over-arching goals for all grades were to build stu-dents’ enthusiasm for language through the experience of poetry and visual art and to grow their capacity to use language artfully as a tool to explore their own lives and communicate what is important to them.

Student worked created

All of the students in 4th, 5th, and 6th grades were en-gaged and inspired by studying poetry as an impetus to generate student writing. Everyone worked on learning the basics of how a poem was constructed (lines, stan-zas, imagery and other literary devices). “Word Towers” were created by each student to help keep track of new words the students used in their own writing.

The fourth grades began by searching for words of ob-jects, emotions, and art elements found within repro-ductions of works of art from the museum collection. The students then alphabetized and used these words to create an alliterative sentence, which they illustrated. They continued with their found words and created lists of synonyms and antonyms. They explored ideas of op-posites in art and textiles (color, direction, textures, etc) and transposed their synonym/antonym lists to fabric strips to be woven together in a class weaving.

After a compare/contrast activity on the topic of strength and protection using images of medieval armor and a Japanese Fireman’s Kimono, the students wrote out words of self-protection onto strips of paper to be rolled into a bead. Their final project was to create a bound book with their illustration on the cover, their protective bead on the binding, and their poetry work within. Stu-dents were encouraged to find strength in words, by ex-panding their vocabulary, learning to be more observant of details in art and the world around them, and recog-nizing their accomplishments in literacy and visual arts.

The fifth grades also launched their vocabulary build-ing by discovering words in art reproductions. Their word lists were expanded to include synonyms and antonyms. They explored opposites in art (comple-mentary colors, contrasting values, foreground/back-ground, differences in texture and pattern) and created high contrast word art, using transposed lists of syn-onyms and antonyms to create pattern over the words. Their individual word art blocks were then assembled into a “strip quilt.”

Continuing with the theme of quilts, students compared and contrasted African-American and Amish quilts and learned about quilt structure, construction, and personal expression. Students then created a “quilt” fabric collage to use as the cover of a journal for their completed poetry. Again, students were encouraged to find strength in words, to be empowered by their expanded ability to communicate verbally and visually, and to feel pride in themselves and their community.

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The sixth graders started off with an exercise in communicating and drawing. After reviewing art vo-cabulary, students took turns describing a paintng or drawing from reproductions ifor their partner to draw. Afterwards, students assessed their facility in listening and communi cating. They then compared and con-trasted work by Frida Kahlo to see how artists express their opinions and ideas about themselves and their environment. They discussed positives and negatives about their community and wrote out their ideas on pa-per strips that were woven into a map of Philadelphia to be used as a background for their class portrait.

Since text was used in the class portrait background, the students compared and contrasted the use of text in both Asian and contemporary American artwork. Students developed a personally expressive font for their names for a banner that included a self-portrait profile, their names, and their name poem, completed with the poet partners. The final project continued with the themes of text in art, personal expression, and find-ing inspiration in contemporary and historical artwork. Students reviewed the poetry they’d written and dis-covered correlations between poetry and visual images (rhythm, focal point, description) in order to create a po-etry scroll book with color, pattern, and imagery to com-plement their written words. Throughout the residency, students were encour aged to understand themselves and their ways of communicating verbally and visually to make them stronger members of a community.

Project Assessment & Evaluation

In addition to School District and PAEP methods of evaluation, assessment tools included:

• On-going monitoring of and assistance with stu-dents’ work as it was created

• On-going sharing of student work in each class• Review of student folders • Student oral presentations of work in culminating

assembly• Review of completed student poetry, mounted,

and hung • Continuing conversations with teachers before

and after class• Teacher evaluation forms • Student collaborative reviews and written exer-

cises • Final student poem

Measurable Outcomes

Literary Art

• In every grade, most of the students gained signifi-cant confidence to share their new vocabulary.

• Overall, student writing became stronger by dem-onstrating an increased amount of writing, more details, expanded vocabulary and creativity.

• Correct use of figurative language expanded. • Students developed a repertoire of poetic devices

to use in the creation of their own poems.• Students demonstrated an increased ability to ex-

press themselves on paper and orally. A safe cli-mate was created in each classroom to encourage that expression.

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Measurable Outcomes

Visual Art

• Students expanded their vocabulary, learned to be more observant of details in art and the world around them, and recognized their accomplish-ments in both literary and visual art.

• Students increased their confidence as artists and learn to talk and ask questions about art.

• They improved their ability to use elements and principles of art to make a statement.

• They were able to identify between similar and dif-ferent characteristics among works in the arts.

• Students were empowered by their expanded abil-ity to communicate verbally and visually, and to feel pride in themselves and their community.

• Students learned to understand themselves and their ways of communicating verbally andvisually to make them stronger members of a community.

