The artists/writers workshop is a way for young writers to make a powerful connection between literacy and art. My students will use writing and picturing as partners to express their ideas. They learn that pictures lead to words and words lead to meaning which adds to the power of their stories.
My classroom consist of 26 kindergrtners in an urban district in Connecticut.
Like other urban schools we are facing many challenges. The greatest challenge is trying to close the achievement gap. As a team we are focusing on finding alternative and meaningful ways to teach our children how to become strong writers. One way that we are going to do this is by integrating the arts and writing. Through the use of art we will teach our children how to read a picture, interpret what they see in the painting, write about what they see and draw what they see. I am an experienced teacher who has successfully implemented the writers workshop with kindergartners for years. Over the years I have seen my young writers become excited about writing and look forward to our daily writers workshop. The natural blend of the arts and writing will lend itself to an even more successful writer's workshop.
My Project
I have requested two materials that are essential for a successful artists/writers workshop. The first item requested are flair pens. In the writers workshop we call these our "sketching pens". Students use these because we want them to become used to using real writing tools and we also don't want students to erase their mistakes. It is important that students recognize that making mistakes is part of the writing process and that we will go back later and edit and revise. The second item I requested is a sketching book for each child (2 per year). By giving my young learners real sketching pads it gives them the message that what they have to say/draw is valued. In the past we have used plain white copy paper but multiple, loose pages are hard to organize and it makes it difficult to go back and view previous work. By using sketch books we are encouraging children to plan before they start. The weight of the paper in the sketching pads promotes higher quality work.
My project is a way that builds connections-between the teacher and student, art and thinking.
It establishes art as a means of expression in the literacy classroom. Artists/Writer's workshop is a way to reach all students. Struggling readers are often poor decoders. They use pictures and words to construct meaning. This is one way to focus on the development of strong written answer. This gives students an opportunity to demonstrate comprehension without the burden of text.
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