The Arts and Everything Else

Grades 6, 7, and 8

Ellen Atwood
Course Description:
This course will provide experiences for students to explore different areas of the arts:
music, dance, drama, visual art, literature, and media arts including photography and
cinematography in the context of history, culture, the human experience, and the
relationship between the arts themselves. Because the arts are often interconnected,
particular areas of art allow for unique connections and segues in learning. Through this
course, students will have opportunities to explore musical ideas, performance, history,
and practice in conjunction with other art forms. Activities will include composition
through choreographing dances to music and vice versa through composing music to
accompany dances. Activities will incorporate visual art through painting canvases
inspired by students’ favorite pieces and painting while listening activities. Music and
cinematography will be explored through analyzing, observing, and applying the ways in
which musical styles and moods in drama are connected. Finally, students will explore
the ways in which art forms have been connected throughout history through medieval,
renaissance, baroque, classical, romantic, modern, and contemporary music
periods. This course will apply music through singing, playing a variety of instruments,
collaborating with peers, composing, and listening and will be open to students of all
abilities and musical backgrounds.

Rationale:
This course will fulfill the needs of students to practice creativity through a wide variety
of outlets and make important connections and transfers between fields of art and
other areas of learning. Music can enhance the learning of many different fields,
especially art. “Psychological research frequently cites correspondence of one skill with
another, the ties between musical and mathematical skills…the anatomical drawings of
Leonardo at once embody scientific observation and artistic expression” (The Hudson
River Museum 1982). All students have a variety of talents in different fields, and every
student is an artist in some way. This course will help students realize and explore their
many talents through a variety of contexts and experiences. It will give students who
are more comfortable in one art form or another an opportunity to grow in areas they
may not have explored. This course will also allow students to make transfers not only
between the areas of art but the areas of academia, humanity, and life. Participation in
school music and art programs has been declining and many programs are being cut
because there is not always enough interest amongst students. One primary
explanation for this is that “music education has become disconnected form the
prevailing culture” (Kratus, 44). Traditional music education programs no longer align
with the musical interests and needs of most students. Our culture has changed while
many of our music education programs have held the same curriculum and structure.
“93 percent of Americans agree that the arts are vital to providing a well-rounded
education for children. Also, 54 percent rated the importance of arts education a 10 on
a scale of 1 to 10.” (Kratus, 44). It is clear that the arts are vital and provide so many
benefits for students. Because of this, educators must find ways to keep these
programs alive. This class aims to keep the arts alive through reaching a wider range of
students from differing abilities and backgrounds. This class encourages participation
because it is inclusive, engaging, and more relevant to students’ interest. It is designed
to be accessible to all. One way that music educators can make their classes more
inclusive and more meaningful is through providing participatory learning experiences.
“Participatory” in the context of music education means “music that is primarily social,
used for bonding with others, and which aims to involve all through an approach to
music that is accessible to all” (Thibeault, 56). In participatory music, every participant‘s
contributions are valued equally so that no student feels incapable or unimportant. This
class is participatory in nature because it is strongly based in project-based learning,
creativity, collaboration, and it is accessible for students of every background and ability
level. Students will spend most of their time involved with hands on artistic experiences
and working with their peers. Through these activities students will be exploring their
talents in a meaningful way and developing social, collaborative skills. In addition to
reaching larger demographics, this class can be an important introduction to creative
outlets, hobbies, and coping strategies for students. In a number of quantitatively
oriented studies it is revealed that “music is actively implemented in order (a) to
modulate emotions and moods, (b) to promote the ability to concentrate and focus
attention and (c) to generate or maintain social relationships” (von Georgi, Göbel,
Gebhardt, 301). This is true for other areas of art as well. This class encourages artistry
that is life-long and therefore provides life-long benefits in terms of psychological,
social, and emotional health. Students may leave this class having discovered a talent,
skill or hobby they never knew they had that they can utilize throughout their lives.

Expected Impact on Students:

Students will gain creative skills in every area of the arts. Students will also have
opportunities to collaborate with their peers through art. This course can serve as a
creative outlet for all students regardless of their artistic inclinations and help them
explore ways to transfer art into daily life, culture, history and the human experience,
among other areas of learning. Students may also discover meaningful hobbies and
coping strategies through the exploration of the arts. Students will leave this course
with the understandings that the arts are multipurpose and used for many different
reasons including for entertainment, for coping, for community, and for tradition, the
arts look and sound different across cultures and geographic areas, art is a coping
mechanism and a way to manage any emotion, and the arts are often inspired by events
or emotions and can encourage change.
This course addresses the following standards:
- HG.6 The student will explore historical and cultural aspects of music by
1. describing distinguishing characteristics of musical forms and styles from a
variety of cultures;
2.identifying the relationship of music to the other fine arts and other fields of
knowledge;
- HG.7 The student will investigate the role of music in society by
1. comparing and contrasting the development of music in diverse cultures
throughout history;
- HG.9 The student will analyze music by
 1. describing music styles and forms through listening;
2. defining and classifying various musical styles that represent different
historical periods and cultures;
3. examining the importance of composers’ use of style, cultural influences, and
historical context for the interpretation of works of music
- HG. 11 The student will investigate aesthetic concepts related to music by
1. explaining how the context of a musical work’s creation may influence its
meaning and value
2. analyzing and justifying personal responses to works of music;
4. Explaining the value of music to the community and to society

