How Drawing in Conjunction with Writing Contributes to Literacy

The drawing and writing process of drawing The process involves documenting layers of and writing in a series stimulates thought and using each layer as a children to make connections stepping-stone to another layer. between letters, words and visual SUMMARY Picture a delicate, smooth-skinned symbols. It sparks their interest in red onion whose aroma gets more Long before they learn to acquiring the skills to communicate read and write, children pungent as you peel away each their ideas through images and words. often express themselves circular, slippery layer. The goal of through the simple draw- the process is to create a need for ings they create. A veteran The drawing and writing series is a art teacher explains how way of working and a way of thinking. learners to discover and unlock what this basic creative outlet, if It encourages the learner to think in at is unique about them, their personal it is nurtured, can be least two modes, each expanding and voice — what they want to say in a instrumental in helping form that is understandable to others. youngsters develop — clarifying the thinking of the other. and improve — their Picasso declared: “All of my paintings reading, writing and For many students, the arts are their are researches ... there is a logical speaking skills. primary way of knowing and commu- sequence in all this research.” Picasso, nicating. According to Howard in fact, executed approximately 45 Gardner (1993), a factor in creativity sketches in preparation for Guernica.3 Joan Lipson Davidson has taught students at all grade levels for is to build on the learner’s interest — more than 35 years. She is presi- a predilection to working in a particu- The drawing and writing series dent of the New York City Art 1 process stimulates an engagement in Teachers Association / UFT and is lar domain. In this process, the a member of the NYSUT domain of image-making is augment- both visual literacy and the specific Committee on the Visual and ed by writing. Literacy learners differ topics related to early literacy out- Performing Arts. She is a past lined by the New York State president of the New York State in many ways, including cultural Art Teachers Association and a background, neurophysiology, materi- Standards for English Language Arts recipient of its Art Educator of the al resources, experience with lan- for pre-K through grade 5. Based on Year award. Although retired, she continues to develop curriculum guage, and developmental level.2 real-world experiences, sounds, and present. Her award-winning Educators must tailor their teaching shapes, words, meaning, interaction paintings have been exhibited in with peers and adults, literature and one-woman and group shows strategies to meet the diverse needs of throughout the country. literacy learners. media, students will achieve the

E DUCATOR’ S V OICE n V OLUME 1 n PAGE 36 by Joan L. Davidson METHODOLOGY United Federation of Teachers New York City Do you think your artwork helped with your writing?

“For me writing didn’t help my drawing, but drawing helped my writing.” following standards, which align with 3. ELA Standard: Language for Carisse, Grade 3 the ELA standards: Critical Analysis and Evaluation.

1. ELA Standard: Language for In the process of drawing and writ- Did writing Information and Understanding. ing, students reflect on and respond help you with to the work of their peers. In present- Students will collect data, facts and your artwork? ing their work to the class or to indi- ideas; discover relationships, con- vidual groups, students will expand “Yes. If you write something, cepts and generalization by creating a their speaking and listening skills and you know what the picture drawing and writing about the draw- should be about and you vocabulary. ing, then reading their writing and know what details to add.” drawing from their writing. They will 4. ELA Standard: Language for Madalyn, Grade 3 create a series of work by repeating Social Interaction the process. (Adult help in writing Through interactive dialogue, stu- may be necessary, depending on a dents will relate information in their child’s age and ability.) The drawing drawing and writing to other events, and writing generated will be based increasing their awareness of possible on the meanings children construct content for their work. Students will while engaged in a process that sup- gain empathy for and connectedness ports their imagination. with others by viewing their artwork 2. ELA Standard: Language for and listening to other points of view. Literary Response and Expression. The process engages children in drawing and writing for real-life rea- In the process of drawing and writ- sons — to communicate something ing, students will gain experience in they want to say. developing a story by writing about characters in their drawing, the set- Gardner notes that “If, in early life, ting and will develop plot ideas based children have the opportunity to dis- on what is happening in their picture. cover much about their world and to do so in a comfortable, exploring way,