The Calling

I hear the flowers as they swish.The trees’ leaves are calling me. The birds chirp as the windBlows through my hair. The wind is whistling. I see the branches reaching out to me. Ev-erything is calling me. What part of nature is calling you?

~ Vicky, 4th grade

Every Question

Every questionhas its own answer.But not everyoneknows it.

My biggest problem is—who was the first humanin this world?I have asked this to my Mom and Dadbut they didn’t answer me.

~ Yuki, 4th grade

I Am

I am a footprint lyingin the sand, waiting untilsomeone comes for me.

I am a bookmark readingthe adventures in the books.

I am a stone trying to find my way throughthe clouds.

~ Ashley, 4th grade

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Lilies

How do lilies find their wayin the ground to that shiny place?Lilies dig their way outof that dark placeto their home, to live, to live longerfor rain to drop so they can drinkthe fresh water of a very,very sweet home.

~ Unique, 4th grade

A Sentence

A sentence is a birdwhich expresses itself.

A sentence is a wormhiding from the birdof expression.

A sentence is an antdigging for leftoversfrom other animals.

A sentence is a homefor all animals to live in.

A sentence driftslike a flower seed in a meadowwaiting for a place to landand call home.

~ Jose, 5th grade

This Place

This placeis my kingdomI am the king beingserved.I live hereday and nightwondering abouteverything.

Hearing the treessway, and the flowers singand the insectsbeating wings ortheir legs.My kingdom ismy home with the shining sun overmy kingdom that willalwaysbemyhome.

~ David, 6th grade

A Glorious Spark

Through the fog there is a shine.Burning through the moonless sky. Although cloudy a flame shinesThrough the darkness.The shine is evenMore luminous than beforeMaking the charcoal skyGlow with a glorious spark.

~ Marcus, 6th grade

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On My Way

On my way I willclimb the biggestmountain I willcrawl through darkestnight I will reachand reach until I reach the top and achieve my goal and become My Dream onmy way until I reachthe top. I will keep on climbing no matter whathappens and how bad thingsget. I will never putmy head down. I will always keep my head upOn My Way.

~ Miguel, 5th grade

I am the Sun

Iam the sun, making snow melt,making people warm,making the bees swarm anywhere they want.

Iam the sun making the leaves andtrees as hot as me.

If you want some company just look up at the sky, you’ll see me. ~ Lee, 6th grade

Sitting Here

I’m sitting here thinking ofa poem, trying to keep mycool under this pressure.I just loosen up my mind and don’t think. I let my pencildo the talking for me.It moves as fast as lightening. It speaks bylines and circles. It has its own mind to itself. It is connectedto my hand and it’s neverletting go until thisPoem is finished. Itwill write and writeuntil it thinks this poemis right. So I’m sitting here realizing that I justfinished this poem in onlya few minutes. And all thanks to my little friendmy pen.

~ Thomas, 6th grade

Drop

Drop the words out of your tree.Let the key open the trackThat leads you to the paths of lines.Walk through those pathsAnd drop the apples from your big tree.Bringing the roots from the seedLet it grow and you will seeThat everything in your pathWas really easy.

~ Alexus, 5th grade

This Place

Please open youreyes and see whatis on the other sideof your heart.

~ Daniela, 6th grade

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William Cullen Bryant Elementary School

Arts Partners

Philadelphia Young PlaywrightsAmy Hodgdon, Education Director

The Clay StudioAnnette Monnier, Outreach Coordinator

Teaching Artists

Dwight Wilkins, PlaywrightDebbie Williams, Ceramic Teaching ArtistLinda Fernandez, Ceramic Teaching Assistant

Participating Teachers

Beth Kline, 4th Grade Oneka Milner, 4th GradeAnne Marie Kozakowski, 4th Grade Ryakkia Johnson, 5th Grade Denise Moore, 5th GradeKimberly Walker, 5th GradeElizabeth Whatley, Ph.D., 6th Grade Jason Johnson, 6th GradeKenneth Oxley, Art SpecialistPhilip Romeo, Music Specialist

Project

Claymobile, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and the 4th, 5th and 6th grade Bryant teachers collaboratively developed and implemented experiential playwriting and ceramic arts projects that strengthened students’ grasp of three targeted reading skills. The three reading skills were:

• Identify and explain main ideas and relevant supporting details from text.

• Identify, interpret, compare and/or describe connections between texts.

• Make inferences or draw conclusion based on informa-tion from text.

The students created original ceramic art work and both monologues and scenes as a means to help students strengthen their understanding and application of: 1) the three targeted reading skills; and 2) other critical literacy skills, such as writing and revising; as well as 3) additional critical skills including collaboration and critical thinking. Im-portantly, the students applied each of these reading skills in their creation of original art work, and thus learned by doing.