Expected Impact on School/Community:

This class may have an impact on the amount of students that participate in the arts in
school and in the community. More students may start participating in traditional
music, art, dance, or drama classes. Through this class, students may be more inclined
to visit museums and/or see dance or music performances in the community. Students’
performance in the academic classroom may also improve due to making connections
between music and other fields and having an artistic outlet to relieve stress. This
course will expose students to the unique qualities and artistic beauty across different
cultures, creating a more culturally competent group of students. Through this course
students will have opportunities for self-exploration, realizing their strengths and talents
and understanding how to process emotions through the arts. This can create a
healthier, happier community and school environment.

Project Outline:
Project Title: The Arts and Everything Else

Project Description:
Students explore the arts in the context of human emotion, culture, and history through
several mini projects and one final project. Through PowerPoint presentations, personal
research, and collaborative art projects students will gain a better understanding of how
the arts function throughout history, among different cultures, and in throughout
general human experience.

UbD Planning Template:

ESTABLISHED GOALS with
Standards
HG.6 The student will
explore historical and
cultural aspects of music
by
1. describing distinguishing
characteristics of musical
Stage 1 Desired Results
Transfer
Students will be able to independently use their learning to…
Form multiple coping strategies
Collaborate and create with others
Meaningfully connect multiple fields of learning
Meaning
UNDERSTANDINGS ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
forms and styles from a
variety of cultures;
2.identifying the
relationship of music to the
other fine arts and other
fields of knowledge;
HG.7 The student will
investigate the role of
music in society by
1. comparing and
contrasting the
development of music in
diverse cultures
throughout history;
HG.9 The student will
analyze music by
1. describing music styles
and forms through
listening;
2. defining and classifying
various musical styles that
represent different
historical periods and
cultures;
3. examining the
importance of composers’
use of style, cultural
influences, and historical
context for the
interpretation of works of
music
HG11 The student will
investigate aesthetic
concepts related to music
by
1. explaining how the
context of a musical work’s
creation may influence its
meaning and value
2. analyzing and justifying
personal responses to
works of music;
4. Explaining the value of
music to the community
and to society
 Students will  In what ways do the
understand that the arts function in
arts happen for many different cultures?
different reasons  Why/how do the
including for arts bring
entertainment, for communities
coping, for together?
 What would life be
community, and for
like without the
tradition.
arts? How would
 People use art people cope?
differently in different  How are the
cultures in ways that characteristics of
may look/sound music and other art
different. forms different
 Art is a coping between the civil
mechanism and a way war, WWII, and the
to manage any Vietnam War?
emotion.  How have the arts
 The arts are often encouraged
inspired by events or change?
emotions and can  What inspires you?
 How do you cope?
encourage change
Acquisition
Students will know… Students will be skilled at…
 Art has changed Collaborating with peers
drastically over time, Performing music, dance, and
but still is used for or drama
similar purposes. Creating visual art
 Art is multipurpose in Connecting the arts and
that it can be used for emotion as well as the arts
entertainment, and history
ceremonially, in
traditions, for
advertising, for coping,
for therapy, among a
variety of other uses.
 The arts hold
connections with many
different fields of
learning including
psychology, history,
and language arts.
 Art is a helpful tool in
creating connections
and coping with one’s
 own emotions
 Art varies among
cultures
 Art can be created
collaboratively or on
one’s own.

Evaluative Criteria
-Students will be assessed
based on creative efforts for
both projects.
-Is there clear effort and
intention behind the
product?
-Are students collaborating
respectfully with peers?
-Are students able to display
connections to another field
of learning through their art?
Stage 2 - Evidence
Assessment Evidence
PERFORMANCE TASK(S):
-Create a piece of visual art to represent a specific
emotion. This art can be created in the form of photography,
painting, drawing, or collaging and must include elements that
allude to an emotion or evoke similar feelings of the viewer.
-Create a piece of art to represent a chosen historical event or
era. This art can be in the form of dance, drama, music, or
visual art and must artistically represent emotions or specific
elements of an event or era. Students may collaborate with
peers for this task.

OTHER EVIDENCE:
Students will be assessed throughout the unit through the
meaning and depth of their visual art projects, cultural findings,
mini presentations, and final art projects.
Students will be assessed on their ability to collaborate with
others.

