Total Literacy™
Benefits and Findings

Benefits of Total Literacy: for Administrators and Decision Makers; for Students; for Teachers; for the School Community
Findings: from Hartford Public Schools, CT; from Lawrence Township Public Schools, NJ; from Michigan City, IN; from Dearborn, MI; from the CT HOT Schools
For a PDF of a Total Literacy presentation, enter here.

Benefits of Total Literacy
Total Literacy is a flexible approach to literacy in and through the arts that can be implemented with many different client groupings. Increased achievement is only one of the many benefits of Total Literacy. The research-based strategies provide a springboard to exceptional teaching and learning, building a literate and compassionate learning community. In a process-oriented environment we encounter less discipline issues, and more deep learning. This is the teaching and learning your teachers and students deserve! Become committed to excellence!

How do you start sharing the benefits of Total Literacy?
Contact: arts education IDEAS, 38 Tory Hill Lane, Norwalk, CT 06853
Phone: 203/229-0411 FAX: 203/847-0613
Website: www.aeideas.com

"I have taught for 34 years, as a classroom teacher, as well as basic skills, advanced math, gifted and talented, remedial reading and math, reading recovery etc. I always believed in getting the children actively involved in learning activities. I cannot tell you how motivated I was after meeting Dr. Snyder and seeing her interact with classroom teachers and students. Students and teachers were challenged and worked together to pool their individual talents. In demonstration lessons students were actively involved in cooperatively working together to explore their own spaces, move to music, discuss artworks and create their own; and read and write to create their own stories and books. The results were amazing. The bright children were challenged. The slower children encouraged and successful. The discipline problems were minimal because the energy was channeled into positive actions. (i.e. instead of wiggling and squirming during a listening activity and getting reprimanded, the student is swaying to music and/or keeping a beat on a drum or other instrument.) I only wish that I had experienced and been trained in TOTAL LITERACY early in my career. However, no matter how experienced the teachers were, great ideas were shared and teachers commented on how beneficial their experiences had been. Dr. Snyder provides lesson plans, goals, objectives, and demonstrates how to get started and work with all types of students regardless of cultural, or socioeconomic status."
Sheri Nalbaum, Initiative Coordinator
Lawrence Township Public Schools

Benefits of Total Literacy - for Administrators and Decision Makers
You know that the arts are essential for student growth and learning, yet you are pressured to narrow your curriculum to competencies measured by high-stakes tests. What benefits can you gain from a research-based, arts-infused literacy approach?

• Teachers will gain and use a breadth of skills and strategies.
  
• Students will gain self-esteem and a desire to learn.
  
• The district will gain increased learning in and through the arts.
  
• The school will gain pride and a sense of community.
  
• The arts curricula will be strengthened.
  
• Teaching and learning will be enriched.
  
• Threat will be replaced by natural curiosity and desire to succeed.
  
• Learning will focus on process as well as product.
  
• Differentiated instruction will provide all students the opportunity to learn.
  
• Effective, deepening communication in multiple languages will become the goal.
  
• Test scores will increase.

"The evaluations from all conferees reflect their excitement and good feelings about the day spent with you. The workshop certainly accomplished our goals and more. I continue to be grateful for the extensive, thoughtful handouts that you provided. Your willingness to gear this workshop and the handouts to so specific an audience and subject was very admirable. Your influence in the world of education is substantial and growing. We are proud that you are a friend."
-Tennessee State Department Consultant

"Our early literacy initiative, which is at the centerpiece of everything we're doing being that it's the most important program we're involved in, is lead by a retired elementary music teacher, who was initially very suspicious of that project as merely a way to put the arts further and further on the periphery of the organization. He came to see it as the future of the arts by inserting the arts into every single conversation about core curriculum."
-Max Riley, Superintendent
Lawrence Township Public Schools, NJ

Benefits of Total Literacy - for Students
School efforts and decisions should focus on student benefits.
Student benefits include

• Increased self-esteem;
  
• Active participation in learning;
  
• Motivation to learn;
  
• Multi-modal instruction that matches individual needs;
  
• Increased attendance;
  
• Decreased behavior-related incidents; and
  
• Increased achievement.

