Reading and Writing Practicum Plan Draft #1

I want to know more about what life is like as an elementary teacher vs. a middle
school teacher, vs. a high school teacher. When I graduate I want to be an art teacher but
at this point in time I have no idea which grade level I would like to teach. I am currently
enrolled in my first art education course, and so it makes sense that I have no idea which
grade level I would like to teach yet. But this is why I am so curious what it would be like
to be one or the other. I want to know now! When I graduate I will have a licensure to
teach PRE-K through 12th grade. Ultimately, I want to have a job, any job when I
graduate so I'm not necessarily picky. But eventually this will become important to me,
and I will prefer teaching one grade level over the other. Everyone asks me what grade
level I want to teach, and I am not confident in my answer. I THINK I want to teacher
middle or high school, but when I look back to when I was in elementary school, middle
school, and high school it is so clear to me that my teachers from both elementary and
middle school influenced my love of art the most. This makes me feel like I should
investigate what it means to be an elementary art teacher, and a middle school art teacher
vs. what it means to be a high school teacher because the time of my life I had the best
experience with art education was during my elementary and middle school years!
I know that over time I will discover more about both primary and secondary art
education and the courses I am required to take before I graduate with an art education
licensure will lead me to a decision for which grade level is best for me. But I am an
anxious person, and this question is something I have asked myself a lot lately. This
project makes me excited because whatever answer I come to, I will feel inspired and
ready to move forward in my career as an art teacher, confident in my decision to teach a,
b, or c grade level!
Reading and Writing Practicum Plan Final Draft
My question: How do elementary and secondary level art educators influence literacy
development?
How I plan to answer my question: I will contact two current teachers, one from the
elementary level, and one from the secondary level. I will visit both teachers individually
and ask them several questions regarding how they contribute to their school's literacy
plan.
Questions:
1) What literacy plan do you follow at (name of school)?
2) How do you contribute to the literacy plan at (name of school)?
3) Can you give me an example of how you influence the literacy of (name of
school) students in your classroom?
How I will show you what I learned: I will summarize my conversations with both
teachers, and I will share my thoughts on the feedback I received.

How I want you to grade me:

Final rubric:
*My questions evoke intellectual thought and provoke meaningful conversation on the
topic of literacy. Total of 3 points
Question one:
No:0
Yes:1
Question two:
No:0
Yes:1
Question three:
No:0
Yes:1
*The summary of my conversation with both teachers is clear and concise. Total of 2
points
Summary of conversation with elementary level art teacher:
No:0
Yes:1
Summary of conversation with secondary level art teacher:
No:0
Yes:1
*The thoughts I share in response to the feedback I receive are engaging, creative,
conclusive, and demonstrate a clear understanding on my behalf of literacy, and how it is
influenced by art educators at both the elementary and secondary level. Total of 5 points
Engaging:
No:0
Yes:1
Creative:
No:0

Yes:1
Conclusive:
No:0
Yes:1
Demonstrate clear understanding of literacy on my behalf:
No:0
Yes:1
Demonstrate knowledge of how literacy is influenced by art educators at both the
elementary and secondary level:
No:0
Yes:1
Total possible points earned: 10
Total points earned:

/10

Reading and Writing Practicum Plan Implementation

Interviews Summaries:
Broadway High School, Mrs. Brandy Somers, Secondary level Art Teacher
bsomers@rockingham.k12.va.us
Mrs. Brandy Somers of Broadway High School was brief yet direct in her
response to my questions. I have concluded that there is no set literacy plan at Broadway
High School, rather an underlying emphasis of writing across the curriculum.
According to Mrs. Somers, all personnel of Broadway High School clearly understand
the importance of teaching literacy with and through the arts. This level of respect is
returned by art educators like Mrs. Somers who effectively incorporates literacy
development into her own classroom. Reading and writing activities are essential to Mrs.
Somers lesson plans. Mrs. Somers has noted that she makes a conscience effort to
incorporate reading and/or writing activities into one or more of her lesson plans per
month. In order for students to develop literacy skills, they must be exposed to reading
and writing across the curriculum No matter what subject you teach, according to Mrs.
Somers. However, with regards to an art classroom like Mrs. Somers, it is simply not
practical to do this every day of the year. Ultimately, there is no literacy requirements set
in stone at Broadway High School for art educators to follow, merely an understood
drive.
I recently asked Mrs. Somers to share with me an example of how she contributes
to the literacy plan at Broadway High School. In her response she addressed one of her

