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Integrating the Arts Across the Content Areas (Strategies to Integrate the Arts Series) - Professional Development Teacher Resources - Arts-Based Classroom Activities to Motivate Students
The arts and STEM education do not have to compete with each other. Instead, provide students with well-rounded instruction across all content areas to help develop critical thinking and analytical skills. This invaluable teacher’s resource, developed in conjunction with Lesley University, helps teachers gain a better understanding of why and how to use the arts to reach and engage students beyond traditional arts courses. Developed to help motivate disengaged students, Integrating the Arts helps bring the arts back into the classroom with strategies to use in language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies instruction. As a practical guide for implementation of arts-based activities, this book helps to meaningfully incorporate artistic expression –poetry, music/rhythm, storytelling, dramatic movement, and visual arts –throughout the curriculum. Students who struggle in STEM content areas can use these techniques to engage more successfully with the materials, and students who excel in STEM subjects can develop their artistic capabilities as well. This resource includes activities, concrete examples, stories from teachers who are already implementing art-based curriculum, and assessment tools that help illustrate students’ comprehension of both arts processes and curricular content. Teachers will gain a clear understanding of the arts’ influence in making content-area instruction, particularly in STEM, meaningful and relevant for all students. This resource supports College and Career Readiness Standards. About Shell Education Rachelle Cracchiolo started the company with a friend and fellow teacher. Both were eager to share their ideas and passion for education with other classroom leaders. What began as a hobby, selling lesson plans to local stores, became a part-time job after a full day of teaching, and eventually blossomed into Teacher Created Materials. The story continued in 2004 with the launch of Shell Education and the introduction of professional resources and classroom application books designed to support Teacher Created Materials curriculum resources. Today, Teacher Created Materials and Shell Education are two of the most recognized names in educational publishing around the world.
- GenresArtEducationNonfiction
224 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2012
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13 people want to read
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March 27, 2018
I read this for an Expressive Arts class, so this is my formal review of it. I realize that this book was not meant for EXA necessarily, but I firmly think that EXA principals should be included with any art making.
As most people with basic knowledge of public school systems’ structures know, the arts often take a backseat to other curriculum. For teachers desiring to implement more arts into their content, they are frequently met with administrators demanding research-based rational for how the activity will contribute to learning standards (Common Core) and how the activity is more meaningful than other practices that have already been used. Luckily, this book provides rational that not only can connect to Common Core standards, but also attempts to explain how arts activities support readiness for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, Common Core has been rejected and rebranded in several states and, as this book was published in 2004, the standards have undoubtedly changed; however, no text on curriculum is meant to be a complete “script” for a teacher, which means that teachers are accustomed to reading about practices and considering how to adapt them for their own classes. The “21st century skills” are also loosely-defined as “creativity, collaboration, and communication” (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 16). Again, being published in 2004, perhaps 21st century skills were ideas that were not fully formed, but more research about the need for entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and group-based practices could have been included. A reader might wonder why these skills were “21st century” and why they are specifically needed for the current world more so than in the past.
This book is structured into an overall rational for arts integration, activities, and reflections. The activities fall into the categories of “poetry, music, storytelling, drama, visual art, and creative movement,” which provides a well-rounded introduction into some expressive arts categories (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 6). One of the most interesting aspects of the activities was the way the arts could be connected to math, which is usually the subject that seems to include the least amount of creativity and multimodal work, especially by the high school level. In the poetry section, students were asked to write from the point of view of a number for a specific skill (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 39).
Though expressive arts terms are not addressed and outlined for the reader (unfortunately), the rationale for the arts and activities align with expressive arts theory and practices. Donovan and Pascale (2004) tell readers in the beginning that “there are activities for you to experience for yourself the cognitive awakening that the arts can provide for your students,” which addresses that this creative process does not have an age or skill limit/requirement (p. 6); any person engaging in the practice can glean something from the experience. Moreover, the authors connect arts-based learning to cognition, explaining that these activities develop “divergent thinking skills” where students can become creators, meaning-makers, and empathizers (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 6 & 15). Through this deepening of learning, students not only express more of themselves, but reveal more about the content of the subject (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 15). It is clear that there are multiple ways to construct and demonstrate understanding (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 16). Additionally, the activities utilize art as a way of knowing through the translation of information into new forms for the creators and the audience (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 18). The authors also desire for these activities to be “culturally responsive,” which aligns with eco practices of connectivity (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 19).
In terms of assessment, there are rubrics, but the rubric-based grading does not include the process involved in the art making. Granted, if the art was more of a category itself, it would be less low skill/high sensitivity, but students should get points for the time invested in the product more. Even if students do not fully master the skill/information, the active learning would be reflected. The included rubrics at least identify creative thought as a category in the product, but more could be included to help struggling learners.
