Description
SHARP Literacy, Inc. is a program tailored to help K4 through fifth grade students build reading, writing and researching skills by using the visual arts as the primary tool for learning. During the 2017-2018 school year, SMART Literacy will pilot curricular updates with three Milwaukee Public Schools. This study surveys teacher and student participants to evaluate the effectiveness of curriculum updates and inform any further revisions before scaling up to all 35 Milwaukee area schools served by SHARP Literacy.
Of particular interest are teacher and student perceptions of SHARP Literacy, Inc.’s workshop leaders’ use of instructional strategies during field trips and classroom visits. These strategies include disciplinary literacy strategies, student engagement strategies, critical thinking strategies, and culturally responsive teaching through arts integration. 3rd-5th grade teachers whose classes participate in SHARP Literacy workshops will identify which strategies they saw used with their students. Selected teachers will be asked to participate in a follow up interview at the conclusion of the school year. Student participants will respond to brief short answer questions to describe their experiences.
Tasks and Responsibilities
The student researcher would have three main responsibilities in this project:
• 2-3 observations of SHARP programing, resulting in an observation papers that will provide thick descriptions to contextualize survey data
• Participation in data entry and initial coding of survey data from 3rd – 5th grade students participating in SHARP programming. (Survey data will be collected by SHARP.)
• Potential assistance in transcription of select teacher interviews.