Literacy, Art, and Families
The Literacy, Art and Families project is a unique collaboration between the Literacy Assistance Center and the vibrant cultural institutions of NYC. Through this project we build partnerships between literacy programs and cultural institutions to provide culturally and linguistically rich learning opportunities for children and adults. The project enjoys the support of the Altman Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art.
The goals of this project are to:
- Draw connections between art and language development
- Encourage families to seek out learning opportunities in the community
- Encourage life-long and self-directed learning for parents and children
- Introduce parents to different ways of learning and teaching
- Develop the skills parents need to navigate cultural institutions
- Nurture creative expression within families
- Provide supplementary learning experiences for children who attend schools with limited resources
For a curriculum framework and toolkit to help you get started integrating the arts into your family literacy program click here: Experience and Engagement with Arts and Museums (EEAM): A project of the Literacy Assistance Center and the Museum of Modern Art
For more information about using inquiry-based instruction to explore art and build literacy, we encourage you to visit the Solomon R. Guggenheim’s Learning Through Art website at http://www.learningthroughart.org/inquiry_art.php
To learn more about Literacy Assistance Center professional development offerings on arts and literacy visit our professional development calendar.
How do the Arts support Literacy and Cognitive Development?
The sources listed below address this question:
- Efland A. (2002) Art and Cognition. New York: Teachers’ College Press
- Falk, John H. and Dierking, Lynn D. (2000) Learning from Museums. Walnut Creek: Altamira Press
- Feldman E. (1972) Varieties of Visual Experience: Art as Image and Idea. New York, Prentice Hall
- Gardner, H. (1973) The Arts and Human Development. New York: John Wiley
- Arts Edge:www.artsed
“www.artsedge.dca.wa.gov.au/7_2_literacy.asp
Resources on visual literacy and visual arts education - The Arts Literacy Project at Brown University
www.artslit.org/home.html
ArtsLit gathers a community of artists, teachers, youth, college students, and professors to collaboratively create innovative approaches to literacy development through the arts. - The California Arts Project
http://csmp.ucop.edu/tcap/
Instructional strategies to support visual and performing arts - ERIC Digest: Literacy Instruction Through Communicative and Visual Arts
http://reading.indiana.edu/ieo/digests/d186.html
Explore the effectiveness of literacy instruction through communicative and visual arts - The Getty Museum Education
www.getty.edu/education/for_teachers/curricula/esl/
On-line version of Language Through Art – an ESL Enrichment Curriculum - The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
http://www.learningthroughart.org/
The Guggenheim’s Learning Through Art program conducted a two-year study of the impact of its artist-in-residence program on literacy development among elementary school students - Library of Congress
www.loc.gov/exhibits/young/young-exhibit.html
On-line photography exhibit, works addressing family and childhood - Reading is Fundamental Question and Answer Session—Arts and Literacy
www.rif.org/educators/rifexchange/programdescriptions/QA_show303.mspx
Frequently asked questions about how the arts support children’s development - Visual Understanding in Education
www.vue.org/
Educational research on cognitive skills development that results from interaction with art