As a teacher, I appreciated that a learner-centered classroom was emphasized with the teacher as a facilitator/learner and students driving their own projects, but there was not much encouragement from the authors or description of how it would look in a classroom (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 26). With this lack of development, some teachers may feel too intimidated to try some of the activities. Also, with any new practice, it is important that teachers are enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but there is limited encouragement for them to complete the activities themselves. My students have really enjoyed seeing my EXA work before I assign a project.
Lastly, I noticed that many of the collaborators only have an M.Ed. or M.F.A. and there is little mention of arts training. Unfortunately, the stigma of M.Ed.s, especially, is that they are less reputable Master’s degrees and people from those programs have less knowledge of content. I would have appreciated more people collaborating who had Master’s (or even higher degrees) in their content areas or the arts.
As most people with basic knowledge of public school systems’ structures know, the arts often take a backseat to other curriculum. For teachers desiring to implement more arts into their content, they are frequently met with administrators demanding research-based rational for how the activity will contribute to learning standards (Common Core) and how the activity is more meaningful than other practices that have already been used. Luckily, this book provides rational that not only can connect to Common Core standards, but also attempts to explain how arts activities support readiness for the 21st century.
Unfortunately, Common Core has been rejected and rebranded in several states and, as this book was published in 2004, the standards have undoubtedly changed; however, no text on curriculum is meant to be a complete “script” for a teacher, which means that teachers are accustomed to reading about practices and considering how to adapt them for their own classes. The “21st century skills” are also loosely-defined as “creativity, collaboration, and communication” (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 16). Again, being published in 2004, perhaps 21st century skills were ideas that were not fully formed, but more research about the need for entrepreneurship, critical thinking, and group-based practices could have been included. A reader might wonder why these skills were “21st century” and why they are specifically needed for the current world more so than in the past.
This book is structured into an overall rational for arts integration, activities, and reflections. The activities fall into the categories of “poetry, music, storytelling, drama, visual art, and creative movement,” which provides a well-rounded introduction into some expressive arts categories (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 6). One of the most interesting aspects of the activities was the way the arts could be connected to math, which is usually the subject that seems to include the least amount of creativity and multimodal work, especially by the high school level. In the poetry section, students were asked to write from the point of view of a number for a specific skill (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 39).
Though expressive arts terms are not addressed and outlined for the reader (unfortunately), the rationale for the arts and activities align with expressive arts theory and practices. Donovan and Pascale (2004) tell readers in the beginning that “there are activities for you to experience for yourself the cognitive awakening that the arts can provide for your students,” which addresses that this creative process does not have an age or skill limit/requirement (p. 6); any person engaging in the practice can glean something from the experience. Moreover, the authors connect arts-based learning to cognition, explaining that these activities develop “divergent thinking skills” where students can become creators, meaning-makers, and empathizers (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 6 & 15). Through this deepening of learning, students not only express more of themselves, but reveal more about the content of the subject (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 15). It is clear that there are multiple ways to construct and demonstrate understanding (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 16). Additionally, the activities utilize art as a way of knowing through the translation of information into new forms for the creators and the audience (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 18). The authors also desire for these activities to be “culturally responsive,” which aligns with eco practices of connectivity (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 19).
In terms of assessment, there are rubrics, but the rubric-based grading does not include the process involved in the art making. Granted, if the art was more of a category itself, it would be less low skill/high sensitivity, but students should get points for the time invested in the product more. Even if students do not fully master the skill/information, the active learning would be reflected. The included rubrics at least identify creative thought as a category in the product, but more could be included to help struggling learners.
As a teacher, I appreciated that a learner-centered classroom was emphasized with the teacher as a facilitator/learner and students driving their own projects, but there was not much encouragement from the authors or description of how it would look in a classroom (Donovan & Pascale, 2004, p. 26). With this lack of development, some teachers may feel too intimidated to try some of the activities. Also, with any new practice, it is important that teachers are enthusiastic and knowledgeable, but there is limited encouragement for them to complete the activities themselves. My students have really enjoyed seeing my EXA work before I assign a project.
Lastly, I noticed that many of the collaborators only have an M.Ed. or M.F.A. and there is little mention of arts training. Unfortunately, the stigma of M.Ed.s, especially, is that they are less reputable Master’s degrees and people from those programs have less knowledge of content. I would have appreciated more people collaborating who had Master’s (or even higher degrees) in their content areas or the arts.
December 5, 2023
So many great ideas for integrating the arts through drama, visual art, dance, poetry, and music! My favorite part is that there are so many lesson plan ideas to go through! I own the physical copy of this one and will hold onto it to use in my future classroom.
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