The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Acting out plays a role in school
Alliance Theatre helps improve children’s literacy skills.
Being an actor doesn’t always mean playing a role on stage. For 75 performers affiliated with the Alliance Theatre, plying their craft means doing so in front of a classroom of children.
“We have teaching artists in classrooms and summer camps,” said Christopher Moses, the Alliance’s Jennings Hertz artistic director. “They introduce our work to a new population. We’re not simply a place to see a show; we’re using art for the greater good of the community.”
A big part of that greater good is improving literacy skills among young learners. Through the Alliance’s Georgia Wolf Trap Early Learning Through the Arts program, artists go through a week of training focused on early childhood development before being paired with classroom teachers to deliver 16 sessions of research-based lessons on literacy and social emotional learning. They also hold one-on-one sessions with teachers, who then can use the strategies in future classes.
During the school year, artists are working in 89 schools and 287 pre-K and kindergarten classes around the state. Last year, the program debuted in the pre-K classes of the Marietta City Schools.
“The program has all the learning outcomes we want married with arts integration,” said Carolyn Landreau, Marietta’s K-12 fine arts coordinator. “It’s super engaging for students and teachers alike. It gives us additional tools to make learning more exciting while still hitting learning targets.”
A recent $60,000 grant from the Wellstar Foundation has helped the Alliance expand its outreach in Marietta beyond pre-K; the funds will underwrite the program for all kindergarten classes in the district’s eight elementary schools.
“My goal is to have as much access as possible for all of Marietta’s students,” Landreau said.
Lessons are rooted in phonics, comprehension, phonetics awareness, fluency and grammatical understanding, said Hallie Angelella, the Alliance’s Naserian Foundation head of early childhood programs.
“We use arts integration strategies that support what each classroom needs,” she said. “For example, we have a story basket with props that help tell a story and build anticipation. Kids get involved not just to listen but to act out or become the story. They’re using their bodies to comprehend the characters as well as the beginning and end.”
Measuring the program’s effectiveness is difficult, Landreau said.
“It’s hard to quantify because we’re not testing the outcomes of specific lessons. It’s much more about qualitative impact,” she said. “The feedback from teachers and students is that it increases engagement and gives teachers other strategies to get kids excited. And I can’t tell you how excited the kids are. If someone just read to them, they wouldn’t be nearly as engaged.”