Claymobile utilized the conventions of clay sculp-ture to illustrate the main themes in a text read by the students in class. Claymobile Teaching Artist Deborah Williams designed a curriculum that illustrated and enforced the lessons taught by classroom teachers; many sculptures were characters or objects taken directly from school texts or relied on student’s conclusions about the meaning of those texts. Students analyzed artworks resulting in their being able to compare and contrast a variety of styles used in the clay medium.

With the guidance of Philadelphia Young Play-wrights Teaching Artist Dwight Wilkins, the stu-dents wrote and revised a series of monologues and scenes (and in one fourth grade, a group-authored play) as means to enhance their un-derstanding and application of the three targeted reading skills. In guiding students through the process of playwriting, the teaching artist focused on the students’ development and application of the three critical literacy skills. Playwriting les-sons were designed to strengthen the students’ ability to identify and apply main ideas (character wants and conflicts) and relevant supporting de-tails. The following theater skills, which the stu-dents utilized in their dramatic writing, connected to and supported the identified literacy objectives described above.

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Project Learning Goals/Standards

Through playwriting activities, students’ learning goals were:

• Know and use the elements and principles of play-writing to create a play.

• Recognize, know and use, and demonstrate the ele-ments and principles of playwriting to produce, re-view and revise an original work of art.

• Know and use fundamental playwriting voca-bulary.• Know and demonstrate how playwriting can commu-

nicate experiences, stories or emotions.• Analyze a work from its historical and cultural per-

spective.

Through clay activities, students’ learning goals were:

• Have an enhanced knowledge of contemporary sci-ence and art.

• Have an enhanced knowledge of the environment and community around them and how their actions (cause and effect) relate to the world.

• Gain a basic knowledge of the ceramics arts and the finer points of 3-D design.

• Deepen their basic knowledge of the ceramic arts and the finer points of 3-D design. (5th and 6th grades).

• Gain some knowledge of the cultural community in Philadelphia.

Students also had the opportunity to:

• Apply and strengthen their critical thinkingskills.• Apply and strengthen their collaboration skills.

Project Theme

The overall theme of Preserving the Planet united the student artists’ investigations of specific topics in each grade. This theme, identified by the teach-ers, spoke to topics concurrently explored in the lit-eracy curriculum at each grade level. The individual topics: • Animal rights, 4th Grade• Water cycle and ecology, 5th grade• Solar system, and environmental issues such

as pollution, 6th Grade

Classroom teachers were able to integrate the ar-tistic work together into the students’ study of sci-ence. Both student artists’ application of the three targeted reading skills and their exploration of the topics within the Presenting the Planet theme (the environment and animal rights) supported the stu-dents’ science study. The student playwrights un-dertook some scientific research in order to better write their monologues, which dramatized issues relating to the environment and animal rights. Stu-dents, then, were able to enhance their scientific understanding of the particular topics explored with-in the Preserving the Planet theme. This enhanced understanding, along with their strengthening of the three targeted readings skills, helped the students to better read and comprehend scientific materials. Students involved in ceramic studies were prompt-ed by teachers to respond to their sculptures, which functioned as illustrations or served as conclusions for a specific text read in class.

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Student Work Created

Playwright Wilkins guided the students through diverse activities to help them find an idea (main idea) for their monologues and scenes (and the play). Wilkins provided the students with revision feedback, but, as importantly, the student playwrights themselves provided their fel-low classmates with revision feedback and suggestions. Multiple revisions were welcomed and encouraged. The students publicly shared their dramatic writing in the cul-minating sharing session; thus, the students wrote for an authentic purpose. Every workshop was student-cen-tered, with a rich mixture of individual and group activities, as well as writing and theater based activities.

Each student maintained an artist’s notebook (as play-wrights and as ceramic artists). As playwrights, students reflected on his or her writing (drafts, etc.), while as cera-mists, students responded to their sculptural work. Stu-dents created original ceramic works that identified and reinforced their literacy goals as well as explored grade level topics. Each student also used the notebook as a professional artist would to record ideas, reflect, imagine, etc. Students applied and honed the three reading skills as well in the maintenance of this notebook.

Students created 3-6 ceramic sculptures and shared their work with their school during a final share session. Student playwrights wrote a series of monologues and scenes, choosing two to revise more than once and to share in the culminating sharing session. Oneka Milner’s fourth grade class group-authored a play, which included multiple drafts. At each grade level, the project culmi-nated in a classroom celebration in which the student artists shared the work they had created. Students ex-hibited their ceramics projects, displayed their dramatic writing, and performed their own or others’ monologues and scenes. The students further applied and honed the three targeted reading skills (and other key literacy skills) by writing narratives to accompany their featured art work and by creating playbills for their dramatic writing.

