INTEGRATING THE ARTS INTO MY CLASSROOM
I would really want to try incorporating art into everything somehow, because it’s so versatile. I really believe that it would be beneficial for my students’ learning and understanding whether the topic be math, science, history, etc. I want students to be able to comfortably express themselves through the world of art! Having most of my experience with younger elementary students, I discovered that throughout most of the first half of the semester, students depend heavily on communicating through their artworks and drawings in all subjects! Not every student can express themselves easily with words and “ . . . visuals are made to communicate ideas . . .” states Cornett (2011, p.10). With math, we discovered shapes, and related the shapes to everyday items. In social studies, we learned about different types of symbols that represent a specific holiday, and learned to recognize signs that we may see everyday in our community. During Language Arts, we incorporate art a lot, because along with writing, students usually have to provide a picture too! One concept I definitely want my students to understand is that art is a way for the to express themselves, and it can be incorporated with any subject!
Another concept that I want students to understand is that art is a culture within itself and through art you can discover the culture within. I think that growing up in Hawaii, we are fortunate to be exposed to many different cultures and their art forms. By learning different cultures and their traditions, we learn, through the arts, different views through the eyes of different cultures. Personally, I feel that learning through different cultures, I have broadened my mindset and have become more aware of the world around me. It also helps me “promote respect for diversity” and hopefully I can branch that out to my students as well. (Cornett, 2011, p.147) I want to set up my classroom to be an open environment where students are allowed to artistically express themselves in a comfortable manner. My ideal classroom would have different types of art materials available for my students, and well as have dedicated areas around the room to display students’ work. Cornell (2011), suggest that “After a brief introduction about ground rules and simple techniques, students should be encouraged to play with art media . . .” I agree with Cornell, and would try to incorporate students being exposed to different art materials, and I would introduced students to that in the “Creation Station” during centers time. For example, for one rotation I would introduce tempera paint having students paint on a large sheet of paper. Next, I would introduce the students to watercolors. At first I would have them practice painting of regular printer paper, and then for the second round of watercolors, I would have them do their painting on watercolor paper. Following that, I would then expose my students to cray pas, and have them explore smudging, blending and smearing colors together. I think students would really appreciate this station because during this center time, they will have a chance to express themselves using the different art mediums. Then after all of the different types of mediums are introduced, I would encourage students to use more than one medium while creating a piece during that center time. I would then extend the center to have students get into the mindset of an artist. I would introduce a quote or a photo, which would turn into the theme of “Creation Station” and students are to come up with a piece that they feel goes along with the theme, and why. This gets students to thinking into a different perspective of the author, or even the style of art within a certain time period. In the end, it’s always interesting to see how students all start off with the same theme, but branch out into different areas to express their thought on that one idea. Another way I plan on promoting art integration is to display all of the students’ work of art! According to Cornell (2011), “ . . . framed student art enriches the classroom and gives honor and respect to the artists” (p. 68). During my first semester of student teaching/observations, I actually helped my mentor create a display wall where each student had a spot on the wall to display their own work of art! It was a lot more visually appealing to have more of the students’ work around the room, compared to informative posters. The students really enjoyed admiring their work, and the work of their peers as well. The wall also gave students motivation to finish their work in a timely manner, and to produce quality work, because they didn't want to have an empty space above their name, and they also knew that their work would be displayed for anyone who walked into the room. “What do you think the artist was thinking/feeling while creating this piece?” “What is the message?” Perception. That is what I would want to go through the minds of my students when they are observing any kind of artwork. Not necessarily “What was the author, and only the author thinking,” but just have an open mind for artwork. I would eventually want my students to dissect a piece of art, and get creative to think on what the artist was feeling or the message trying to be sent across through this work of art. Also, I would want students to think about where and when it was created and really get into the mind of the creator. I also want the students to get into the mindset of why this piece of art was created, and take into consideration the time period it was created in as well. Thinking back, while in elementary school, I didn’t realize that art was incorporated into mainly every subject. For reading, we read “Where the Red Fern Grows” and it was one of the first chapter books that we read without any illustrations. For homework we had to summarize our reading with a couple of sentences and a picture to go with it. It was always interesting to see what my classmates had drawn up for their summary, because we all read the same sections, but everyone imagined and drew up different things. I think incorporating art into all the different subjects would be beneficial for both the teacher and the student, because students will express their way of how they interpreted their learning, and teachers will be visually able to see their students’ connections that were made. It’s interesting to look back and reflect on how reading made me feel as a student. I used to dread reading, but when we had to read “Charlotte’s Web” and “Where the Red Fern Grows” in class, I remember that while reading it, I did imagine myself as if I were characters from the book, and it let me connect to the book while doing so, and gave me a deeper understanding of the story. I experienced bibliotherapy while reading those book; “The characters were believable, the premise engaging… I was cognitively and emotionally alerted” (Cornett, 2007). I would totally get into the book, and my curiosity of what would happen next was then my motivation to want to read more. In return, because I became more interested in reading, my writing skill started to improve too! I realized that the more connected I felt to the book, the more I could write about because I could relate to some situations. In other classes, I’ve learned that students learn and retain more information if they can personally connect to it. I think that incorporating art into all subjects will help students “connect” to the subject, and retain more of what they learn. I would also, with my students, take in to consideration of doing performing arts as a form of visual arts as well. What I used to enjoy as a students was that we used to read a book, and then as a class go watch the play or movie after we complete the book and do a compare and contrast with the two storylines. I consider movies and plays apart of visual arts because it’s making story line come to life, and students can really then imagine the story come to life. Visual arts really are a universal language, because all cultures can come together and share a story on the stage. I remember last semester we watched a play called “Tasi’s Gift” and it was based upon the Polynesian culture, and just through the play you can pick up and learn so much about a culture. Not only can you pick up different body language, but learn through songs and dance as well! Art is such a versatile subject that you can integrate it with every subject. Personally, in my opinion, it makes learning more concrete and hands on, which leads to learning more fun! When students have fun learning, they tend to retain information longer. I want to really try to incorporate an art lesson daily, but with having to assess the students so frequently it’s a little difficult to keep up with the time throughout the school day. References: Cornett, C. (2011). Creating meaning through literature and the arts: Arts integration for classroom teachers. Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. |