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The use of the they will accumulate an invaluable Working with Carisse and Alex “capital of creativity, on which they drawing and The drawing and writing series can draw in later life. If, on the other process is illustrated by the works of writing series hand, children are restrained from eight-year-old Carisse and Alex, a process is such discovering activities, pushed in pre-schooler age 4 years and 7 only one direction, or burdened with months. The series by Carisse was appropriate as the view that there is only one correct collected when I worked with third- soon as the answer or that correct answers must graders in a New York City public be meted out only by those in author- school, PS 31 in the South Bronx.5 youngster can ity, then the chances that they will I worked intensively with 14 children, ever cast out on their own are signifi- beginning with their entire third- use words to 4 cantly reduced.” grade class. All but one of the students talk about his who showed an interest in continuing For pre-school children, the art and their drawing and writing series were or her image. writing process supports their visual not the academic stars of the class. imagery and gives them an idea how They enjoyed making images — that writing connects with their images. was their way of communicating. Expression pre-language takes the Their teacher wondered how the form of sound, movement and writing skills of these students had so drawing, if given crayons, pencils improved, and I explained that the or other writing instruments. classroom curriculum needed to pro- Both Viktor Lowenfeld and Rudolf vide these image-makers with an Arnheim explored in depth the devel- opportunity to use drawing as a way opment of graphic characteristics in to make sense of the ideas and facts children’s drawing. For these young they were presented. artists, content is often constructed Carisse, Grade 3 during or after the shape is drawn. Over a week’s time, a series of Carisse’s drawing had a positive effect drawings could have similar — or on her writing, and her writing different — content. The use of the helped her think more carefully about drawing and writing series process is her drawing. Growth was apparent in appropriate as soon as the youngster terms of her increased perception can use words to talk about his or her about her environment, her under- image, which may seem like scribbles standing of how to use the whole to a viewer who cannot “read” the paper to tell her story and her devel- picture. opment of graphic and writing tech- niques to communicate ideas.

E DUCATOR’ S V OICE n V OLUME 1 n PAGE 38 In her first drawing, she includes herself METHODOLOGY and her mom, differentiated only by the fact that her mom is holding a shopping Carisse’s Drawings and Writings bag. Face, dress, size and body parts are all drawn the same. The bag her mom Writing #1 carries symbolizes she is going shop- In my block I see drug dealers some- times. I like the rain a lot. Me and my ping. The dots for eyes and nose and brother are looking out the window. We upturned crescent line for a mouth see a little girl in the rain with an symbolize a face and show no expres- umbrella and another lady with a bag. sion. All forms are reduced to their bare Writing #2 minimum to tell a story. created in response to writing on first Drawing #1 Carisse created her second drawing drawing. after reading the story another student Writing #3 wrote about her work and after dis- My Block cussing her writing and drawing in a My block is a nice place to live. It’s not small group with me. The questions separate buildings. The private houses posed in the group were: (1) What else are small, but the top house has a lot of could be happening on the block? and space. A Lot of people live here. My friends live on the block. Their names (2) How could a story be developed are Richard and Jessica and they like to from the activities? In the second draw- play together. Sometimes we roller blade ing, Carisse has more figures and each or ride our bike. At first I didn’t know Drawing #2 is doing something different. how to ride my bike, but in the summer of 1995 my father taught me how to In Drawing #3, Carisse shows she has ride. One day he was teaching me and I kept jumping off the bike because I was an interest in drawing her block more scared to run into something or fall off accurately. Instead of relying on her the bike. I continued riding but I was memory, her mom suggested she look always afraid. One especially warm day, out her window. She then drew the after I had been practicing with my Dad for almost a whole summer, my Dad, block she saw across her street. The after work, took me bike riding as usual. buildings now look quite realistic and He said, “I’m about to let you go” and I her figures show more details in their said, “No, don’t let me go, don’t let me Drawing #3, a completely new body parts, eyes and accessories. go!” But he still let me go and I rode in drawing is created based on the basketball court. When I went in the observation of the building Compared to her earlier drawings, across the street basketball court I saw people playing growth is evident. As Carisse began basketball. They moved out of the way a wide open space where writing, more details about learning to because they did not want to get hit. bikes could ride. My Dad ride a bike came to mind and she My Dad followed and yelled, “Watch was proud of me because I included them in her story. Proud of out Carisse, you are about to hit the rode a bike by myself. Then gate!” I just missed the gate and went to we went back home. her writing, she explained, “ I knew I loved to do artwork, but I never wrote such a long story.” E DUCATOR’ S V OICE n V OLUME 1 n PAGE 39 How Drawing in Conjunction with Writing Contributes to Literacy

Feedback from Alex (Pre-K, Age: 4 years, 7 months) knowledge to naming the letters and recognizing words as I read him a peers and adults is More recently, I collected the series by Alex in a home situation. I was story. He continued the process at vital to sustain the encouraged to see how the process home — with the support and feed- growth of the sparked his interest to recognize let- back he received from his parents and ters and words. relatives as they read the book to him learner. — and at school, where his teacher As Alex dictated his story and and peers applauded his efforts. responded to questions to tell about The role of assessment and feed- particular parts, he responded in back in the process more detail, then added more details in his drawings the next time. Feedback from peers and adults is vital to sustain the growth of the Watching me type, he wanted to try. learner. Gardner explains how a sig- As he sat at the computer I pointed to nificant support system from some- the letters and he touched the key. one with whom the learner feels com- fortable and cognitive support from The next day, he remembered some someone who could understand the of the letters as I called them out and nature of the breakthrough are vital to he located them on the keyboard. nurture the creativity of the student.6 Later in the day he transferred this