Monologue with Supporting Detail

Can you help me fireman? My cat is trapped in the house. There’s a fire in the house. She is on the second floor. Can you please help her? She won’t come to you unless you call her by her name, it’s Starfirer. The last time I saw her was in my bedroom. Please help me. She is tall with brown spots. Her favorite hiding space is in my Game Room behind the Pacman game. The fire started when my dog knocked over the water on the heater and it started a fire. The fire was too hot. I had to get out. Please hurry. Oh, I couldn’t find the kittens-they was hidden in my Mom’s room. I should never let the dog near the heater.

(The cat runs out and the cat and the dog are meow-ing and barking)

You two never get along (Dog barks and goes in the house) Don’t go in there. (The dog runs up stairs, gets the kittens and come back out.) Thank you dog. I knew you were a hero.

~ Jenaya, 4th grade

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Project Assessment and Evaluation

The assessment plan included multiple tools, including:

• Students’ individually authored monologues and scenes (and their revisions), and the students’ group authored play and its drafts (revisions)

• Students’ completed ceramic art work. • Students’ artist notebooks (self reflection, assessment,

drawings, revisions, art-making process, etc.)• Students’ oral revision feedback provided to their fellow

playwrights• Students’ written and/or oral introductions to their

shared art work in the culminating sharing session • Young Playwrights’ end of project survey (written re-

sponse)• Claymobile pre and post project surveys (student writ-

ten response)• Photographic documentation • Students’ written response to PAEP/School District

evaluations• School District of Philadelphia testing tools

Measurable Outcomes

Playwriting

• Students strengthened their ability to identify and ex-plain main ideas and relevant supporting details from text through writing and revising their original dramatic writing.

• Students strengthened their ability to identify, interet, compare and/or describe connections between texts through writing and revising their original dramatic writ-ing.

• Students strengthened their ability to make inferences or draw conclusion based on information from text through writing and revising their original dramatic writ-ing.

• Students strengthened their writing skills. • Students gained a basic knowledge and understanding

of the key elements of playwriting (4th grade). • Students deepened their basic knowledge and under-

standing of the key elements of playwriting (5th and 6th grades).

• Students strengthened their critical thinking skills. • Students enhanced their collaboration skills. • Students increased their self-esteem or self-confidence

as writers and as students.

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Visual Art (Ceramics)

• Students strengthened their ability to summarize major themes, ideas or procedures of text by using student written work to create scenes and objects from clay.

• Students strengthened their ability to recognize and state differences in comparison and contrast through the ex-ploration, observation, and manipulation of clay,

• Students strengthened their ability to make inferences or draw conclusions based on information from text through creating ceramic sculpture that exemplified these conclu-sions (i.e. given a set of parameters about conditions on a planet students must create a life-form that can live on that planet).

• Students learned ceramic specific vocabulary and pro-cesses,

• Students were able to identify the principles and element of visual art.

• Students increased their confidence and self-esteem as writers and visual artists.

• Students increased their knowledge and appreciation of ceramic arts and learning in general.

An Excerpt from Save Our Park

DannyMom, these people are tearing down the park.

ChrisIt’s not fair!

MomThey can’t do that. That park is history. It is the oldest park in the state, and the famous statue of Ben Franklin is over there.

DadThat’s where your mother and I got married.

MomMayor stop this. You can’t cut down that park.

MayorI know, but we’re running out of space for houses.

DannyBut trees give us air and many people go to that park. We need that park, Mayor.

MayorI don’t have any choice. I have whole lot of people who need a place to live. I have to find housing for 300 people. Boston is already over crowded. The map shows I have to tear down the park to make room.

~ Daniel, 5th grade

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Excerpt from Adventures from the Wilds

Scene 2: The Zoo

Characters: Warrior (a lion), Thunderbolt (a leopard), Torpedo (a cheetah), & Jazz (a lion)

TorpedoYo, Man, we gotta escape this zoo!

WarriorMaybe the zoo is better because animals live longer in captivity.

TorpedoYou’re right.

WarriorWhoa! Who is that beautiful lion!

(Warrior walks up to the lion)Hi. My name’s Warrior. What’s your name?

JazzMy name is Jazz and I think you’re a cute lion.

ThunderboltWe don’t have time for this. We have to plan an escape.

TorpedoI agree with him on this one. We gotta go back to the jungle.

WarriorI don’t want to leave her.

JAZZIt’s ok - ya’ll can leave.

ThunderboltWait then. Let’s take her with us.

TorpedoOkay.

(They all join together to think of a plan)Let’s dig a tunnel to escape the zoo.

