2015-281-E Arts - Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation Arts Grant

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DocuSign Envelope ID:8AA3BC1F-B680-4976-AB39-E8045449CDA3 Measurement of Project Effectiveness: At Northside Elementary,an important goal is for the children of color, particularly male students to meet and engage with a contemporary author and illustrator that looks like them! It is vital for these students to understand that they,too, can use words and art to create meaningful works for others.The last few lines in this story read, "George's love of words had taken him on a great journey. Words made him strong. Words allowed him to dream. Words loosened the chains of bondage long before his last day as a slave." By engaging school-wide around this text, Northside will not only build on the local history the school embraces, but also seek to strengthen the students as readers and writers by engaging in a meaningful and relevant creative writing project. By beginning the school year with this project, the students' experiences will guide their work all year long and strengthen each student as a writer as they use their own words to "make themselves strong and allow themselves to dream." The school has already begun the communication process with Don Tate's booking agent for hosting him at Northside should funds become available.They have also established a working partnership with Flyleaf Books to supply copies of the featured book for this project at a discounted cover price.The school has the space and flexibility in their schedule to be able to accommodate a large scale author visit in the library.The summer months will be used to create a grade-by-grade curriculum based projects related to the book that will be taught in collaboration with classroom teachers prior to and following the author's visit.All students will have experience working with this text and studying this author's work, thereby learning from the visit on a deeper level. This project addresses Goals 1 and 2 in the CHCCS district's strategic plan that focus on instructional excellence and eliminating the achievement gap. Creating an intentional equity focus around our Community Reads Campaign and learning from an author/illustrator of color will empower Northside Elementary's students of color, particularly our male students. Providing opportunities to create a piece of poetry that expresses who they are with words while combining it with an artistic medium will demonstrate their words have power to move others. Collaborating with teachers and the library/technology department to create an innovative experience will allow students to share their creative work through a digital lens and reach students and others outside the walls of Northside. It will encourage a growth mindset. In the story,life was difficult for George Moses Horton and learning didn't come easy, but he forged ahead and worked hard to better himself. This project will help students to embrace this message and apply it to their own learning situations. Student reading and writing surveys will be done to gain feedback on how students see themselves as readers and writers, what they love and where they struggle. After the visit, students will revisit their surveys and respond with how they hope to grow as a reader during the school year, what they enjoyed most about meeting Don Tate, and one thing they learned from him. Follow-up questions will include: • Did students feel inspired to write more after Don Tate's visit? • Did they feel inspired to read more books by Don Tate or similar authors? • Did the students'feel like their words were important when they were written in poetic form? There is much that students can still gain and learn from the works of Don Tate and the many historical books he has helped to author and illustrate that feature African-American characters.