ARTS INTEGRATION & CULTURALLY RESPONSIVE TEACHING 1

Arts Integration and Culturally Responsive Teaching

Heather Finamore
Towson University
Anne Arundel County Public Schools
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The scholarly article I read was titled Culturally Responsive Teaching with Visual Art in the

Social Studies. It was in The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies and was published in 2015. I

was really looking for an article connecting arts integration and high school math, but I think that I would

find a unicorn before finding that article. The purpose of the program described in the article was to

enhance students academic development, as well as to increase their cultural competency. From their

results, they believe that they were successful.

This program took place in Detroit in an all-boys middle and high school, where almost all of the

students are African-American. One thing that stood out to me was that on the first day of the program,

only one student was able to name an African American painter and to cite a work of art by an African

American (Taylor, Iroha, & Valdez, 2015, p.2). When I was in high school, I probably could not have

named many painters, let alone African-American painters. The program focused on the works of 20th

century artists Romare Bearden, Jacob Lawrence, William H. Johnson, and Diego Rivera. I have seen

some of Jacob Lawrences Migration Series at the Phillips Collection in D.C. so I had some frame of

reference to go off of.

Students participated in lectures on these artists and the historical contexts of the artwork. They

also viewed, analyzed, and discussed 76 images of art, and they wrote about individual pieces (Taylor

et al., 2015, p.2). The educators also used thinking strategies that I am familiar with including What

makes you say that? I do like that they added on What more can you find? It just takes student

thinking a step further. Students were also able to complete some art projects where they used acrylic

paints, markers, pencils and mosaic tiles.

The student work culminated in an e-portfolio. They photographed their artwork and put it in

their portfolio. They also selected two works of art and reflected on each piece. I really like the idea of

using an e-portfolio for a specific unit and not for the whole year, because it makes what youre doing

have purpose and have a deadline. If it drags on for the whole year, both student and teacher tend to lose

focus and interest.

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The program was evaluated using surveys that were both optional and anonymous. The amount

of students that were in the program was small, so the amount of surveys was also small. The authors still

felt that the program was a success since the majority of students agreed that studying art increased their

interest in learning, enhanced their understanding of culture and history, and that learning about the art of

African Americans was important to them (Taylor et al., 2015, p.4-5).

My take-aways from this article are how to use e-portfolios with my students and incorporating

more African American art into my classes. I have been intimidated to use e-portfolios with my students,

but I can imagine using it for a specific unit on circles. I already have arts-integrated lessons on circles

and a few projects that students work on. I think it would be very meaningful to have students display all

of their hard work in an e-portfolio format. I have also tried to make an effort this year to incorporate

more African American artwork in my class when possible. I was already familiar with Jacob Lawrence,

but I had not seen his War Series before. The boys from Detroit really found that series appealing, and I

have a feeling that my students would feel the same way. In Lawrences Beachhead (1947), you can see

a man about to throw a grenade. I could connect that to parabolic functions. When doing arts-integration

with high-school math, you really have to get creative, but I am up for the task.

Reference List:

Taylor, J.A., Iroha, O., Valdez, V. (2015). Culturally Responsive Teaching with Visual Art in the Social

Studies. The Councilor: A Journal of the Social Studies, 76(1).