~ Azim, Amir, & Demingo, 4th grade

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Julia de Burgos Elementary School

Arts Partners

COSACOSA art at largeKim Niemela, Director

Philadelphia Young PlaywrightsAmy Hodgdon, Education Director

Teaching Artists

Sandi Gilliard, PlaywrightAnjoli Santiago, PlaywrightLee Fogel, Visual Artist

Participating Teachers

Josephine Bae, 4th GradeMirtha Castro, 4th GradeKelly Cernic, 5th GradeChristina Golasa, 5th GradeJessica Streeper, 5th GradeKaren Strohm, 5th GradeCarmen Carrion, 6th GradeLee Fountain, 6th GradeGail Cantor, 6th GradeJanine Wyznysnki, 6th GradeJean Fontaine, Art SpecialistDmytro Terlechyj, Music Specialist

Project

COSACOSA, Philadelphia Young Playwrights, and the 4th, 5th and 6th grade teachers collaboratively developed and implemented experiential playwriting and visual art projects that strengthened students’ grasp of three targeted literacy skills. The three lit-eracy skills were:

• Summarize major ideas, themes and concepts from texts and identify appropriate supportive details

• Compare and contrast literary elements among various texts

• Make inferences or draw conclusions based on information from text.

Theater artist Saundra Gillard-Davis and interdisciplinary artist Lee Fogel supported and guided students’ creation of original art work and dramatic writing as means to help students strengthen their understanding and application of: 1) the three targeted literacy skills; 2) other critical literacy skills, such as writing and revising; as well as 3) additional critical skills such as collaboration and critical thinking.

The project improved students’ basic literacy skills bymaking connections between selected theater/playwrit-ing and visual art concepts and skills. Through interdisci-plinary, cross-referential learning experiences, students acquired a hands-on understanding of the organizing principles and expressive qualities of playwriting and photography, as well as understanding of how both art forms can be used to convey meaning.

Using the creative mediums of monologue writing and photography, the students investigated the project theme of Working Together as means to strengthen their under-standing of the three targeted literacy skills. Sixth grade students also created scenes and, as a means to both develop and revise their monologues and scenes, they produced three-dimensional metaphor boxes to symboli-cally represent their dramatic writing.

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Project Learning Goals/Standards

The students applied each of the targeted literacy skills in their creation of original art work to learn by doing. The learning goals and standards for these projects were:

• Improve students’ ability to summarize major ideas, themes and concepts from texts with appropriate supportive details

• Improve students’ ability to compare and contrast literary elements among various texts

• Improve students’ ability to make inferences and/or draw conclusions based on information from text

• Deepen students’ understanding of relationships among reading, writing and the arts

• Strengthen students’ writing skills • Enhance students’ critical thinking skills • Enhance students’ listening abilities and their ability

to follow directions • Enhance students’ peer collaborations and team-

work skills • Improve students’ attitudes towards self and school,

fostering pro-social behavior• Acquaint students with a basic understanding of the

key elements of multiple art forms.

The following theater, visual art and music skills, which the students utilized in the project, connected to and supported the identified literacy objectives described above.

• Know and use the elements and principles of each form to create works of art

• Recognize, know and use, and demonstrate the ele-ments and principles of each form to produce, review and revise an original work of art

• Know and use the funda-mental vocabulary of each form

• Know and demonstrate how each form can communicate experiences, stories or emo-tions

• Analyze a work from its his-torical and cultural perspec-tive

• Compare similar and con-trasting important aspects of works in the arts based on a set of guidelines using a comprehensive vocabulary and critical response.

Excerpt from Amy’s Troubles

AmyI love my new dog! Can Max sleep with me?

MaxI want to sleep in Amy’s bed.

MomOk, but I have something to tell you first. It’s big news.

AmyThen tell me the nig news Mom! Well, what is it? A new Ipod?

MomIt is something more special than that.

AmyIs it a new babysitter?

MomNo silly I’m getting married! I am going to get married to Raymond.

AmyI don’t want you to get married Mom.

MomNow Amy it’s my choice what I do, and yes I’m getting married. I need hugs and kisses too!

AmyHe smells like old socks.

MomI’m sorry honey but I already said yes to him and I really love him. Honey look, I know this is hard for you. But, he’s going to be a member of the family. I want you to treat him very nice, like if he was your father.

~ Raymond, 6th grade

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Project Theme

The theme Working Together related both to the literacy core curriculum and to the classroom en-vironment. Literary elements worked together to make a story in the same way that individuals need to work together to create a positive community/na-tion/ world. Students read, researched, wrote, and created new works about ways to work collabora-tively in a variety of situations.

Student Work Created

Working individually and in small groups, students investigated aspects of working together in their classroom and their neighborhood through photog-raphy and playwriting; conducted intergenerational research, and document interviews to select con-cepts essential to the project theme; took photo-graphs that illustrated thematic concepts and ideas; created and wrote monologues and scenes to illus-trate thematic concepts and ideas; and developed a book of their original dramatic writings and pho-tographs.

The Teaching Artists, along with Julia de Burgos teachers and partner organization staff, engaged students in dialogues about personal meaning, shared values, and team-building. A sharing ses-sion in which the students “performed” their mono-logues, with accompanying photographic images and music concluded the project. A permanent ex-hibition of student writings, photographs, and draw-ings was developed as an environmental graphic for the school.

