Multilingual Learners: Developing as Writers and Artists through Content-Based PicturingWriting

Funded Oct 11, 2021

For a month and a half, the students and I met twice a week after school for a total of twelve classes. We immersed ourselves in painting and writing about different types of weather. The students experimented with art techniques that were new to them and played with sensory and figurative language to describe their artwork through poetry.

When the students saw the materials and sample final project for the project they were absolutely amazed that they would be using brand new high-quality materials. Perfectly clean paints, fresh crayons, and silky watercolor paper were thoughtfully cared for throughout our time together. It was beautiful to see the progress of students, some of whom started out with low paint handling skills became experts at swirling their wet brushes in the paint pans and dripping paint into strategic areas on their paper. Many needed time to build confidence in their ideas and application. One student stated they learned that it was okay to make mistakes. Another student continued to surpass the expectations and continued to create multiple interpretations of the weather topic and related poem. Each student became better and better at expressing themselves through this afterschool PicturingWriting program.

The students' artwork and poetry were scanned and printed and then bound into books that will be a keepsake for them and their families for years to come. The students state that they "Miss the afterschool program" focused on painting and writing and wish they could keep doing it. I will be sharing another version of this with younger students this spring! Thank you for your trust in me and financial help in making this possible for these students.”

With gratitude,

Ms. Simone