Integrating the Arts in My Classroom
Every aspiring teacher dreams about the classroom that they will one day be able to call their very own. This dream is birthed from the realization that although we are placed in classrooms to teach and observe in, we cannot call these classrooms our own. Our dream is also influenced by the classrooms and teachers that we had as an elementary student, the classrooms that we visit now, the teachers that we meet, and of course, the courses that we take as part of our academic journey to becoming a certified teacher. Thus, the course that I am currently enrolled in, ITE 326, Elementary Visual Arts Methods, influences the dream that I have about my very own future classroom.
Although there are many aspects of the course that influence my dream, one specific resource that has a heavy influence is our course text. It is a book that I had needed for a previous course that seemed so promising and full of great ideas, I didn’t even sell it back. Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts: An Integration Resource for Classroom Teachers was written by Claudia E. Cornett to provide teachers with a resource that would help them integrate the arts into their classroom. It covers the various forms of art, from music and dance to theatre and literature, but since this course was a visual arts course, we focused mainly on the chapters about visual arts integration. In the following essay, I will be addressing visual arts concepts I plan to teach, what specific teaching practices I plan to use, what specific critical thinking strategies I want my students to use and how I plan to arrange my classroom environment to make those things possible.
Visual Arts Concepts
The first visual arts concept that I’d love to include in my curriculum is simple and basic, but serves as a foundation for art as a whole. It is the understanding of what art is. Cornett (2007) writes, “Art is visual communication. It was one of the earliest ways humans expressed and understood each other and still serves this basic purpose”(p.159). I want students to understand that art, specifically visual art goes beyond just beauty and aesthetic appeal, but more importantly conveys a message to its viewer. I believe that this understanding is so important for students to grasp because it is what transforms “just doing arts and crafts” into true art integration through creative problem solving. This must be taught at a young age while students are still developing their understanding of what art is, because they may hold that understanding for a lifetime.
Flowing from the idea that visual art is communication and more than just a pretty picture, I also want to teach my students that art is to be appreciated, especially considering the way it can capture social, economic, cultural and historical elements. Not to mention the amount of work the artist must have gone through to create it and the courage it took them to give society permission to judge them mercilessly for it. Like Cornett (2007) writes, my goal is not for students to like every style of visual art or fall in love with every painting they see, instead my goal is for students to know that “to appreciate art means to understand it, not that you have to like it”(p. 178).
Critical Thinking Strategies
Both concepts of understanding what art is and in turn appreciating it as art are so much easier to say than they are to achieve. But, there are a few critical thinking strategies that I’ve found in the text that I plan to use to help get students where I want them to be in their art journey.
One way that students learn to appreciate art is by being able to understand it and in order to understand art students must be able to read art. Print of the Day is a thinking activity from the text that will help students become better at reading art. This is supposed to be done on a daily basis, but I don’t think I’d have time to make it that routine. However, I would like to use the Print of the Day thinking process as often as I can, perhaps at least once a week. In this activity, I would display a piece of art for the students to see and then pose them with one question to think or write about. Some example questions from Cornett (2007) are: “What title would you give this art (main idea)?” “What words describe how it makes you feel (adjectives)?” or “What can you find that no one else will (details)?” (p. 180). Each question she suggests has a different purpose and by having students think deeply about artwork, they will hopefully develop a greater appreciation.
The second critical thinking strategy I’d like to use is called “Step/Walk into the Painting.” In this strategy, students pretend to physically step into the piece of artwork and walk around. I like this strategy because it is also versatile; it can be altered to be used as a tool to integrate into another subject area. For example, Cornett (2007) connects this strategy to science by observing with magnifying glasses or to math by noticing shapes or other mathematical concepts (p. 206, 214).
Specific Teaching Practices
There are many thinking strategies that I can get my students to do, but their experience in the arts is also affected by my own teaching practices. I think the most important teaching practice for me to adopt has to do with developing a positive attitude and teaching that role to students. These two things will affect the rest of the teaching practices I incorporate in the classroom. If I as a teacher am unconfident in my ability to create art and teach through the arts, Cornett (2007) suggests that this lack of confidence may manifest itself in the form of having students use pre-cut assembling tasks or painting by number (p. 176). These two tasks inhibit students from having the creative freedom to problem solve through art making.
In order to prevent that, I must take on the role of a guide and a director to give students the freedom they need to do true art. But, as I’ve learned this semester, and as Cornett (2007) writes, “Students do not discover the range of communication possibilities for art by just exploring. Most need explicit instruction in how to use a variety of media, tools and techniques and different surfaces.” (p. 177). Thus, students need more than creative freedom; they need specific teaching practices as well. The following are a few from the text that I really want to use.
Giving students opportunities to be the ones creating and engaging with artwork is the first teaching practice I want to adopt. I have enjoyed this course because we’ve been given many opportunities to practice the art styles and techniques. So, in the same way I want to give my students those opportunities as well. But just given student opportunities is not always enough. Thus, the other teaching practice that I will adopt regards giving students feedback and having dialog with them about what they’ve been working on.
