Young Audiences Launches Arts for Learning Lessons in DeKalb County
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Organization Delivers Arts-Based, Literacy-Building
Program in Seven DeKalb Elementary Schools 2/16/10 Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is
announcing today the launch of its Arts for Learning Lessons in
partnership with the DeKalb County School System. The Arts
for Learning Lessons is a ground-breaking supplemental literacy
initiative that blends the creativity and discipline of the arts
with learning science to raise student achievement in reading
and writing and to develop skills for learning and life. Developed by Young Audiences, Inc. – in collaboration with a
University of Washington design team led by Dr. John Bransford –
Arts for Learning Lessons is an arts-integrated curriculum that
educates the whole child by developing students’ ability to
learn and process information, fostering the skills and
dispositions associated with active, engaged learning, and by
advancing their skills in problem-solving, planning,
communication and collaboration. "In the DeKalb County School System, we recognize the
important role the arts play in developing a child's creativity,
communication and critical-thinking skills and improving their
overall academic performance," said Gloria Talley, Deputy
Superintendent of Teaching and Learning at the DeKalb County
School System. "That's why we are thrilled to be partnering with
Young Audiences to pilot the Arts for Learning Lessons in seven
of our elementary schools this year. Our teachers, students and
administrators are all excited to experience firsthand the
transforming power of authentic arts experiences." The Arts for Learning Lessons will be delivered in extended
day programs for 175 students in third, fourth and fifth grades
at the following Title I elementary schools in DeKalb County:
Rowland, Toney, Snapfinger, Oakcliff Theme, Jolly, Glenhaven and
Rainbow. Each unit of the Arts for Learning Lessons is designed to
help students build literacy and arts skills aligned with state
and local standards by working back and forth between literacy
and arts tasks to leverage their learning through both visual
and performing arts in order to enliven, enrich and increase
their literacy achievement. Teams of DeKalb County classroom teachers will co-teach Unit
3 of the Arts for Learning Lessons—“Everyday Heroes”—which
provides 16 hours of sequential instruction focused on
determining importance and synthesizing using Jonah Winter’s
biography, Roberto Clemente: Pride of the Pittsburgh
Pirates, as the anchor text. Students will use collage as
a tool for understanding the literacy concepts and will have an
opportunity to explore the art form more fully in the companion
five-session residency in collage led by Young Audiences’
teaching artists and DeKalb visual arts specialists. “We are thrilled to partner with the DeKalb County School
System in bringing this highly effective program to their
students. Our research shows that students participating
in the Arts for Learning Lessons not only demonstrate a
consistent pattern of improvement in literacy skills and
knowledge, they also find the Lessons more interesting and
engaging than their regular reading program,” said Myrna Lubin,
Associate Director of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center.
“It’s our hope that, after a successful pilot year in DeKalb
County, we will expand the program to more DeKalb students, both
during and after the regular school day.” “While our students have access to school-based opportunities
in the arts, this additional extended school day residency
through the Arts for Learning Lessons will expand students'
interest in reading and their ability to make connections
between the power of visual arts to express a character's mood,
relationships and events in the text,” said Kelli Wright,
Director of Elementary Teaching and Learning for the DeKalb
County School System. “We are pleased to be partnering with
Young Audiences and are excited to see the positive impact Arts
for Learning Lessons will have on our students.” About Young Audiences, Woodruff
Arts Center Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center (YAWAC) is
Georgia’s leading provider of arts-in-education programming.
Part of the prestigious 31 chapter national Young Audiences
organization, YAWAC brings the power of live arts experiences to
Georgia students from pre-school to high school. From a small
organization of nine artists in 1983, YAWAC is celebrating more
than 25 years of service and has grown into a force in arts
education, now comprised of more than 65 professional artists
and ensembles that reach nearly 640,000 students each year in
over 50 counties statewide. We fulfill our mission – to improve
and enrich the lives and learning of children through high
quality arts experiences – by providing a dazzling and
culturally diverse array of curriculum-based assemblies,
workshops and residencies in music, dance, theatre, literary and
visual arts. For more information, please visit
www.yawac.org.
About Woodruff Arts Center The Woodruff Arts Center is
the largest arts center in the Southeast as well as one of the
four largest in the nation. The Woodruff is unique in that it
combines five visual and performing arts divisions on one campus
as one not-for-profit organization. Opening in 1968, the
Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the
Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the High Museum of Art, Young
Audiences and the 14th Street Playhouse. |
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