"Dear Dr. Sue SnYder,
"ThanK You for Going on a Bear e Hunt with me ... you are a nice lady I LOVe You ... ThanK You for Beig So nice of Signing ThreeLittleMonKieS ... I liked When We sang the Old lady Who SWalloWed a fly."
-Students from 1Held, PS109, New York City

"What I liked about today was that it was very exciting, and I got some good acting advice and skills. I liked when we played 'Taxi' and when we named the different statue poses. I liked lunch because I was a cook. It was hard when we had to make up a ritual for the people who died at sea. Everyone liked having [drama] for the whole day. It was a new experience for me. I wish we could do it again. At first we all joked around, but we learned how to be serious and learned how to really act."
-6th Grade journals from a process drama workshop day

Benefits of Total Literacy - for Teachers
Most teachers are passionate about their teaching and students, using the best strategies they know. Total Literacy strategies provide powerful, joyful teaching and learning.
Teacher benefits include

• Freedom to include a range of developmentally appropriate, research-based strategies to address multiple learning styles;
  
• New, fresh approaches that build understandings and skills;
  
• Exciting opportunities to learn and grow with students;
  
• Differentiated teaching/learning opportunities;
  
• Increased status for arts disciplines and teachers;
  
• Students learning to be responsible for their learning;
  
• An aesthetic component that connects to real life and focuses on process as well as product.

"I have just finished reading your ArtSmart guide and the accompanying research. I had to thank you for verbalizing what I know is true when teaching. Children need to be infused in the creation process whether it is art, music, drama, or dance."
-Jennifer S. O'Toole, Buchanan, Michigan

I always enjoy the time spent with you. It renews my enthusiasm for what can happen for kids within the classroom. Thanks.
-Diane Lindenmeyer,
Grade 6 teacher, Michigan City Area Schools

"I enjoy watching those faces otherwise not engaged light up. That's the joy we were all missing."
-Pam Belury, 2nd Grade Teacher
McDonough School, Hartford, CT

Benefits of Total Literacy - for the School Community
It takes a community to help a child grow. Schools can be vital and inviting community centers. School Community benefits include

• A sense of pride built through community arts activities;
  
• Celebrations of successes and individuals;
  
• 'Informances' that let parents understand what their children learn;
  
• Increased achievement that reduces threat of school failure;
  
• A more deeply communicative environment;
  
• Meaningful parent involvement in classrooms;
  
• Respect and helpful behaviors across the school community;
  
• Opportunities to change.

"I know it's important to do reading scores, and to see what the scores on the mastery tests are, but I want to know: If we do this is it going to change the level of discourse in our classrooms across the district? If we do this, is it going to change the school environment and the learning environment in our learning community? Is it going to change our town? Those are big questions, and if we don't ask those big questions then how will we know what we really want to assess?"
Max Riley, Superintendent
Lawrence Township, NJ Public Schools

"If there's anyone who makes a difference in the lives of children it's my arts, music, and physical education teachers, and I tell them that all the time. We can change the way instruction is done in the schools in the city of Hartford, and in fact we are doing that."
-June Bernabucci, Senior Director of Unified Arts
Hartford, CT Public Schools

Findings
When Total Literacy is implemented with integrity, the benefits are measured qualitatively and quantitatively. Because Total Literacy is responsive to individual sites, each implementation has unique goals, configurations, and assessments. Test scores are one important measure, but not the only critical indicator of success. Just as literacy is about communication rather than just reading the words from a page, success is measured in the capacity of students to learn for a lifetime, and communicate across languages.

In general, through Total Literacy implementation:

• Teacher and students enthusiasm increases;
  
• Teacher and student attendance increases;
  
• Classrooms become more interactive, with more student hands-on learning;
  
• Higher-order thinking is more frequently utilized;
  
• Status of the arts and quality of arts curricula increases;
  
• Creativity increases;
  
• Student voice and work are celebrated;
  
• Community involvement increases;
  
• Student achievement increases.

"Ninety percent of the success of any program is directly attributable to the quality of the implementation."
- Bruce Wilson, Program Evaluator

"I am empowered to reach all children by allowing me to differentiate instruction and tap into learning styles. If the child does it, the child remembers it. We saw some brains awaken. They could act out a story and could give me 100 percent comprehension. It is absolutely working."
- Total Literacy trained teacher, Hartford, CT

"I like it - acting out. It's fun. You do stuff in the book. We don't fool around. We mean it; we read with expression. You should pretend you are reading to a kindergarten class."
- Student in TL trained teacher's classroom, Hartford, CT

Findings from Hartford Public Schools, CT
Description:
The Hartford implementation focuses on 2nd to 6th grade readers "stuck" in the learning to read stage. A prescriptive approach immersed at-risk students in an arts-rich intervention during which they explored developmentally appropriate literacy concepts through music, visual art, and movement. In addition, a parallel initiative informed all district elementary unified arts teams about critical components of Total Literacy. Hartford is an action research site for qualitative and quantitative data collection.
IDEAS staff are on-site 4 days a week for the entire school year.

Quantitative Results:
Over a sequence of six eight-week cycles, approximately 2/3 of "stuck" readers became unstuck, moving up at least one level. Many students transitioned from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn.' In addition, upper grade students whose learning was enriched with arts-based strategies made approximately 10% greater gains than peers on quarterly and standardized tests. Findings showed the Total Literacy effect significant at p=<001.