Cornett (2007) writes “Give clear feedback: “You have used four shapes” is more effective than “Good shapes!” Describe what students are doing. Use art vocabulary. Focus on what is being learned. “Good job!” and “Great!” teach nothing.” and “Do not insult by asking “What is it?” Instead, offer comments and ask about art elements or the process: “How did you do this? I see you are trying to put the wash over the candle drawing” (p.177). As a teacher I think one of my strengths is my continual use of verbal encouragement as positive reinforcement. However I have both insulted students by asking “What is it?” and taught them nothing by saying “Great!” So, I’d like to follow both of these guidelines that Cornett wrote in order to make my feedback and dialog with students more effective and worthwhile.
While understanding art concepts, teaching practices and thinking strategies are necessary for effective arts integration, the last aspect I’d like to address is about the classroom learning environment.
My Classroom Arrangement
At the beginning of this semester, we had to decide upon three goals as artists and arts educators. One of my goals was to be able to create an environment that encourages students to experience the arts, because as Cornett (2007) notes, “the ‘place’ of learning deeply affects learners” (p. 72). Through reading some of the chapters in the text, I now have a better idea of how I’d like to arrange my classroom in order to do so. The environment I hope to create will have space for student artwork, art supplies, art resources and books, etc.
I didn’t get this from our readings, but one idea that I’ve dreamt up this semester includes aprons. I want my students to feel like they are artists and one of the most effective ways to do something like that is to have them dress like one. (This will also help to keep their clothes clean.) I can just imagine telling the students, “Okay kids, it’s time to be artists. Go grab your aprons.” Then they’d come back transformed into artists ready to work wearing paint splattered aprons (and if I can afford them, berets). It’s a crazy dream, but I’d love to get students to role play being artists. I feel that it would
In my classroom there will be an area dedicated to displaying student-created artwork and even artwork that students want to bring in to show the class. I already knew I wanted to do that, but Cornett (2007) explains that this can be beneficial because it honors and respects the artists while challenging students to continue growing as artists when they see the work of their peers (p. 73).
Although my dream classroom is far from being a reality, this is just a snapshot of what I hope it will be one day. In that classroom, I will serve as a guide and encourager, and not a teacher that tell students how to do it “the right way.” I will teach students about what art is and develop their appreciation for it by engaging them in creating their own art and teaching them how to read the art of others. And I will do my best to work with the art supplies and classroom that I’ll be given to make it an aesthetic and provoking learning environment.
References
Cornett, C. (2007). Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts: An Integration Resource for Classroom Teachers. New Jersey, Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.
Although there are many aspects of the course that influence my dream, one specific resource that has a heavy influence is our course text. It is a book that I had needed for a previous course that seemed so promising and full of great ideas, I didn’t even sell it back. Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts: An Integration Resource for Classroom Teachers was written by Claudia E. Cornett to provide teachers with a resource that would help them integrate the arts into their classroom. It covers the various forms of art, from music and dance to theatre and literature, but since this course was a visual arts course, we focused mainly on the chapters about visual arts integration. In the following essay, I will be addressing visual arts concepts I plan to teach, what specific teaching practices I plan to use, what specific critical thinking strategies I want my students to use and how I plan to arrange my classroom environment to make those things possible.
Visual Arts Concepts
The first visual arts concept that I’d love to include in my curriculum is simple and basic, but serves as a foundation for art as a whole. It is the understanding of what art is. Cornett (2007) writes, “Art is visual communication. It was one of the earliest ways humans expressed and understood each other and still serves this basic purpose”(p.159). I want students to understand that art, specifically visual art goes beyond just beauty and aesthetic appeal, but more importantly conveys a message to its viewer. I believe that this understanding is so important for students to grasp because it is what transforms “just doing arts and crafts” into true art integration through creative problem solving. This must be taught at a young age while students are still developing their understanding of what art is, because they may hold that understanding for a lifetime.
Flowing from the idea that visual art is communication and more than just a pretty picture, I also want to teach my students that art is to be appreciated, especially considering the way it can capture social, economic, cultural and historical elements. Not to mention the amount of work the artist must have gone through to create it and the courage it took them to give society permission to judge them mercilessly for it. Like Cornett (2007) writes, my goal is not for students to like every style of visual art or fall in love with every painting they see, instead my goal is for students to know that “to appreciate art means to understand it, not that you have to like it”(p. 178).
Critical Thinking Strategies
Both concepts of understanding what art is and in turn appreciating it as art are so much easier to say than they are to achieve. But, there are a few critical thinking strategies that I’ve found in the text that I plan to use to help get students where I want them to be in their art journey.
