On the Streets Where We Live
By Katherine Romano, Associate Editor

As we round the corner of Essex Street, strains of George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" fill the air. Here the streets are paved in brick and, on the opposite corner, the Essex Street Market is swarming with activity. The constant bustle seems to be scored to clatter from the horse-drawn taxis and the sing-song shouts from pushcart peddlers who sell everything from roast corn and hot dogs to clothing and pots and pans. Across the way, on Suffolk Street, there's a myriad of clotheslines strung between tenements where gangs of cats surround trash cans that line the narrow alleyways.

"Our goal is to have our children achieve levels above the standard," says Anna Silver principal, Dr. Leonard Golubchick. "We are teaching them to be thinkers, doers and risk takers."

Okay. So, it's fair to say you might be thinking we've suffered a not-so-momentary lapse from reality.

Even better—today we're visiting The Anna Silver School for Art and Technology, P.S. 20 in New York City, where we're attending the school's 14th annual Learning Fair. This is an event that the school's 1,000 students and 80 staff members do not take lightly. In fact, this is such a prodigious affair that the teachers begin preparing for the upcoming year's Learning Fair in June. Today there's a giddy anticipation in the hallways of Anna Silver and the excitement that both the teachers and students feel toward their projects is palpable.

"So, what do you think of our humble little place?" the school's principal of 26 years, Dr. Leonard Golubchick, called from across the auditorium.

Where do we even begin?

Perfect harmony. For the past two Learning Fairs, thanks to a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, students at Anna Silver have taken "A Walk Through the Lower East Side" and explored their neighborhood's fascinating history. Teachers have woven this theme across the curriculum to include lessons in language, literature and history as well as forays into the culture and heritage of New York City as a city founded by immigrants.

Scenes from the Lower East Side: every year, students work on an architecture school improvement project with an architect from Henry Street Settlement. This year, kids redesigned the school's school yard entrance.

The various scenes and landmarks on display at this year's Learning Fair are plucked from different times in the Lower East Side's motley past and exist next to each other in perfect harmony, much like Anna Silver's extremely diverse student body. Seven of its classrooms are either Spanish, Chinese or Bengali bilingual and about 96% of the kids come from homes where English is not spoken. However, given the school's massive number of students who come from all walks of life, not once did we see a kid out of line or in conflict with another student. Each of these children were on-task and focused and best of all, deeply committed to their projects and to each other.

Learning to lead. At the hub of this busy intersection of learning, is Anna Silver's inimitable principal. Dr. G.—as the kids and staff affectionately refer to him— was a hard man to pin down during our visit. In addition to leading a Principal's Workshop where other principals were visiting to witness the Learning Fair, Dr. G. was also juggling interviews with various newspapers and stopping to ask the kids about their projects. "In order to be a leader, you have to want to learn," he commented.

Fifth graders researched the lives of famous New Yorkers and then sculpted their images.

A strong foothold. Anna Silver has long had a strong foothold in the arts—George and Ira Gershwin, Jacob Javits, Edward G. Robinson and journalist Harry Golden are among many of the school's esteemed graduates. In fact, one fifth grade class created a timeline that linked it's famous graduates to how Anna Silver has changed over the years—"When Harry Golden went to school here, it was all boys," one entry read.

What makes sense. Drawing on the school's sturdy foundation in the arts, Dr. G. and his teachers believe that the arts and technology provide ways for kids to make clearer connections to learning. Twelve years ago, Dr. G. spearheaded a partnership with the Henry Street Settlement—a community-based social service and arts organization that was established on the Lower East Side in 1893. Artist residencies at Anna Silver include storytellers, architects, bookmakers, ceramists, choreographers, playwrights and instrumentalists. The artists and teachers join forces to create lessons for their students that include conflict resolution and violence prevention activities, literacy and reading skills, architectural design projects and a variety of arts and community improvement projects. These lessons are the dual efforts of the teacher and the artists and culminate with the Learning Fair. The school also has working partnerships with the Center for Arts Education, Comprehensive School Reform (A Different Way of Knowing) and an Empire State Partnership.

Fourth graders explored the history of the taxi cab in New York City. They outfitted the back of their model of a checker cab with a map of the Lower East Side.

We had the privilege of seeing a working partnership in action in Ms. Yee's Chinese bilingual first grade classroom. Robin Bady, a storytelling teacher, was on hand to tell an interactive story. To say the kids were having a blast would be an understatement.

To support the technological side of learning, American Gateways, a Federal Technology Challenge Grant, has supplied Anna Silver with computers, printers, digital cameras and a T-1 line for a broadband Internet connection in every classroom. Dr. G. explained, that through the use of technology and the arts, the teachers are able to teach a standards-based curriculum infused with arts education for every learner. "We are dealing with what we think makes sense for our kids," he said.

As we stood on the corner of Suffolk and Delancey Streets, we had a hard time deciding on which facet of the East Side we wanted to learn about next—should it be a stop at the Delancey Street Time Machine or a closer inspection of the artistic significance of grafitti and murals? Our heads were spinning, but for these kids, it was just another day in the neighborhood.

Students created this impressive model of the Statue of Liberty for last year's Learning Fair. Lady Liberty came back for a return appearance this year for second, fourth and fifth graders' performance of the poem,"Ballad for Americans."

"Mr. Z," aka Sam Zilberzweig, taught for 34 years before coming to Anna Silver. As a lifelong resident of the lower East Side, Mr. Z is indispensible to the teachers. He knew the minutiae of every project he showed us!

A student shows Associate Editor Kate Romano the old pupil reports that the kids discovered in the school's basement. Kids assumed the identities of actual past Anna Silver students and then wrote their own narratives.

May 2003, Vol.33, No.8