Each student maintained an artist’s notebook (as playwrights and as artists). Playwright students recorded and reflected on their own writing. Addi-tionally, each student used the notebook as a pro-fessional artist would to record ideas, reflect, and imagine, etc. Students applied and honed the three literacy skills as well in the maintenance of this notebook.

Julia de BurgosStudent Photographers

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Project Assessment and Evaluation

Measurable Outcomes

• Students improved their ability to summarize major ideas, themes and concepts from texts with appropriate supportive details.

• Improvement in the ability to compare and con-trast literary elements among various texts and pieces of literature.

• Improvement in students’ ability to make infer-ences or draw conclusions based on informa-tion from text.

• Strengthened writing skills.• Improvement in listening skills and the ability to

follow directions.• Improvement in motivation for learning. • Improvement in peer collaboration and team-

work skills.• Improvement in critical thinking skills• Improvement in cross-disciplinary appreciation

of creative expression (i.e., the relationship of writing, music, and visual arts)

• Acquisition of a basic understanding of the key elements of multiple art forms.

Indicators of Success Include:

• Students’ individually authored monologues and scenes and revisions.

• Students’ completed artwork.• Qualitative analysis of students’ artist note-

books including self reflections, assessment, drawings, revisions, and writings on art-making processes through the use of an established writing rubric.

• Peer to peer revision feedback.• Teacher observation within and without the

bounds of the project attendance• Classroom participation and assignment com-

pletion.• COSACOSA weekly reflective writing response

questions.• Young Playwrights’ end of project written re-

sponse survey.• Benchmark tests, other School District testing

tools, and PAEP evaluations.

Julia de BurgosStudent Photographers

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Excerpt from A Strange Tale

(Tommy goes to Marilyn’s house to look for her. Knocks on the door.)

MarilynWho is it?

TommyIt’s me Tommy.

MarilynNo, you have to go away please.

TommyNo I am not going away until you open this door.

MarilynOk ok. I am going to open.

TommyWhat is wrong with you? Why haven’t you come outside to see me?

MarilynIt’s that (she starts to cry) I have not seen my sister name Thalia--she is 24 years old—in 2 weeks.

TommyDo you want me to help you find your sister?

MarilynYes, I would like you to help me find my sister.

(So they were walking and talking until they found a little village and a villain named Jose.)

JoseTo get out of here you have to work for me.

TommyWe want to get back Thalia

(Marilyn’s sister)

Jose(Jose starts to laugh)

If you want Thalia back you have to work for me. You have to build a building. Tommy and ok… Marilyn.

(So Marilyn and Tommy begin to work on the building. But they weren’t finish. Tommy had magic but not that much magic. So Ashley, a fairy, helps them.)

~ Ortega, 4th grade

Julia de BurgosStudent Photographers

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Excerpt from A Bully

SarahI am going to ask Cindy what is wrong.

SarahCindy?

Cindy(Mad face)

What!?

SarahWhy are you mean?

CindyI am not mean

SarahYes you are. Why?

Cindy(Sad)

I just want to make people laugh.

SarahYou are not making people laugh. Why don’t you tell jokes?

CindyOk thanks, and sorry that I scared you.

SarahThat’s ok. I understand

~ Margarita, 5th grade

Excerpt from The Hero’s Tale

LeonWhat? Everything’s gone. Ada? Here’s a letter. It says “who ever is reading this and they want to find Ada come and meet me at the Forest of Death in a little cabin.” I will walk to find Ada.

(In the Forest of Death. At the cabin’s front door.)Hello! Is anybody home!

Lord SadlerYes. Are you the one looking for Ada? Yes?

LeonDo you have her? Tell me now!

Lord SadlerYes. I will give her to you, but you need to do some work for me.

LeonAnything.

Lord SadlerAnything? Huh? Come in. Come in.

(Leon comes in the door looking around.)I need you to carry 1,000 cement blocks from the living room to yard, but only with two twigs.

LeonWhat? That’s impossible. You’re crazy

Lord SadlerDo you want her or not?

LeonYes. Aww man, how am I going to do this? (Leon thinks and thinks.)I can’t do it. What am I thinking? But, I can’t give up.

