THE HUNDRED LANGUAGES OF CHILDREN: ART, LITERACY, AND

THE CURRICULUMErin Filupeit

Elisabeth OgdenTyler TarnowiczStephanie Tock

Dr. Deborah Owens

with TEACH members:Michaela JohnsonNikki WadlingtonMegan Fitzgerald

Presentation for theNew York State Reading Association

Annual ConferenceNovember 11, 2015

The Hundred LanguagesNo way. The hundred is there.The childis made of one hundred.The child hasa hundred languagesa hundred handsa hundred thoughtsa hundred ways of thinking …

of playing, of speaking.

By: Loris Malaguzzi

Our inquiry began with the concept of learning walls as a way to make learning visiblefor students. My learning wall (the first of many I’ve used over the past year with students) explored the Progressive Era.

The Hundred LanguagesA hundred always a hundredways of listeningof marveling, of lovinga hundred joysfor singing and understandinga hundred worldsto discovera hundred worldsto inventa hundred worldsto dream.

Stephanie Tock’s learning wall focuses on how geography impacts how people live.

The Hundred LanguagesThe child hasa hundred languages(and a hundred hundred hundred more)but they steal ninety-nine.The school and the cultureseparate the head from the body.

Erin Filupeit’s learning wall exploredmath in real life – and how economics impacts the lives of college students.

The Hundred Languages

Erin’s learning wall was extended to include a reader’s theater performancewith thought bubbles illustrating the economicrealities of college life.

They tell the child:to think without handsto do without headto listen and not to speakto understand without joyto love and to marvelonly at Easter and at Christmas.

The Hundred LanguagesThey tell the child:to discover the world already thereand of the hundredthey steal ninety-nine.

One thing educators can learn from the media is that there are visual symbols all aroundus and these symbols can be extremely importantto teaching and learning. How these symbolsare selected, used, and displayed can provide asynthesis of cross curricular learning.

The Hundred LanguagesThey tell the child:that work and playreality and fantasyscience and imaginationsky and earthreason and dreamare things …that do not belong together.

The Hundred Languages

And thus they tell the childthat the hundred is not there.

The child says:No way!The hundred is there!

The Hundred Languages

One of the languagesof children is foundthrough performance.

Readers Theater:Theme - Cinderella

The Hundred Languages

Readers Theater, as a form of expression,can be fancy or simple – as this performance of Jackand the Beanstalk illustrates.

The Hundred LanguagesIf we give studentsthe freedom to explorelearning creatively,we foster deeperand more permanentunderstanding of concepts.

When you make learning visible,it becomes more participatory andmore democratic. Everyone has the opportunityto engage, express their opinions, and becomea part of the learning community.