latter lesson plans about art criticism. As an art education student I am aware that art
criticism entails in depth discussion about works of art. Critiques are a great way for
students to engage in a social setting where people express their opinions freely.
According to Mrs. Somers, it is important for students to learn how to talk about their
own work as well as their peers, understand what it mans to receive positive feedback
compared to constructive criticism, and to express themselves both by creating a work of
art that is meant to be shared with others in a social setting as well as to talk about the
work of art. Dialogue is a great way to increase development. Critiques in an art
classroom eventually lead into reading and writing activities. This is one of the most
prominent ways that Mrs. Brandy Somers executes the school wide emphasis of writing
across the curriculum. To go a little further in explaining how critiques are an excellent
way to increase literacy development in an art classroom, critiques provoke students to
speak and write freely about works of art, and in complete sentences! Students are
encouraged to work with vocabulary that is unfamiliar to them in their dialogue both
verbally and on paper. According to Mrs. Somers, critiques take place between one to
two times per month. She also notes drawing as a great activity because it is exercising a
very similar part of the brain as writing. For example, on paper students replace letters
with lines.
Throughout her career as an art educator at Broadway High School, Mrs. Brandy
Somers has found inspiring ways to influence the literacy of her students creatively in her
classroom. Not only does Mrs. Somers work as an art educator, she also works as a
photographer and writer for Family Talk Magazine. As a way to keep students updated,
and aware of what is going in the art world, Mrs. Somers has committed herself to
providing students with a copy of every new article that is published in the Magazine.
Given that literacy is also reading, the presence of these articles in Mrs. Somers
classroom enhances her students literacy by providing them with the opportunity to read
and learn! In a recent class assignment, Mrs. Somers had her students read an article of
their choice from the magazine about an artist. The students then were to draw a mouth in
the style of that artist. This is just one example of how students use these magazines to
their benefit both for their assignment, and as a way of increasing their literacy
development. Additional ways that Mrs. Somers influences the literacy of Broadway
High School students in her classroom is by incorporating activities where students are
required to read aloud or along with each other, instruction base reading, content reading,
and art magazine reading like the Family Talk Magazine that I talked briefly about above.
Laburnum Elementary School, Mrs. Julz Suder, Elementary Level Art Teacher
www.laburnumart.weebly.com
www.lesgarden.weebly.com
Julz Suder of Laburnum Elementary School was also direct in her response to my
questions. Much like Mrs. Brandy Somers of Broadway High School, Mrs. Suder of
Laburnum Elementary does not have a distinct literacy plan to follow. According to Mrs.
Suder, Laburnum Elementary personnel do not call it a literacy plan, rather a Continuing
School Improvement Plan where one of their main focuses as educators is on reading.
Mrs. Suder does her very best to meet the goals laid out for her each year. Mrs. Suder,
and all other personnel of Laburnum Elementary School are well educated as to how