Qualitative Results:
Evaluators found this program very well run, with rich and deep content. Formative evaluations help inform, shape and redirect the implementation. Teachers have grown from observers to implementers and planners. Teachers reported that defeated and difficult students changed dramatically within weeks of beginning Total Literacy. Observations showed students on task and participating most of the time, and administrators reported a decline in discipline issues. Tolerance for each other's needs led to a helping environment in Total Literacy classrooms. Students were sad to leave reading class, and relished returning the next day. Teacher and student attendance increased, and parents called at the beginning of each cycle to find out why their children were so excited!
(Complete report and additional information available upon request. Contact Sue@aeideas.com)

"I want to give feedback about this whole program. It would be a huge loss to just stick these kids back into regular [reading] when we're just starting to see responses from them. I think this needs to continue for all of our benefits. The children are like a rose blossom waiting to bloom and I want to be there for that moment. I think having the arts teachers stick with this is key as well as the classroom teachers. I can only speak for myself - we can't allow the children's creativity to shine and then shove it back into a box!"
-Pam Belury, 2nd Grade Teacher
McDonough School, Hartford, CT

Findings from Lawrence Township Public Schools, NJ
Description:
The Lawrence Township Public Schools implementation is a district-wide implementation, beginning in the foundational Kindergarten year and layering in one additional grade level a year. A thoughtful pre-implementation process brought a range of stake-holders to the table. There was intense review of materials and a site visit before the board voted to make Total Literacy a district-wide initiative. There has been an arts-infused literacy facilitator enabling the implementation in the four elementary schools over the past year. Professional development occurs approximately 12 days per year, with guided teacher meeting between sessions.

Quantitative Results:
This initiative began with Kindergarten, and adds one grade level per year, while supporting prior trained grade level teachers. The goal is to deepen the level of communication and discourse across the educational community over time. Quantitative measures of student growth will emerge.
The number of teachers informed and committed to arts-infused literacy continues to grow. A combination of model teaching and professional development has been successful in communicating Total Literacy goals and strategies.

Qualitative Results:
Among the changes observed thus far is an increased awareness of the value of the arts, both for their own sake and as a lab for learning across the curriculum. The arts curriculum is being more closely scrutinized, and plans are underway to develop more sequential, rigorous, and process-directed curricula in music, art, and PE. Teachers began by imitating strategies, and eventually apply the strategies to new concepts and skills. Interdisciplinary teams have formed, and meet at scheduled times each month.
Due to the tiered introduction by grade level, upper grade level teachers are showing great anticipation to become part of those "in the know." However, some are not waiting. They watch their trained peers then try the strategies on their own. The joyful, purposeful Total Literacy lessons are hard to resist!

"Just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed working with you these past few months. It has been an incredible learning experience for me. After teaching for 34 years, with a very child-centered frame of mind, and incorporating a plethora of activities in my teaching, I could only wish that I had you as a mentor when I first started teaching. You are so knowledgeable, and creative and exude such a love of learning and teaching,.......and have so much fun working with children, that I don't think that you really know what an impact you have....on students and teachers.

I just want to thank you.....for just being you!,,,,for what seems to come so naturally....and for your dedication and hard work....and for what you have given to the teachers and students....and to me!!"
-Sheri Nalbaum, TL Coordinator
Lawrence Township, NJ Public Schools

Findings from Michigan City, IN
Description:
Michigan City, Indiana is a small industrial city at the base of Lake Michigan. When several of the elementary schools' test scores triggered state-funded reform, we embarked on a bold initiative, Kaleidoscope, to develop an arts infused curriculum that met the needs and interests of the student population. The program was funded through an Educate Indiana grant for six years, and was founded on the Total Literacy approach.
The purpose of Project Kaleidoscope was to increase student achievement in math and language arts through an integrated arts education approach. Kaleidoscope teamed classroom teachers with instructors of art, music, and physical education. The title, Kaleidoscope, was originally chosen to reflect the unique nature of this project. Like a kaleidoscope, each of the project schools shared common "pieces" in terms of goals and objectives. However, the "picture" varied depending on the "spin" each school took while incorporating its individual school improvement goals.
The staff was supported in their efforts to infuse the arts into their instructional practice through high quality, ongoing, research-based professional development. Release time was also built in for teacher collaboration in developing school-wide themes or units of study. Another level of support was provided through development of a cadre of teacher leaders within the district to provide leadership and to support ongoing implementation of arts integration at the building level, and to sustain the program once grant funding ended.

Quantitative Data:
Within three years, the district's efforts had moved them off the state's failing schools list in both language and math.

