Throughout your teacher education program and professional development sessions, you probably hear a lot about “best practice.” There are so many activities and learning strategies available to you, and it can be really hard to make a decision about what is actually best for your students. At the root, however, we know a few things to be true: students need to be engaged, challenged, growing, and learning! With Artful Literacy Centers™, you can bring all of these elements together in one activity.

Let’s look at the difference between hands-on centers and Artful Literacy Centers™. 

An Overview of Hands-on Literacy Centers

Hands-on literacy centers provide students with the opportunity to use materials that they’re able to physically manipulate while they learn. They’re often focused on rote memorization or practicing basic skills. Centers, even hands-on centers, are frequently used as busy work for students. They don’t typically require students to articulate what they’re doing and are product-driven so teachers can assess student understanding after the activity. With hands-on literacy centers, metacognition is not involved, and there is often a clear “right” and “wrong” way to accomplish the task within the center. 

An Overview of Artful Literacy Centers™ 

In contrast, Artful Literacy Centers™ utilize artistic processes to engage students with literacy concepts. Rather than rote memorization, the focus is on developing critical thinking, creativity, and imagination. Artful Literacy Centers™ are purposeful about involving metacognition and having students rely on their speaking and listening skills to articulate what they’re learning and doing. Instead of being product-driven, Artful Literacy Centers™ are process-focused, putting more emphasis on the journey rather than the destination. Finally, they encourage students to find multiple pathways to arrive at accuracy, which further deepens creativity and critical thinking skills. 

Which Centers Are Best for Your Students?

Let’s consider a few questions to help you make an informed decision:

1. What is your objective? If you want to allow students to have some fun, but mostly just keep them busy so you can work with a small group, hands-on literacy centers might be what you’re looking for. But, if you want to engage students in a more meaningful way and promote their critical thinking and literacy skills while participating in various art forms, Artful Literacy Centers™ are going to be a better fit.

2. Do you want to engage your students in higher-level thinking? If so, Artful Literacy Centers™ are going to be the clear choice since they focus on metacognition, creativity, and imagination rather than just simply producing an answer.

How to Learn More about Artful Literacy Centers™

Artful Literacy Centers™ are a series of engaging activities designed to enhance literacy skills through the arts. We offer one-hour sessions for schools wanting to learn a quick overview, full-day professional development for schools wanting more in-depth training, and even weeklong intensives to provide a thorough understanding of the program.

You can learn more about Artful Literacy Centers™ by visiting the website. You can also contact us for more information below.

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