Stage 3 – Learning Plan

Summary of Key Learning Events and Instruction
Day 1: How do the arts make us feel? Arts and emotion experience: play a selection of several
different songs, movie scenes, and dance pieces that are representative of different moods and
ask students to write down or draw an image that represents how it made them feel. Why do
the arts move us in a way that nothing else can? Have a class discussion about how we use the
arts to feel happier or to wallow in sadness and discuss students’ favorite types of art for these
occasions. What makes a piece of art happy, sad, confusing, or scary?

Day 2: Students will portray an emotion with visual art. Before beginning the project, provide
examples of artwork inspired by specific emotions. Explain that art is subjective but that there
are qualities within specific art that are representative of specific emotions. Provide students
with magazines with which they can cut and create collages displaying an emotion of their
choice. Students may also paint, draw, or use photos from home to create their emotional
visual art. Show students some famous examples of art that display very specific
emotions. Have a discussion about why the elements of this art evoke these emotions.

Day 3: Look at the arts from different cultural perspectives. Assign student groups with which to
examine one assigned cultural art tradition. Allow students to do their own research on
computers at school about their chosen cultures. Provide students with examples such as
Mariachi Bands, African dance and drumming, and Bollywood. Students must find the
geographic area/areas in which this tradition occurs, what kind of artistic elements this tradition
entails, how often and for what occasions this artistic tradition occurs, and the history of this
artistic tradition (if known). At the end of class, have student groups share their findings with
the class and compare and contrast elements from each culture. At the end create a giant venn
diagram with circles to represent each artistic tradition and a middle section for comparisons
between each.

Day 4: Explore the arts and history. Look at the evolution of art throughout history from The
middle ages onward in a PowerPoint presentation. Have students choose a specific historical
event or era throughout history and find three pieces of art created during that time. Have
students compile these pieces of art into a brief presentation to explain the significance of these
pieces of art to their specific events. Students may be in groups for this mini project.

Day 5: Continue the exercise of exploring history through art by assigning students the project of
choosing another historical event or era for which to create their own piece of art. Students
may be in groups for this project. Students can create art through any medium to portray this
event and the emotions associated with the event.

Day 6: Presentation of student art to the class with a brief explanation of how their artistic
choices reflect emotion or the historical event.

ADAPTATIONS & MODIFICATIONS

-Provide a daily outline on the board of what to expect in class that day
-Assign group members if needed to avoid students feeling left out
-Provide extensions for deadlines if needed.
-PowerPoint presentations will be given with large font and visual aids to aid in the learning of
material
- Provide multimodal examples for material covered such as visual aids, listening examples,
video clips.
 EXAMPLE END OF PROJECT ASSESSMENT RUBRIC:

Task: 3 2 1 Total:

Content: Students’ art is Students’ art is Students’ art is not

thorough, thoughtful, creative and clearly thought-out
engaging, and creative engaging but not as and not engaging
thought-out and
thorough

Historical Students’ art Students’ art Students’ art

Event: accurately reflects somewhat reflects vaguely reflects
their chosen historical their chosen their chosen
event in a creative way historical event historical event

Collaboration: Students worked Students’ product Students’ product

cooperatively with was collaborative was not
others by respecting but not every collaborative and
each other and member there was a lack of
allowing each member contributed equally respect and
to contribute contribution from
group members

Justification: Students are able to Students are able to Students are unable
provide multiple provide one to provide
accurate justifications justification for their justification for their
the reasons for their artistic decision artistic decision
artistic decision- making in the making in the
making in the context context of their context of their
of their historical historical event historical event
event.

Budget

Use
Item Name (How will this be used by Cost Quantity Overall
(linked to provider) students/teacher?) (per unit) Cost

Ukuleles- Rogue These can be used to explore 10 pack- 2 $700

music through accompanying $350
singing, covering songs, and
exploring composition

Handy Art- Acrylic These can be used for a variety Set of 12 2 2 $117.90
Paint of art projects in the course pints-
$58.95
Nasco- Artist’s This can be used for a painting $9.59 20 $191.90
Canvas 16 x 20 projects

Nikon Coolpix 16 This can be used for any $260 2 $520

MP Digital Camera filming, cinematography
projects or activities

Optoma X341- This can be used for $349 1 $349

Projector presentations, PowerPoints,
showing films, and class
lectures

Amazon- This is This text can be assigned for $9.83 20 $196.60

Your Brain on students to read and understand
Music by Daniel J the function of music in the
Levitin brain

Sweetwater- Finale This software can be used for $279 1 $279

software version 25 students to arrange covers and
compose for students in the
class to collaborate
Total Cost: $2, 354.40

References/Works Cited:

The Hudson River Museum (1982)

Thibeault, M. D. (2015). Music education for all through participatory ensembles. Music
Educators Journal, 102(2), 54-61.

Kratus, J. (2007). Centennial series: Music education at the tipping point.Music

Educators Journal, 94(2), 42-48

Georgi, R. V., Göbel, M., & Gebhardt, S. (2009). Emotion modulation by means of music
and coping behaviour. Music that works, 301-319. doi:10.1007/978-3-211-75121-3_19