top 10 things every art teacher should know about curriculum integration
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Top 10 things every art teacher should know about curriculum integration.TRANSCRIPT
Reading Six: Top 10 Things Every Art Teacher Should Know About Curriculum
Integration
Your Name: Tammy Hoppe
Date: Sunday, October 6, 2013
1. Learning IN art ≠ learning THROUGH art (Steward & Walker, 2005). (See also
Burton, 1994, cited in Stewart & Walker, 2005, p. 106). While both are necessary in arts
integration, learning through art is hindered if learning in art is inadequate. Integrated art
is intended to increase knowledge in content areas other than art, with art
understanding and performance being less essential. Our goal is integration with
maintained integrity of the art learning experience; connecting art with Common Core
and turning STEM to STEAM (Maeda, 2012).
2. Conceptual-based art curriculum used for learning IN art is a necessary way to teach
art curriculum if learning THROUGH art is to be its most effective (Stewart & Walker,
2005). When applying arts integration to diverse content area learning activities,
students can then use their well-developed artistic skills to accurately and purposefully
communicate learning in those other content areas. Maeda calls this "critical thinking --
critical making" (2012, para 4).
3. The arts are a valuable and viable media to represent intangible things such as
emotions, beliefs, and dreams, making comprehensive learning in the arts or any other
content area dependent upon enduring ideas and integrated curriculum. Curriculum
developed this way will allow for the greatest personal connections and learning
success.
4. Curriculum aligned with enduring ideas cannot be encompassed in a single content
area of school; thus, it requires the use of multiple subject areas in order to be taught.
This is a key factor in the integrated curriculum approach.
5. For integrated art curriculum to be meaningful, a central focus of enduring ideas or
themes is necessary to hold the curriculum content together in alignment throughout
content areas. The strategy of selecting school-wide themes that are based on enduring
ideas and essential questions provides an effective structure for organizing integration
of content with clear connections between or among diverse dimensions of students'
learning.
6. Contemporary art is created with influences of multiple worldly realms, so
understanding it requires knowledge of content and contextual information that is initially
developed in school content areas other than art (Stewart & Walker, 2005, p. 108).
Integrated art curriculum pulls on diverse school content areas to come together for the
greatest understanding of contemporary art.
7. Metaphorical understanding in any school content area can be enhanced with art
integration, because art can give a visual representation to a theoretical or philosophical
concept. Being able to create artistic visual representation of an intangible concept can
demonstrate a student's depth of understanding. Equally, showing a student other
people's visual representations of an intangible concept can aid in deepening his or her
understanding of the concept.
8. Visual clues in an artwork develop sensory understandings other than visual
interpretation. The clues in artworks are able to generate understandings of the artwork
subject matter and content through responses such as emotional and physical reactions
to details that influence the artwork, itself, or the process of its making.
9. Art curriculum should provide opportunities for students to look in depth at various
interpretations of the same theme, idea, or question and then to make further
connections to other artworks or to their own work. Although,making these connections
are highly important, they should not be given more priority than in-depth analysis of
each individual artwork, itself (Coleman, 2012).
10. Teachers need to foster in students life-long learning habits in the arts. They can do
this with curriculum that takes students beyond the classroom into museums, theaters,
and galleries. They can also do this by teaching students how to develop their skills
strength in imitation of master works and giving them an awareness of careers that will
allow the arts to remain ever present in their lives (Coleman, 2012).
Resources
Coleman, D. (2012). Guiding principles for the arts, Grades K-12. Retrieved from
http://usny.nysed.gov/rttt/docs/guidingprinciples-arts.pdf
Maeda, J. (October 2, 2012). STEM to STEAM: Art in K-12 is key to building a
strong economy. Edutopia. Retrieved from http://www.edutopia.org/blog/
stem-to-steam-strengthens-economy-john-maeda.
Stewart, M. & Walker, S. (2005). Rethinking curriculum in art. Worcester, MA: Davis
Publications, Inc.