Content Specific Standards

Content Knowledge: The Candidate demonstrates understanding of the central concepts, tools of

inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning experiences that

make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for learners to assure mastery of

the content in the areas below.

Arts Integration:

Candidates engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication to

address authentic local and global issues using the arts (music, dance, theater, media arts, and/or

visual arts).

To understand art integration is to be able to distinguish it from art education. Both are

valuable in education, but they serve different purposes. The focus of art education is teaching

specific skills and knowledge of the arts, typically in a self-contained class by a specialist. “Arts

integration is the practice of purposefully connecting concepts and skills from the arts and other

subjects. Arts integration interventions include professional development opportunities, the use

of specialized personnel, the use of specialized instructional materials, field trips, and whole-

school reform models” (as cited in Wan, Ludwig, Boyle, & Lindsay, 2020, p. 37). The key to art

integration is the nexus between art standards and those of at least one other content area. "A

regular review of academic standards with an arts-integration lens may reveal connections

between core subjects and the arts that would contribute to student achievement” (Education

Commission of the States, & Arts Education Partnership, 2018, p. 7). The Education
Commission of the States, & Arts Education Partnership (2018) describes art integration as a

holistic approach and reports that:

“Research shows that bringing the arts into the instruction of other classroom subjects

benefits students’ academic, cognitive and personal outcomes. Arts integration, at its core,

refers to the effort to build a set of relationships between learning in the arts and learning

the other skills and subjects of the curriculum. The challenge is how to best integrate arts

learning in ways that support effective teaching and supplement and support other core

areas of study” (p. 1).

Throughout my practicum and student teaching experiences I have tried to incorporate

the arts across every content area. In math I strive to include visual data in graphs and charts and

encourage students to draw models to represent problems. In science students continually made

drawings and diagrams in their journals. This lesson plan for fourth graders on Environments

shows examples of their drawings and labeling of the isopods they were observing. In his text I

See What You Mean (2012), Steve Moline explains that when students draw or create and label

diagrams, “the diagrams are functioning as text elements that communicate meaning; they refine,

clarify, itemize, and extend the meanings in the paragraphs” (p. 26-27). In a fifth grade language

arts class I created a lesson plan in which students were to make comic strips or perform skits to

summarize what they had read. For another assignment, they used pastels to make portraits

inspired by Frida Kahlo. After viewing Kahlo’s self-portraits and reading about her life and its

influence on her art, students created portraits that reflected at least three interests of their own.

"Viewing art can be powerful because each piece reflects the artist’s interpretation of his or her

world. Likewise, students’ interpretations of the art will vary depending on their prior
knowledge, observational skills, and interests” (Marangell, 2020, p.1). Students were given the

opportunity to use their own art as a representation of their own worlds as they had observed

from viewing Frida’s art. In social studies my fourth grade class created relief maps of Alaska.

American professor and lecturer, Brene Brown explains that, “We are born makers. We move

what we’re learning from our heads to our hearts through our hands” (as cited in Murray, 2019,

p. 109). Creating the relief maps provided students an outlet for using their spatial and

kinesthetic intelligences to make a model representation of the physical land features of Alaska.

There is, however, one lesson plan example that I feel exemplifies what true art

integration is. Susan Riley (2012) eloquently describes what art integration is:

“Integration requires collaboration, research, intentional alignment and practical

application on behalf of the teachers who take on this challenge. From the students,

integration demands creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration and the

ability to work through the rigorous demands of multiple ideas and concepts woven

together to create a final product” (p. 1).

While completing my classroom management practicum in a first grade classroom I taught an art

integrated lesson that focused on Alaska Native Totem Poles. During the first class period I read

the mentor text, I am Raven by David Bouchard and illustrated by Andy Everson (2015). We

then had a class discussion about the animals in the story as well as others they had been learning

about during their unit with their host teacher. Students were asked to choose an animal that

represents themselves and were given clay and sculpting tools to carve their own totem pole. The

following day we read Let’s Go! A Harvest Story by Hannah Lindoff and illustrated by Michaela

Goade (2017) and students painted their totem poles. The full totem pole lesson is attached here.
With the guidance of Alaska Cultural Standard D, “culturally-knowledgeable students are able to

engage effectively in learning activities that are based on traditional ways of knowing and

learning” (1998), and Visual Arts Standards CR1a and b: Generate and Conceptualize Artistic

Ideas and Work and Visual Arts-CR2a: Organize and Develop Artistic Ideas and Work (1996), I

designed this lesson to fit the current language arts and social studies curriculum in my host

classroom. During this lesson students were able to build on what they had already learned and

demonstrated their learning in their choice of animal and the shapes and colors used when

sculpting and painting. In addition, they used quality clay carving tools and were taught specific

techniques, such as cross-hatching and using water to attach wings.

What I have found from integrating the arts is that it has a positive effect on my students.

Art integration has helped me create a more flexible learning environment were students have

varying entry points for learning content and more opportunities for discussion and feedback

which leads to deeper thinking and understanding. “[F]indings in cognitive neuroscience support

the idea that students who have flexibility in their learning environments show increased

competence over students in more traditional environments” (Sousa &Tomlinson, 2011, p. 169).

