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An Art Teacher's Perspective on
Writing To Learn

Sue Van Loon is one of four art teachers at Cleveland High School. Reading and writing across the curriculum are strongly emphasized
at the school, and teachers are given professional development one day a month on various topics that include writing. The professional development is also tied to preparing students to receive the Certificate of Initial Mastery. Among other requirements, students must meet state performance benchmarks on the writing test in 10th grade, and complete three writing samples. To help students meet these requirements, the Oregon Department of Education recommends that schools offer a writing curriculum that provides frequent opportunities to write on a variety of topics for various audiences; and specific instruction that provides feedback to students about the quality of their writing.

Van Loon teaches ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpting and printmaking, and International Baccalaureate Research and Studio Art. Cleveland is one of two Portland Public Schools to offer this challenging international program that generally allows students to fulfill requirements of various international education systems and receive college credit. The grading system is criterion-referenced, which means that each student's performance is measured against well-defined levels of achievement. Top grades reflect knowledge and skills relative to set standards applied equally to all schools. IB Diploma Programme students are required to conduct original research on a topic in one of 22 subjects, and write an essay of 4,000 words maximum. The essay provides an opportunity for students to explore a topic in depth and to become familiar with the research and writing skills expected at the university level.

There is a strong emphasis on writing in the IB program, including art classes. Students write every day, filling a 120-page Research Journal yearly. Teachers provide bimonthly feedback on their writing. The students choose a genre of art that interests them to research and then create studio work inspired by it. Being self-motivated is necessary for success.

In all the art classes at Cleveland students learn to analyze art; they are led through steps of critiquing using the DIE model. The students first Describe what they see happening in a painting, then Interpret the meaning, and finally Evaluate it, answering the questions—Is it any good? How do I respond to it? Did the artist succeed in his or her goal?

In Van Loon's non-IB classes, there is less research, although she tries to incorporate writing as much as possible. The writing abilities of her students vary, and so students are given the opportunity to interpret art orally as well as in writing. "I grade my students on how much they are learning, by how much their art has matured, and how well they can talk and write about art," says Van Loon.

Van Loon recognizes that the IB emphasis on writing helps the learning process, and is encouraged to adapt IB lessons for all students. "Writing helps students clarify their thoughts. Teachers are being encouraged to talk less, so that students can talk, write, and participate more in their own education," she says.

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Writing in Mathematics

Although writing has not traditionally been integrated into mathematics, it is a valuable way for students to demonstrate their problem-solving processes and for teachers to assess what they are learning. The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Communications Standards for grades 9–12 say that students should be able to:

• Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication
• Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others
• Analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others
• Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely (2000)

Franklin High School has just started using a technology-assisted algebra curriculum that not only motivates students of all abilities, but also requires them to analyze and evaluate problems and describe how they obtain answers.

When the district decided to require all freshmen to take algebra, a team researched various programs that would be suitable for different learning styles and abilities. After visiting Kent School District, where a curriculum had been implemented successfully for a few years, the team decided to use Carnegie Algebra in Franklin and Madison High Schools.

The Carnegie Algebra curriculum combines software-based, individualized computer lessons with collaborative, real-world problem-solving activities. Students spend about 40 percent of their class time using the software, and the balance of their time engaged in classroom problem-solving activities. These activities have students write an explanation of the process for solving a problem, and an analysis of a problem—in full sentences. For example, in a lesson on patterns and linear functions, the student is given a problem and then asked to answer some questions: What are the variable quantities in the problem situation? Which of the two variable quantities depend on each other? Explain. Later in the lesson, students are given this problem in which "you" are working at a custom T-shirt store and are required to calculate the price of the orders. The questions that follow ask you to, "in your own words, clearly identify the problem situation; how you see this problem differing from a previous problem; and questions about variable quantities and constant quantities."

Roberta Lambert, a Franklin mathematics teacher who was a member of the team that chose Carnegie Math, is impressed with what she has seen so far. "If students can explain the concepts in writing it reinforces the concepts for them," she says. She can also evaluate students' understanding of those concepts better through their written analysis. Lambert also sees that students are more interested and motivated to complete assignments using the computer-assisted program. It uses more realistic scenarios for problem solving to help students relate mathematics to real-life situations.

Lambert also says that because the new freshman academies structure facilitates collaboration across core content areas, she has been able to work closely with the freshman language arts teacher. She gives that teacher quizzes that contain vocabulary and concepts she wants her students to learn. The language arts teacher then reinforces the concepts by using them in his lessons. Lambert and the science teacher also use the same terminology.

In previous years, students in 10th grade were required to answer open-ended questions on the state's Certificate of Initial Mastery assessment, as well as a multiple-choice test. The test "measured students' mastery of complex math reasoning and encouraged teachers to teach by using that approach," and "would lead to richer, deeper teaching and understanding in math" (Hammond, 2004). However, in part because the state "could no longer ensure the quality and accuracy of the problem-solving test (Susan Castillo, cited in Hammond, 2004) due to schools' reluctance to assign and grade complex open-ended math assignments, given growing class sizes," the test has been suspended until perhaps 2008, when it is hoped a better math test will be developed.

Lambert is also very open to learning new ways to incorporate literacy into her mathematics classes. She often has students in other classes compose their own word problems. Portland Public Schools has provided some staff development workshops on literacy. At a recent staff development day, all teachers were required to come up with a literacy-based lesson for their content area and demonstrate it to the other teachers. Lambert's lesson was to enable students to understand challenging vocabulary such as co-linear and co-planer by having them build three-dimensional models of the words using toothpicks, dot stickers, and index cards.

In spite of the change in the state assessment, Lambert remains committed to using Carnegie Algebra. Carnegie builds writing into the curriculum, which doesn't take much time, which is very helpful, says Lambert. She hopes that more teachers will see how well the curriculum works, and that it is used for the next three years.

For more information about Carnegie and for independent evaluations of the curriculum visit www.carnegielearning.com/start.cfm?startpage=research/published%5Fresearch/