~ Justin, 6th grade

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Arts Partners

Philadelphia Theater CompanyMaureen Sweeney, Education Director

Philadelphia Museum of ArtAh-Young Kim

Teaching Artists

Jan Michener, Theater ArtistMindy Beers, Theater ArtistMelody Tash, Theater ArtistBen Volta, Visual Artist

Participating Teachers

Rochelle New, 4th GradeAndrea Green, 4th GradeSandra Yeck, 4th GradeYalon Martin, 4th GradeRobert Lewis, 4th gradeAbbie Stein, 5th GradeAimee Lombardo, 5th GradeRona Ginsburg, 5th GradeCassandra Ward, 5th GradeSandra Klassman, 5th GradeJovita Littles, 6th GradeAnne Foti, 6th Grade Joanne Zastowney, 6th GradeElizabeth Wetzler, Art SpecialistLaverne Wood, Music Specialist

Project

The purpose of the Solis-Cohen Arts Bridges Residency project for academic year 2008-09 was to focus on the teaching and learning of two key literacy skills across the content areas of literacy, creative writing, visual arts, music and theater. Solis-Cohen teachers in grades 4, 5, and 6, teaching artists from Philadelphia Theater Com-pany (PTC) and The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA) together with resident arts specialists designed and im-plemented activities in each discipline to help teach the following targeted skills:

• Compare and contrast the use of literary elements within and among texts including characters, setting, plot, theme and point of view.

• Summarize the major ideas, themes or procedures of the text.

Solis-Cohen Elementary School

The arts skills that aligned with these literacy skills were:

• Know how to recognize and identify similar and different characteristics among works in the arts. (Compare/Contrast)

• Know how to communicate an informed individual opinion about the meaning of works in the arts. (Main Idea)

Literary Arts Workshops:

Literary arts workshops led by PTC Teaching Artists, Jan Michener, Mindy Beers and Melody Tash, used playwrighting and theater improvisation techniques to apply compare and contrast strategies to explore the development of different characters and multiple set-tings for scenes. In all grade levels students devel-oped individual characters that were then incorporated into scenes, stories and plays. This process required whole group analysis of setting, plot, theme and point of view. This process strengthened students’ under-standing of the main idea.

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Visual Arts Workshops:

In visual arts workshops led by PMA Teaching Art-ist, Ben Volta, students explored contrast, value, shape, and form through drawing and painting. A vi-sual exploration process compared and contrasted students’ drawings to images relating to each grade level’s chosen topic. Each student created an indi-vidual artwork by combining a painted image with at least one linear portraiture drawing. Each class then created a large collective artwork by overlap-ping and combining digital scans of their individual artworks. By the end of the visual arts component of the residency, students were able to compare and contrast art elements and art principles found within their artwork and identify, articulate, and ex-pand upon the main idea of the project in their own words.

Project Goals/Standards

Through playwrighting activities students were able to:

• Know and use fundamental playwrighting vocabu-lary.

• Know and demonstrate how playwrighting can com-municate experiences, stories or emotions.

• Recognize, know, use and demonstrate the ele-ments and principals of playwrighting to produce, re-vise and revise original dialogue, scenes and plays.

• Identify subject matter, symbols and ideas from di-verse cultures and historical periods.

Through visual art activities students were able to:

• Use, analyze and evaluate elements, principals and styles of art to communicate ideas and experiences.

• Describe and analyze how personal and cultural experiences influence the development of the indi-vidual’s artwork and the artwork of others.

• Understand that there are various purposes for cre-ating works of visual art.

• Create art based on historical and cultural ideas.

Students were also able to:

• Identify similarities and differences in the meanings of common terms used in visual art and theater.

• Compare multiple purposes for creating works of art. • Strengthen their ability to collaborate and respect

each other’s ideas.

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Project Theme

Participating teachers for each grade level chose topic areas and/or themes for their class’s Arts Bridges project. Underground Prophets was the 4th grade topic and they worked with content from their History Hunters program, specifically the Johnson House and its connection to the Underground Railroad.

Grade 5’s theme was: Because We Are All Different, We Are All the Same and their project began with all classes reading There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom by Louis Sa-char. Arts workshops focused on reasons for bullying and constructive, peaceful alternatives to bullying situations.

In grade 6, classes analyzed the genre of fairytales and demonstrated understanding of the genre’s elements by making the twisting of those elements the content for their own Frumpled Fairytales. Each of the literary themes was interpreted through visual art projects including drawing, painting and a whole class project that incorporated indi-vidual student work.

Student Work Created

In the Literary Arts workshops across grade levels, stu-dents were engaged in multiple pre-writing activities such as sequencing through tableaux, creating character pro-files and round-robin style class stories, as well as brain-storming potential action. Each grade level produced student authored dramatic work, with the specific type of work being determined by the teachers’ assessment of their students’ needs and abilities. In the 4th grade 2 classes wrote group scenes, 2 classes wrote paired in-terviews, and one class produced individually authored spoken word poems. In grade 5 all classes wrote and re-vised at least two scenes. Each 6th grade class authored their own Frumpled Fairytale, determining the structure and plotline as a class but writing scenes that for a full play in small groups and pairs.

