Fall smART stART Workshop

We are very excited about our upcoming Fall Workshops hosted November 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, 2011. This year we will be having 3 workshops which focus on specific art disciplines;
Music, Movement, and theVisual Arts. Teachers will be experiencing the art form for themselves as well as learning about our literacy suite. Thanks to the High Museum for providing tickets for our educators the day of their workshop. We are proud to be collaborating with past and new schools this 2011-2012 year!

Preliminary Findings

We have received exciting news from our evaluators! All of our participating schools indicated that students achieved 1 level of competency after participating with the smART stART program!

Students

• Average gains on measured outcomes were positive in all 18 schools and across residencies provided by all professional teaching artists.


• 
  
  Positive average gain of approximately one level of competence.
  

Classroom Teachers

• Reported that smART stART had a:
  


• Significant and very significant impact (89%) on student engagement.


• Significant and very significant impact (89%) in using the Arts to teach language and other content areas (85%) as well as creatively teach the required content standards (96%)


• Significant and very significant impact (87%) in meeting the needs of individual students.
  

Teaching Artists

• Positive trends in lesson delivery (96.1%), classroom management (92%) and student participation (97.7%).

We are very excited to announce that we will be piloting smART stART at two Boys and Girls Clubs this fall! Lawrenceville Boys and Girls Club will be working with Jason Pellet, a music teaching artist, and A. Worley Brown Boys and Girls Club will be working with Roelna Bashew, a visual artist. A special thanks to all that attended our on site pre-planning meeting this past Thursday, you are the ones who will make smART stART a smooth success!

smART stART 2011-2012 school!!!

We are proud to announce our participating smART stART 2011-2012 schools!

Anne Street Elementary
Brockett Elementary
Cook Elementary
Dunleith Elementary
Gaines Elementary
Harper Elementary
Imagine Wesley
James A. Jackson Elementary
Mattie Wells Elementary
McEver Arts Academy
Metter Elementary
Smoke Rise Elementary
R. L. Miller Elementary

We are also partnering with the Boys and Girls Club at it's Norcross and Lawrenceville locations as will as the City of Atlanta Recreation Departments. In addition, we will be participating with 78 classrooms throughout the state of Georgia enriching the lives and learning of young people through the arts. Stay turned for further community collaboration and updates!

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is excited to announce open enrollment for the smART stART Program for the 2011- 2012 school year!

This means that 15 Georgia elementary schools could have the opportunity to take part in this exciting arts-integrated literacy program. As one of the signature programs of Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center, smART stART has helped 18 schools, 94 classrooms, and over 2,000 students develop essential reading‐readiness skills using a hands‐on, arts‐integrated approach that is delivered by one of Young Audiences’ professional teaching artists. smART stART residencies align with and support Georgia Performance Standards in English Language Arts & Reading and in Fine Arts.

Apply by May, 27 2011!

Click Here to Apply

The Three Little Pigs

Amy Alderman, Mattie Wells Primary's site coordinator, said the ‘smART stART’ program has been beneficial to her students. “I was so impressed that my students could easily remember the new art vocabulary and use it in their conversations with others. They were so excited each day to go to class and enjoyed retelling the stories we learned,” Alderman said. “On the final day, my class made a movie of the students retelling the final story. The movie really showed how much the students had learned during the two weeks.” Alderman said it is her hope that the grant will be available again and that Wells Elementary can apply for the grant again next year.

To read more about this story in the Jones County News CLICK HERE

smART stART at Dunleith Continued!

Dunleith students are at it again! Teaching Artist, Pam Beagle-Daresta, is captivating students' imagination using the visual arts. Spending eight sessions with five of Dunleith's kindergarten classrooms, Pam has reinforced the GA Standard, retelling a story; beginning, middle, and end through her artform. The students are working with watercolor, markers, and other materials to create the sequence of a bear's hibernation. They started with the beginning, sketching the animal eating. Next, the students created the end with the bear waking up. Finally, they constructed the middle with the bear dreaming. They were able to draw what they believed the bear was dreaming about. Stories and discussions complete the learning experience in the classroom. The students will share their stories at the end of their residency.

Earn PLU's with smART stART !

Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center is proud to announce we are now a vendor for Professional Learning Units! Many smART stART programs have begun , but the opportunity is still available for those participating teachers who would like to acquire 1 PLU (10 hours) toward their certification. The Georgia Department of Education is on a 5 year “pause” which does not require PLU’s for recertification. Once the five years are complete, Professional Learning Units will, once again, be needed to maintain certification. This is a great opportunity to earn credit for a PLU that may be needed in the future. Lastly, Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center will keep records of completion if documentation is needed in the future.

smART stART Featured in Atlanta Parent Magazine!

“Paintbrushes for Pencils” features Young Audiences, Woodruff Arts Center and our smART stART and Arts for Learning Lessons programs!

Susan McQuade participated in an interview with the writer (Melanie Wagner) and she is quoted throughout the article. Melanie also interviewed YAWAC artist Karin Mervis while she was doing smART stART at McEver Arts Academy last year. All of the pictures on pages 64 and 65 (starting on page 75 online) are from Young Audiences and feature our 2010 smART stART program.

This is fantastic coverage of YAWAC and our literacy suite programs.
Atlanta Parent Magazine can be found all over town – including here at Woodruff. Make sure you get yourself a copy to share with your friends and coworkers.

To see the complete January 2011 Edition be sure to click HERE