“Scheinfeld (2004), pointed to four reasons that arts integration may support student learning: it

is fun and motivating; it involves multisensory learning; it encourages student reflection; and it

strengthens students’ understanding and retention of texts by improving their inner sensory

imaging and their emotional engagement” (as cited in Casciano, Cherfas, & Jobson-Ahmed,

2019, p. 5). In addition, I have observed that these four reasons are particularly evident in my

students with disabilities and my students who are behind in reading level or are English

Language Learners (ELLs). One of my fifth grade students who has dyslexia has thrived in
engagement level and demeanor during lessons with art integration. She participated

enthusiastically and requested to remain in the classroom to work alongside her peers rather than

go to the special education teacher’s classroom. Her work was exemplary and she took great

pride and confidence in the positive feedback from her classmates. “One of the great advantages

of visual texts, such as maps or diagrams, is that most of the information they provide is readily

accessible to all readers, including very young children who are not yet fluent readers of words

and older students whose first language is not English” (Moline, 2012, p. 10). Art integration

allows teachers to reach all students:

“Mason, Steedly, and Thormann’s (2008) study of arts-integrated instruction in

elementary, middle, and high school special needs classrooms identified three emergent

gains: voice, choice, and access. Teachers observed that arts-integrated instruction fosters

opportunities for students to explore their voice, communicate and share ideas, express

themselves, make decisions, and create new methods for solving problems. Teachers also

felt that arts-integrated learning enabled all students to feel comfortable and motivated to

participate. Other research has shown that students with disabilities receiving arts-

integrated instruction are more likely to feel valued and recognized by their peers” (as

cited in Casiano, Cherfas, & Jobson-Ahmed, 2019, p. 4).

As research shows “Integrating arts education — which includes dance, music, theater, media

arts and visual arts — has proven beneficial in improving student learning and developing

thinking skills and capacities, as well as supporting the civic skills necessary to contribute as a

member of a diverse community. (Education Commission of the States, & Arts Education

Partnership, 2018, p. 1). Art integration ensures a differentiated environment that supports every
student by setting them up to succeed no matter what their learning profile may be. “As research

demonstrates, educators who integrate the arts into their lesson plans can better reach all students

by creating dynamic and engaging lessons that help students understand the core content and

bolster student thinking skills of the discipline they teach” (Education Commission of the States,

& Arts Education Partnership, 2018, p. 3).

While research studies are limited, there is a connection between art-integration and

student learning. It clearly has a positive impact on student academic success and attitude. “By

fostering a community within our schools where authentic Arts Integration is taking place, we

can meet and exceed expectations set by Common Core and move into a culture of true inquiry

and learning” (Riley, 2012, p. 1). It also provides opportunity for more accurate assessment of

our students learning. Authentic performance assessment of common core and state standards

“inevitably require integration of knowledge and skills across content areas” (Taylor & Nolen,

2008, p. 188). Integrating the arts but it has the power to increase learning, improve assessment

of learning, and it can ignite passion in our students, which sets them on the path to become life-

long learners.
 References

Alaska Department of Education and Early Development. (1996). Alaska arts standards. https://

education.alaska.gov/akstandards/Arts.pdf?v=2

Alaska Native Knowledge Network. (1998). Alaska standards for culturally-responsive schools.

http://ankn.uaf.edu/Publications/CulturalStandards.pdf

Bouchard, D. & Ecerson, A. (2015). I am raven. Crow Cottage Publishing.

Casciano, R., Cherfas, L., & Jobson-Ahmed, L. (2019). Connecting arts integration to social-

emotional learning among special education students. Journal for Learning through the

Arts, 15(1). https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1229014.pdf

Education Commission of the States, & Arts Education Partnership. (2018). Preparing educators

and school leaders for effective arts integration. Education Trends. In Education

Commission of the States. Education Commission of the States. https://files.eric.ed.gov/

fulltext/ED582977.pdf

Lindoff, H. & Goade, M. (2017). Let’s go! A harvest story. Sealaska Heritage Institute.

Marangell, J. (2020, March 9) Framing social studies lessons around works of art. Edutopia.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/framing-social-studies-lessons-around-works-art

Moline, S. (2012). I see what you mean. Portland, ME.: Stenhouse Publications.

Murray, T.C. (2019). Personal & authentic: Designing learning experiences that impact a

lifetime. Columbia, SC: IMPress.

Riley, S. (2012, November 30). Use arts integration to enhance common core. Edutopia. https://

www.edutopia.org/blog/core-practices-arts-integration-susan-riley
Sousa, D. & Tomlinson, C.A. (2011). Differentiation and the brain: How neuroscience supports

the learner-friendly classroom. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Taylor, C. S. & Nolen, S. B. (2008). Classroom assessment: Supporting teaching and learning

in real classrooms. 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Wan, Y., Ludwig, M., Boyle, A., & Lindsay, J. (2020). The role of arts integration and education

in improving student outcomes. State Education Standard, 20(1), 36–41. https://

files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1241600.pdf