Qualitative Data:
The arts-infused initiative in Michigan City yielded a substantial number of strategies and arts-based units of study. A group of middle school teachers were particularly invested in developing curriculum, and several have become leaders in the district and elsewhere. The involved teachers were extremely enthusiastic, and their skills and understandings deepened over time. As one of the first implementations, a baseline for expectations about increased attendance, decreased behavior issues, and adult learning sequence was developed.

To learn more about the Michigan City Kaleidoscope initiative, visit www.aeideas.com/kscope/

"My purpose in writing to you is to personally thank you for the opportunity you gave me this past school year to work with you in Michigan City. It was very enjoyable and enriching. You have that effect on people. Helping them to see that they too can explore outside of the box. Essentially that is what we want our students to be able to do as well. Yes? You're terrific."
-Lisa Bailey
Michigan City Area Schools

" I just wanted to tell you how beneficial I found the training sessions I attended this year. I cannot thank you enough for showing me how to use the tools I already have to teach the students in many different ways. I truly feel that each of these sessions has helped my teaching methods in so many ways. I have learned so much in only three days! I am encouraging others in my school to attend them next year. Thank you again."
-Mary Schalliol,7th Grade Math Teacher
Michigan City, Indiana

Findings from Dearborn, MI
Description:
Dearborn, MI is unique because it has the largest Arabic population in North America. It also applied Total Literacy uniquely. The Dearborn initiative began with training music teachers as part of a push for standards-based, sequential music teaching. Total Literacy was combined with Orff Levels training during three summers, supported by a series of yearly professional development opportunities that included modeling, workshops, and planning. During the final year, teacher teams planned sequential lesson sequences that supported the MEEP high-stakes, standardized test strands; then model taught the lessons, peer assessing. In addition, there has been one Dearborn Total Literacy summer training for arts and classroom teacher teams.

Qualitative Data:
Dearborn's initiative was not established as an action research site, and qualitative data was not systematically collected.

Quantitative Data:
Over the course of this initiative, some of the deepest arts-based work stemming from Total Literacy has been developed. The ability of the music staff to plan, implement, and assess student capacity to create, perform and respond has become extraordinary. The three summers of 70-hour workshops, enhanced with support during the school year, have led to highly trained professionals. Dearborn has been chosen as one of the top 100 music programs in the United States for several years running.

Contact Dr. Snyder at Sue@aeideas.com to learn more about implementing Total Literacy with arts-based teachers, or Total Literacy and the Orff process.

"Hi, Sue! The few days with you were so wonderful; I carry you with me everyday. Today, I asked the children to put their hands on their heads, hands on their ears and listen. You could have heard a pin drop and I whispered, "Thanks Sue." My students have loved the rhythm/body percussion lessons. They are soaring and so creative. You make me look soooooo good."
-Cathy Prowse
Dearborn, Michigan, Elementary Music Teacher

Findings from the CT HOT Schools
Description:
The HOT Schools program is supported by the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, and provides 25 Connecticut public schools with five years of training to develop strong arts programs, arts-infused curriculum, and democracy. The theory of integrated curriculum guiding HOT Schools was developed by Dr. Sue Snyder, who also has guided creation of Total Literacy.
At Lyman School, one of the original HOT Schools, two first grade teachers worked with IDEAS to create the HOT Readers' intervention, using elements of Dr. Snyder's integration theory. Working with struggling readers, HOT Readers was a great success, and led to a whole-school training program and implementation. In addition, staff from several other HOT Schools took the training through a course offered at Central Connecticut State University. Results for Bloomfield and Bristol added to the Lyman successes. This HOT Readers' program was one of the roots of Total Literacy, and sustains itself through a core teacher team.

Quantitative Data
In the Lyman School pilot, after six weeks, approximately 1/3 of the struggling first grade readers were reading. An additional 1/3 were greatly improved and went on to read with no discernable difference from their peers.
In two Bristol first grade classes, where children entered from Kindergarten below average, the average student DRA gain was 16 points. With a combination of Guided Reading and Total Literacy, the average child left first grade at a high-second/low-third grade reading level.

Quantitative Data
The enthusiasm for Total Literacy strategies was extremely high for teachers and students. Carefully, sequentially planned, arts-infused lessons were exciting, intense, and require thinking across disciplines. Changes were seen as teachers became more comfortable and familiar with the teaching strategies, and arts concepts and skills. The shift to hands-on, brains-on learning put the responsibility for learning on students, and developed ability to think creatively. This higher-order thinking across languages was believed to lead to greater and different student achievement. Teachers commented on their ability to reach more learners, and students became more aware and accepting of their differences.

Read more about the HOT Readers program at www.aeideas.com/hot.html

"We have a good year beginning. The teachers seem to be much more comfortable using music in the classroom. Every single first and second grade class is using songs to teach. Thank you for your inspiration and for mentoring me over the past three years. My teaching is energized and exciting."
-Sharon Berndt, John Lyman School, Middlefield, CT