Producing Literacy Results through the Arts

The fifth graders at Minadeo Elementary School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, were not strangers to the role the arts play in learning: they had been Different Ways of Knowing students since the third grade. “The culmination of the Different Ways of Knowing program is apparent in the work of the fifth graders,” said former Principal Denise Yates. “Working with the Different Ways of Knowing curriculum module Choice, Chance, Change to study the Westward movement, the students kept a journal chronicling their life at Minadeo. Reading was at the center of everything, and the students were able to journal everything through the arts.”

To help Minadeo achieve increased student reading and writing scores, Different Ways of Knowing worked with the district’s literacy mandate, Literacy Plus. “Embedded in Literacy Plus are themes of love, respect, and honesty—themes that are relevant to the social studies themes in the Different Ways of Knowing curriculum modules at each grade level,” Yates said.

Different Ways of Knowing’s arts-in-learning strategies were also evident at Minadeo, where former fourth grade math teacher Robin Ittigson used music and dance as teaching strategies. Whether learning a simple definition of a term or the solution of a complex, non-routine problem, Ittigson’s students used the arts to boost their mathematical understandings and skills. “When students use art materials, it makes their solutions come alive to the rest of the class. It’s a lot of fun. It helps students focus on their thinking and their solution strategy,” explained Ittigson.

Using drama and movement, Ittigson’s students solved a non-routine problem in preparation for a requirement on the state’s new standards reference exam: to create a schedule. The students first acted out the creation of their schedule. Next they transferred their movements and discussion to paper. “They all showed different ways of knowing,” Ittigson said. Some made a flow chart, some a picture, and others an organized table. Some used initials; others used symbols, such as faces.

“What was interesting,” Ittigson noted, “was how secure the students were with the answer, how enthusiastic they were in showing their understanding, and how vividly they were able to explain their solution strategy. Solving a problem using a variety of learning modalities like movement, drama, discussion, and writing secured the information and enabled students to embed that information in long-term memory structures that are deep and lasting and can be accessed when needed.”

Prior to beginning its partnership with Different Ways of Knowing, Minadeo Elementary contracted with an outside evaluator to conduct a three-year longitudinal study. “After a year of Different Ways of Knowing implementation, the percentage of students who were at proficiency levels in reading increased from 77 percent in grade two to 91 percent in grade three. This cohort surpassed the district goal of 85 percent,” explained Yates. By grade four, 92 percent demonstrated comprehension at proficiency levels, and 81 percent were at proficiency levels in analysis and interpretation.