The Halls of Learning, by Virginia Wiseman
An Ohio elementary school immerses kids in learning – even at the drinking fountain – and aces the state tests
As teachers, all of us face the same dilemma: how to prepare our students for proficiency tests without giving up instructional time – and with achieving real learning instead of merely "teaching to the test." How do we teach content and process and still have time for practice? Newton D. Baker School of Arts in Cleveland, OH may have found the answer. This K-5 school consistently scores among the top 10 Ohio schools on annual fourth grade proficiency tests. Two approaches that contribute to this success are "arts infusion"and "visible literacy." Both approaches give students maximum exposure to educational materials.
Art everywhere.
All the school's teachers (and many of the parents) have received DBAE (Disciplined Based Art Education) training. DBAE guides educators in creating teaching units which combine the arts with the academic content areas. Through arts infusion, students at Newton D. Baker learn to make connections between what they learn in the classroom and other content areas.
For example, the study of geometric shapes, taught in math class, may be reinforced in visual arts class by creating Native American mixed-media paintings, examples of which can be seen below.
Surrounded by learning.
In addition to arts infusion, Newton D. Baker School utilizes a technique called "visible literacy," which allows us to build teachable moments into many parts of the school day. Visible literacy is easy to implement in any school; it consists of placing charts, posters and student work throughout the school building.
Classroom teachers contribute to visible literacy with student work, proving to students that their work is valued. One second grade class' contribution to the school's visible literacy is their year-long Guidance display, which features photos of students with guest speakers sharing stories about their occupations. A library of occupation-related books (which can be seen below) is available for student use.
Any time is review time.
Title I math teacher Dennis Lynn believes students often need as many as 25 exposures to a concept before they understand it. He created Proficiency Review Stations that provide teachable moments everywhere from the hallway water fountains to the student restrooms. These stations consist of his yellow "Problem Cards," which ask hilarious math questions that the kids enjoy solving and standards-based posters or charts that review concepts essential for achieving success on the spring proficiency tests.
Below, you'll see some of the National Standards listed, each of them followed by an activity Newton D. Baker teachers have created to help the kids meet those standards. I hope they inspire you to immerse your students in learning every minute of the day. Even when they think they can "goof off" in the restrooms, they'll find themselves reviewing important vocabulary, facts and skills – and enjoying it. Best of all, you won't have to sacrifice a minute of your class time to do skill-and-drill for an upcoming proficiency test.
Visible literacy in the area of social studies gets a boost from this hallway lending library about various careers (above). Local professionals from many industries visit the school to speak with students about their jobs.
SOCIAL STUDIES
National Standard: Social Studies
NSS-C.K4.3, NSS-EC.K-4.1 - 3, NSS-EC.K-4.5 - 6, NSS-EC.K-4.8,
NSS-EC.K-4.14
Principles of Democracy, Productive Resources, Effective decision making, Allocating goods and services, Voluntary exchange, Gains from trade, Supply and demand, Entrepreneurs.
National Standard:U.S. History
USH.K-4.1
Living and working together in families and communities.
Activity: Citizenship terms posters, which explain vocabulary terms from all the standards listed above.
LANGUAGE ARTS
National Standard: Language Arts
NL-ENG.K12.4
Communication Skills. Students adjust their use of spoken, written and visual language to communicate effectively.
Activity: Homophone displays (right) around all water fountains, so students become accustomed to the uses of different homophones even while not in the classroom.
National Standard:U.S. History
USH.K-4.1
Living and working together in families and communities.
Activity: Citizenship terms posters, which explain vocabulary terms from all the standards listed above.
NL-ENG.K-12.6
Students apply knowledge of language structure and conventions, media techniques and genres to create narrative, persuasive and expository texts that demonstrate awareness of audience and purpose.
Activity: The Baker Banner School Newspaper (right). One student from each grade level serves as a reporter. Younger students team with older students. Each team has a regular assignment, such as Coming Events, Activity Page, Advice Column, etc.
NL-ENG.K12.5
Students use different writing process elements to communicate with different audiences.
Activity: Writing Product Posters. Students practice writing the following types of pieces, the names of which are posted in hallway Proficiency Review Stations (right):
Narrative fiction
Personal narrative
Informational report
Letter to the Editor
Newspaper article
Written directions
Friendly letter
Thank-you note
Letter of invitation
Retelling
Fictional Summary
Nonfiction Summary
The proficiency test requires students to write two different types of pieces, chosen from the above list.
MATH
National Standards: Math:Geometry
NM-GEO.3-5.4
Use visualization, spatial reasoning and geometric modeling to solve problems, identify and draw a two-dimensional representation of a three-dimensional object, recognize geometric ideas and relationships and apply them to other contexts.
Activity: Students identify and illustrate geometric shapes on flat surface (teepees = triangle/pyramid, pueblo = square/cube or rectangle/polygon, recognition and discussion of the difference between geometric shapes and organic shapes).
This activity ties into Newton D. Baker's "arts infusion" philosophy. While creating artwork based on geometric shapes, students are reinforcing math/geometry concepts.
NA-MK-47
Students identify ways in which the principles of other subjects taught in school are interrelated with those of music (e.g. science can be taught through music by discussing how the vibration of strings, drum heads or air columns generates sounds).
Activity: To help children visualize how sound travels, fill a shallow dish part way with water, and ask a child to use an eyedropper to add water, one drop at a time, to the dish. The ripples that spread from the center to the edges of the dish illustrate the way sound waves travel.
National Standards: All Standards: Numbers and Operations, Geometry, Measurement, Data Analysis, Problem Solving, Algebra, Reasoning and Proof
NM-PROB.PK-12.1 - 12.3
Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving, solve problems that arise in other contexts, apply and adapt a variety of problem-solving strategies.
Activities: Hallway math posters featuring illustrations, formulas and terms essential for passing the proficiency test (top image). Math homework is posted in hallways. Parent signatures must be on all homework. Math Problem Cards feature humorous, high-interest story problems and are posted throughout the building to challenge students (bottom image).
SCIENCE
National Standard: Life Science
NS.K-4.2
Life cycles of organisms
Activity: Students made posters that depicted the life cycle of a frog. The posters were hung in the hallways, to let students know that their work is valued and important, and to increase the "visual literacy" throughout the school, so students throughout the school can learn from the posters.
Virginia Wiseman is a first grade teacher at Newton D. Baker School of Arts in Lorain, OH.
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