In the Visual Art workshops students in all grade levels created two individual pieces that were incorporated into a third whole class work. Each grade level’s visual art project reflected the specific content chosen by teach-ers from their respective curricula. Students concluding project involved combining the drawings of all their class-mates together to create collaborative artworks that were unified and harmonious.

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Project Assessment and Evaluation

In addition to assessment documents created and disseminated by the School District of Philadelphia and PAEP, the Arts Bridges team at Solis-Cohen employed the following:

• Student generated rubrics for visual art and projects

• On Your Feet’ surveys to gather specific re-sponse data in the theater workshops

• Guided journal entries assigned by classroom teachers, teaching artists, and arts specialists

• Observation checklists of arts workshops com-pleted by PTC and PMA as the residency co-ordinators

• A post residency reflection collecting students’ perceived connections between art making, reading and writing as reflected in letters writ-ten to the teaching artists. Compare and Contrast

Harriet Tubman and I are alike because we both are daring with noble courage. We both are dar-ing with courage because she had the courage to take 19 trips to Canada and save about 300 people. I am daring with noble couage because if I were in the time of Harriet Tubman, I would have done the same thing.

Harriet Tubman and I are different because my native cuntry is Algeria and Harriet Tubman’s na-tive country was the United States. That is how Harriet Tubman and I are alike and different.

~ Sarah, 4th grade

Compare and Contrast

The abolitionist I am comparing myself to is Frederick Douglass. We are alike because we were both truthful and caring. We are different because like an iris, he repesents faith, wis-dom, valor, hope, light, and power. I am not all of those things because I do not always make wise decisions. We are also different because I am a dreamer but Frederick Douglass did not have time to dream. He was too busy busy help-ing slaves.

~ Talia, 4th grade

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Excerpt from The Chase For The Fish Prince

TwitterGrandfather Tree, please tell me the story again about the time King George was a prince and he got turned into a fish.

Grandfather TreeOh Twitter, I’ve told you that story so many times, I’m sure you could tell it yourself.

TwitterOk, I’ll just nestle right here in my nest and we can tell it together.

Grandfather TreeOnce upon a time in a far, faraway kingdom lived two sisters. Aurora was sweet and kind and believed in taking care of the earth. Clary was vain and always looking in the mirror at her long beautiful hair.

TwitterOne day they were walking through the forest together.

Clary(Holding a hand mirror to her face)

Do you think Richard would like my hair this way.

Aurora(Grinning) I think your hair looks great, Clary.

Clary(Angrily) Who asked you?

Aurora(Puzzled) Errm…you did.

ClaryWhatever.

AuroraLet’s do something together.

ClaryOh! I know let’s go to the fancy clothing marketplace. We could get some cute dresses.

Aurora(Sighing) I was thinking of planting baby trees.

Clary(Twitching) Trees… Be real Aurora. Life isn’t about trees my sister, it’s about looks, and Prince Richard!

AuroraPrince Richard is nice.

~ Ms. Little’s 6th grade class

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I am a Candle

I am a candle.I burn bright.I help give light.I help the runaway slavesSee during the night.I am a candleAnd important to life.

~ Jack, 4th grade

Compare and Contrast

The abolitionist that I am comparing myself to is William Still because we both are caring and we tell the truth. We both are different because I am a girl and William Still is a boy. Also we both had hope for the future. He was always peaceful like the rose. William Still was caring and telling the truth because he told the truth about waht he thought about slavery and cared about the slaves. I am caring because I care about my family and I am always telling the truth to my mom.

~ Cristiane, 4th grade

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Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnershipc/o The University of the Arts

320 S. Borad StreetPhiladelphia, PA 19102

215-717-6596 www.paep.org

The School District of Philadelphia440 N. Broad Street

Philadelphia, PA 19130

215-400-4000 www.philasd.org

USDE © 2010

Arts Bridges: Building Literacy Through an Integrated Collaborative Model is made possible by a grant of federal funds to The School District of Philadelphia by the United States Department of Education, Office of Innovation and Improvement, under the Arts in Education Model Development & Dissemination Grant Program.

Arts Bridges Leadership Team

Dennis W. Creedon, Ed.D., Project Director Director of Comprehensive Arts Education, The School District of Philadelphia

Pearl B. Schaeffer, Senior Project Manager CEO, Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership

Raye M. Cohen, Project Manager Director of Education, Philadelphia Arts in Education Partnership

Sarah Costelloe, Ph.D., Director School Innovation & Best Practices Office of Accountability & Assessment, The School District of Philadelphia

Tonya E. Wolford, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate Office of Research & Evaluation, The School District of Philadelphia

Elana Felberg, Financial Analyst Office of Management & Budget, The School District of Philadelphia

Daniel S. Sapon, Grants Management Specialist Office of Grants Development and Support, The School District of Philadelphia

Michael E. Sonkowsky, Deputy Chief Office of Grants Development & Compliance

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