Literacy through pictures – March 11, 2004
By Brian Kelly, Staff Writer / Lexington Minuteman
Picture it: First-grade students using pictures to improve their reading and writing skills.

Geri O’Neill, a first grade teacher at Harrington Elementary School, believes it can happen. Thanks to a $1,405 Summer Fellowship she was awarded by the Lexington Education Foundation, O’Neill will travel to the University of New Hampshire for a two-week program this summer to learn about picturing writing, a teaching approach that fosters literacy through art and image making.

According to LEF’s Web site, lexedfoundation.org, the method “helps elementary school children develop a sense of setting, mood, sequence, beginning, middle, end, plot development, and use of descriptive language.”

“Children first picture their writing by creating evocative crayon-resist watercolor paintings. Then, inspired by their paintings and guided by deliberately chosen writing prompts from the teacher, they write text to accompany their art,” read the description. “The approach appeals to a variety of student learning styles.”

O’Neill, who plans to implement the method into her classroom next year, first learned about picturing writing from a presentation made by Bridge Elementary School faculty. The LEF previously funded a similar grant for Bridge Elementary School, and Picturing Writing has since become part of that school’s curriculum.

“I first saw it presented at a technology fair, and they showed us some samples of the students’ writing. [The faculty] was really excited about it,” said O’Neill, who has taught at Harrington for 12 years. “I knew it was something I wanted to do.”

One of the best aspects of picturing writing, according to O’Neill, is that “it can be taught through all subjects.”

“You can use it in science, in social studies, in many different things,” she said. “This appeals to a lot of different learning styles. Any way you can enrich and help develop students’ reading and writing skills is good. Bringing art and writing together really helps do that.”

O’Neill was one of 10 teachers to be awarded an LEF Summer Fellowship this year, a grant that, according to lexedfoundation.org, is given to Lexington teachers with professional status “to pursue activities that promise to enhance their professional life and increase their experience and knowledge.” In its second year of the program, LEF awarded a total of $16,736 in Summer Fellowships for 2004.

Peggy Shukur, LEF’s vice president of programs, said the results from Bridge’s use of the approach have been outstanding, and she’s pleased O’Neill will be bringing picturing writing to Harrington next year.

“I think it’s a program that’s consistent with the differentiated learning goals of the Lexington school system. This finds ways to reach children who have different learning styles,” said Shukur. “One appealing part of Geri’s application was her willingness and desire to share the knowledge she learns with her colleagues. We’re continually impressed by the motivation of teachers in the system to want to develop their skills and their willingness to share knowledge.”

“The LEF has been very supportive. They really encourage us to enrich our students’ experiences,” said O’Neill. “I saw some of the finished products at Bridge, and it’s amazing to see what first graders can do. I’m really looking forward to bringing this back to my classroom.”