When Tom Breiding took the stage to a round of hearty applause from the students at Richland Elementary on November 6, it was not just a highlight for students participating in this year’s Gateway Arts in Education Partnership, but it also marked the ten year anniversary of Richland Elementary and the Pine-Richland School District’s participation in the program.

The Gateway Arts in Education Partnership is a program which uses a work of art as a text for learning. The partnership is a mutual commitment to ongoing professional development and arts integration that begins with the Gateway Arts in Education Institute and includes a classroom residency.

Tom Breiding’s performance Steeltown was chosen by the Partnership teachers at Richland as the focus work of art for this year’s residency. More than 50% of their current teachers have attended the Gateway Arts in Education Institute.

Breiding is a locally-based, nationally-acclaimed American folk songwriter and recording artist. Playing guitar and banjo, he delivered his original songs depicting generations of steel, railroad and factory workers and discussed their role in the development of Western Pennsylvania, as well as Pittsburgh’s role in building the nation.

Teaching artists and classroom educators partnered to design workshops and activities based on academic standards and classroom goals centered around the songs of Steeltown. This year, four of Gateway’s teaching artists are working with ten classrooms who receive four workshops each as part of the residency: two workshops before viewing Tom Breiding’s performance and two workshops after it.

The teaching artists used lines of inquiry to help guide student exploration of the content and context of Breiding’s songs in the workshops. For the kindergarten and first grade students, themes of home and meaning of place were explored based on lesson plans created in collaboration with the classroom teachers and teaching artists Rebecca Covert and Greg Richards. The second and third grade classrooms approached themes related to coal-mining and the history of Western Pennsylvania guided by teaching artists Christina Ferrell and Ricardo Richardson.

The entire population of the school was involved in experiencing Steeltown. In the week prior to his performance, Breiding’s songs were played on the morning announcements. Every Richland student attended the concert, and those whose teachers have not yet been trained in aesthetic education, were introduced to Breiding’s work in their music class and in their library time. Both the music teacher and the librarian, are participants in the program.

The students responded enthusiastically to Breiding’s performance with clapping and helped to keep the beat by tapping their feet in time. For the final song, the large stage was crammed with students who accompanied Tom, trying their hands at playing the washboard, spoons and a washtub string instrument.