E DUCATOR’ S V OICE n V OLUME 1 n PAGE 40 Role of parents in the process METHODOLOGY Parents have an opportunity to Alex’s Drawings and Writings become learners and facilitators, now and in the future, for their children Writing #1 who cannot yet write. If parents work This picture is a story of robots. And the with their child’s teacher, they can robots are defeating their enemies and I learn how to ask questions to help am one of the robots I guess. The good their child clarify and think about their guys, the Ninja turtles, will find the robots before the bad guys find them and they graphic symbols in different ways. run to get their weapons for battle. When parents write the explanations dictated to them by their children or Writing #2 listen to or read their children’s writing The picture is about the Ninja Turtles Drawing #1 and compare it with their image, they fighting Mr. Underwear. The Ninja Turtles are running in battle. They get a peek into the “unspoken” life of jumped off the building when they saw their youngster. The process provides Mr. Underwear. He was climbing the an entry point for the parent to building and then he was bouncy, become a partner in their youngster’s boingy, boing off both buildings because he was made out of rubber. Before he journey to develop reading, writing, broke them into pieces they punched and speaking skills. him in the face. There is the Jersey Devil and the Vampire Succuborn. They are Role of teachers and parents just crawling around the Ninja Turtles. Authors Pressley and Hilden7 (2006) Writing #3 explain that a balanced literacy instruc- The setting for this picture is bubbles tion program includes teaching specific which 2 aliens are trapped in. One of the reading strategies along with building Aliens has two eyes and one has one eye Drawing #2 word knowledge through vocabulary like a plankton — a type of shrimp. The work. They cite 30 years of research red stuff is lava. The pink is an electric net that zaps birds and then they die. The that has shown that explicitly teaching Ninja makes people eat rocks and dirt. cognitive comprehension strategies There was a purple boy who was killed (e.g., predicting, questioning, seeking in the desert by a thief because he had clarifications, summarizing, attending money in his body. The thief took the money out of his body because he to elements of story structure, con- wanted to be rich. The Ninja replaced structing mental images, and connect- the boy’s bones with metal bones. He ing to prior knowledge) leads to then cut the bones into pieces so the improved reading comprehension. In boy could become evil. The Ninja has the drawing and writing series process, 10 legs and 2 swords and one shield. He Drawing #3 plans to make the Aliens eat things they an image exists first and becomes the are not supposed to eat so they get sick foundation for questions to clarify and die.

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thinking, the structure of a story,pre- If parents work with ENDNOTES dictions and a summary of what is their child’s teacher, 1 Howard Gardner, Creating minds (New happening in the story and or the pic- York: BasicBooks, 1993), p. 42. they can learn how ture. Responses to questions easily 2 Anne McKeough, Linda M. Phillips, Vianne lead to a next picture or writing or Timmons, Judy Lee Lupart, editors, to ask questions to both. This is just how the series pro- Understanding literacy development: A global view (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence help their child gresses. George Szekely (2006) points Erlbaum Associates, 2006), p. 4. out, “Young children start life as full- 3 Howard Gardner, op.cit., p. 175. clarify and think time artists and collectors. But they 4 Howard Gardner, op.cit., p. 31. about their become part-time and secret artists as 5 they find little connection between Joan L. Davidson, “My block and beyond: graphic symbols A documentation of how drawing in con- their home and school art. Children junction with writing contributes to the in different ways. continue being artists when their art thinking process,” Resources in Education dreams are supported in school, and (1996), Microfiche # ED406 300. the art ideas they bring from home are 6 Ibid., pp. 43-44. valued in school.”8 7 McKeough, loc.cit., p. 4. 8 George Szekely, How children make art. Lessons in creativity from home to school, (New York: Teachers College, Columbia University, 2006), pp. 3-4.

E DUCATOR’ S V OICE n V OLUME 1 n PAGE 42 REFERENCES Arnheim, R. (1967). Art and visual perception: A psychology of the creative eye. University of California Press: Berkeley, CA. Davidson, J. L. (1997) “My block and beyond: A documentation of how drawing in conjunction with writing contributes to the thinking process,” Resources in Education Microfiche #ED406 300. 135 pages. Gardner, H. (1993). Multiple intelligences, The theory in practice. BasicBooks: New York. Gardner, H. (1993), Creating minds. BasicBooks: New York. Graves, D. H. (1987). Writing: Teachers & children at work. Heinemann Educational Books: Portsmouth, NH. Lowenfeld, V. and Brittain L.W. (1966). Creative and mental growth, 4th Ed. The Macmillan Company: New York. McKeough A., Linda M. Phillips, Vianne Timmons and Judy Lee Lupart, Editors, (2006) Understanding literacy develop- ment. A global view. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ. Szekely, G. (2006), How children make art: Lessons in creativity from home to school. Teachers College, Columbia University, New York.

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