One way that students learn to appreciate art is by being able to understand it and in order to understand art students must be able to read art. Print of the Day is a thinking activity from the text that will help students become better at reading art. This is supposed to be done on a daily basis, but I don’t think I’d have time to make it that routine. However, I would like to use the Print of the Day thinking process as often as I can, perhaps at least once a week. In this activity, I would display a piece of art for the students to see and then pose them with one question to think or write about. Some example questions from Cornett (2007) are: “What title would you give this art (main idea)?” “What words describe how it makes you feel (adjectives)?” or “What can you find that no one else will (details)?” (p. 180). Each question she suggests has a different purpose and by having students think deeply about artwork, they will hopefully develop a greater appreciation.
The second critical thinking strategy I’d like to use is called “Step/Walk into the Painting.” In this strategy, students pretend to physically step into the piece of artwork and walk around. I like this strategy because it is also versatile; it can be altered to be used as a tool to integrate into another subject area. For example, Cornett (2007) connects this strategy to science by observing with magnifying glasses or to math by noticing shapes or other mathematical concepts (p. 206, 214).
Specific Teaching Practices
There are many thinking strategies that I can get my students to do, but their experience in the arts is also affected by my own teaching practices. I think the most important teaching practice for me to adopt has to do with developing a positive attitude and teaching that role to students. These two things will affect the rest of the teaching practices I incorporate in the classroom. If I as a teacher am unconfident in my ability to create art and teach through the arts, Cornett (2007) suggests that this lack of confidence may manifest itself in the form of having students use pre-cut assembling tasks or painting by number (p. 176). These two tasks inhibit students from having the creative freedom to problem solve through art making.
In order to prevent that, I must take on the role of a guide and a director to give students the freedom they need to do true art. But, as I’ve learned this semester, and as Cornett (2007) writes, “Students do not discover the range of communication possibilities for art by just exploring. Most need explicit instruction in how to use a variety of media, tools and techniques and different surfaces.” (p. 177). Thus, students need more than creative freedom; they need specific teaching practices as well. The following are a few from the text that I really want to use.
Giving students opportunities to be the ones creating and engaging with artwork is the first teaching practice I want to adopt. I have enjoyed this course because we’ve been given many opportunities to practice the art styles and techniques. So, in the same way I want to give my students those opportunities as well. But just given student opportunities is not always enough. Thus, the other teaching practice that I will adopt regards giving students feedback and having dialog with them about what they’ve been working on.
Cornett (2007) writes “Give clear feedback: “You have used four shapes” is more effective than “Good shapes!” Describe what students are doing. Use art vocabulary. Focus on what is being learned. “Good job!” and “Great!” teach nothing.” and “Do not insult by asking “What is it?” Instead, offer comments and ask about art elements or the process: “How did you do this? I see you are trying to put the wash over the candle drawing” (p.177). As a teacher I think one of my strengths is my continual use of verbal encouragement as positive reinforcement. However I have both insulted students by asking “What is it?” and taught them nothing by saying “Great!” So, I’d like to follow both of these guidelines that Cornett wrote in order to make my feedback and dialog with students more effective and worthwhile.
While understanding art concepts, teaching practices and thinking strategies are necessary for effective arts integration, the last aspect I’d like to address is about the classroom learning environment.
My Classroom Arrangement
At the beginning of this semester, we had to decide upon three goals as artists and arts educators. One of my goals was to be able to create an environment that encourages students to experience the arts, because as Cornett (2007) notes, “the ‘place’ of learning deeply affects learners” (p. 72). Through reading some of the chapters in the text, I now have a better idea of how I’d like to arrange my classroom in order to do so. The environment I hope to create will have space for student artwork, art supplies, art resources and books, etc.
I didn’t get this from our readings, but one idea that I’ve dreamt up this semester includes aprons. I want my students to feel like they are artists and one of the most effective ways to do something like that is to have them dress like one. (This will also help to keep their clothes clean.) I can just imagine telling the students, “Okay kids, it’s time to be artists. Go grab your aprons.” Then they’d come back transformed into artists ready to work wearing paint splattered aprons (and if I can afford them, berets). It’s a crazy dream, but I’d love to get students to role play being artists. I feel that it would
In my classroom there will be an area dedicated to displaying student-created artwork and even artwork that students want to bring in to show the class. I already knew I wanted to do that, but Cornett (2007) explains that this can be beneficial because it honors and respects the artists while challenging students to continue growing as artists when they see the work of their peers (p. 73).
Although my dream classroom is far from being a reality, this is just a snapshot of what I hope it will be one day. In that classroom, I will serve as a guide and encourager, and not a teacher that tell students how to do it “the right way.” I will teach students about what art is and develop their appreciation for it by engaging them in creating their own art and teaching them how to read the art of others. And I will do my best to work with the art supplies and classroom that I’ll be given to make it an aesthetic and provoking learning environment.
References
Cornett, C. (2007). Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts: An Integration Resource for Classroom Teachers. New Jersey, Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education Inc.