effective teaching literacy with and through the arts can be. In fact, there is a great level
of respect that is spread across the curriculum amongst all subjects and educators at
Laburnum Elementary. According to Mrs. Suder, she contributes to the Continuing
School Improvement Plan in a number of ways. In order to strengthen her students
literacy and love of reading in her classroom, Mrs. Suder incorporates reading into her
lessons as often as she can. Mainly in the K-2 grades, Mrs. Suder tries to pick out books
that are pertinent to the lesson or technique that she is teaching her students. Mrs. Suder
has an assortment of childrens books readily available to her students in what she calls,
the Art Room Library. The Art Room Library is a bookcase full of different books
that pertain to art and life. All of which are appropriate for elementary level students of
course. Another way that Mrs. Suder influences her students literacy development at
Laburnum Elementary School is by constantly introducing and reviewing vocabulary
words for visual analysis. Mrs. Suder has an interactive "Word Wall" in her classroom
that she has made out of old library card pockets. On the outside are words like the
Elements and Principals of Art, and then a card with the written definition that goes with
that pocket. If students do not remember a word, Mrs. Suder will remind them to use the
Word Wall like a dictionary, and go look up the word! Similar to Mrs. Somers of
Broadway High School, Mrs. Suder encourages her students to read and use their critical
thinking skills through class critique. Class critiques serve as motivation for students to
express themselves both orally and on paper. Especially at the elementary level, it is
important that as educators we advocate for individuality and for self-expression. We
want students to find their voice, and in the process learn how to develop their literacy.
Last but not least, Mrs. Suder tries to contribute to the literacy plan at Laburnum
Elementary School by having students incorporate writing into their artwork or through
Artist Statements. Mrs. Suder believes that students will find motivation to read and write
if they are given the choice to read/write about things that resonate with them, and
interest them on some level. Mrs. Suder has her students write about themselves, their
artwork, and the decisions they made when making their artwork, as often as possible.
This kind of written reflection response process is completed at the end of each project.
My Response: What I have Learned
For this project my goal was to answer the question, How do elementary and
secondary level art educators influence literacy? After speaking with Mrs. Brandy
Somers of Broadway High School, and Mrs. Julz Suder of Laburnum Elementary School,
I feel confident in my ability to answer this question!! It is my understanding that both
elementary and secondary level art educators influence literacy development
significantly, and in very similar ways. At Broadway High School, there is no set literacy
plan, rather an underlying emphasis of writing across the curriculum. There is also no
set literacy plan at Laburnum Elementary School. According to Mrs. Suder, Laburnum
Elementary personnel do not call it a literacy plan, rather a Continuing School
Improvement Plan where one of their main focuses as educators is on reading. As you
can see, both elementary and secondary level art educators are concerned with literacy
development. However, elementary has clearly emphasized reading as their main focus,
whereas secondary is primarily concerned with writing.

According to both Mrs. Somers and Mrs. Suder, all personnel of Broadway High
School and Laburnum Elementary School clearly understand the importance of teaching
literacy with and through the arts. In fact, there is a mutual respect for literacy amongst
all content areas. For both levels of art education, it is simply not practical to incorporate
literacy into class instruction on a daily basis. As long as art educators continue to make a
conscious effort to incorporate reading and writing into lesson plans, and incorporate
activities such as class critiques into methods of instruction, students will undoubtedly
benefit from the exposure, and inherently increase their literacy development. Both Mrs.
Suder and Mrs. Somers provide their students with reading material. They also encourage
their students to reflect on their work orally through class critique, as well as verbally in
written response exercises.
In conclusion, both elementary and secondary level art educators aspire to
contribute to and influence the literacy of their students. It is much simpler than it seems
to incorporate literacy into the art classroom, as it is much simpler than it seems for other
content areas to teach literacy with and through the arts. It is my belief that both levels of
art education have the potential to influence their students literacy significantly. It is up
to them to execute in the way that both Mrs. Somers, and Mrs. Suder do in their
classrooms. I have found my answer to the question, How do elementary and
secondary level art educators influence literacy? Elementary and secondary level art
educators influence literacy by emphasizing the importance of reading and writing across
the curriculum and as a continuing school improvement plan, executing various creative
ways to incorporate literacy into class instruction, and by encouraging, motivating, and
inspiring students to learn no matter what subject that you teach.