Arts integration is the hottest trend in American arts education. The ideas have been around for ages, and great teachers have been including arts experiences as a part of curricular learning since before there were schools. The current endeavor is to find the dynamic inter-relationship between learning in an art form and learning in a subject area, a relationship in which the learning goals of both are advanced beyond what they would be if separated.
Educators across the country are experimenting with new practices, becoming clearer about the ways to find the delicate balance that boosts student learning. We sometimes miss the mark. Some projects make the arts a handmaiden to the curricular goals—believing that the art is there to pep up a boring curriculum, and that the goal is higher test scores in the subject area. Conversely, sometimes the curricular connection is just an excuse to include a good arts project. The future lies in the middle, when BOTH goals are attained in an exciting back-and-forth learning process.
Having witnessed a lot of experimentation around the country, I can report a few things our field has learned.
There is no set model to borrow and plug in.
The best work is particular to the individuals and specific passions of the educators involved. Certainly there are excellent models (happening all over Ohio), but the understanding and enthusiasm (and professional development) of the teachers, artists, administrators and parents make the crucial difference.
Artistic engagement is the spark.
The individual student's artistry, her personal desire to make something she cares about, is the fuse that lights arts integrated learning. Ideally, that interest and personal ownership can then be channeled into learning in the art form and the curricular areas. Without that spark, it is just another school assignment that looks a little different. The art spark is the crucial first step.
We are working in a challenging climate for this exciting but delicate work.
The pressures for immediate measurable demonstrations of learning run counter to the spirit and best practice of this work. However, good arts integration is so powerful that it does boost all kinds of learning, some of which do appear on tests. My advice—don't skew the work to get test results, but do guide arts-vitalized inquiries into areas where the learning will naturally appear on many kinds of assessment.
This article was published in April 2005, Volume 1, Issue 2.
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