Last night I had the honor of guest moderating #ntchat (New Teacher Chat) with Lisa Dabbs (@teachingwthsoul). It was so much fun! What a great way to end my summer and it also have me a chance to refocus myself on the importance of arts integration! (Which is the blog series topic for next month.)
While chatting, I was sharing ideas with some great teachers – both new and veteran, for how to start the school year with a sense of creativity, so that students know you are accepting of all their talents and interests, want to help them cultivate them and learn from them. The range was from theory to practical applications.
Here are some highlights I am pondering for my teaching:
- Listen to music together.
- Have students walk in to their classroom where on their desk is a blank sheet of paper (like when in restaurants the tablecloths are paper and there is a bucket of crayons.)
- Use the arts to create community.
- Use music and art to teach history.
- Bringing drama and movement into my classroom more.
So as you transition into this new school year, keep the arts in mind. Be sure to check out our resources and especially my new FREE ebook: Integrating the Works of Norman Rockwell into Reading Instruction. (Find this under the Books tab.)
Also, please check out the archive of our chat from last night! #ntchat Aug 25, 2010 “Arts Integration”
Related posts:
Elizabeth Peterson has devoted her life to education and to reaching out to other teachers who want to remain inspired. Mrs. Peterson teaches fourth grade in Amesbury, Massachusetts and is the host of www.theinspiredclassroom.com. She holds an M.Ed. in Education, “Arts and Learning” and is currently enrolled in a C.A.G.S. program through Plymouth State University with a focus in “Arts Leadership and Learning.” Elizabeth is author of Inspired by Listening, a teacher resource book that includes a method of music integration she has developed and implemented into her own teaching. She teaches workshops and courses on the integration of the arts into the curriculum, leads an arts integration PLC (PLaiC) and is adjunct faculty for PSU. Mrs. Peterson believes there is a love of active, integrated learning in all children and from their enthusiasm, teachers can shape great opportunities to learn. 
I just saw the posting on tweeter. I’m disappointed I missed the chat. I am interested in using the arts to develop literacy in my grade 3 class. If you have any research articles, I’d appreciate their titles. I’m going to download the ebook and go into the archive in the meantime, if anyone has any lessons that they have found to be effective in engaging students in reading and writing, I’d love to hear them.
You have come to the right place, Sonia! Please check out my series of articles “Music for Every Classroom” under the resources tab. There are articles for both reading and writing integration. Also, you may be interested in the book Inspired by Listening where you integrate listening experiences into your classroom and use those to develop reading and writing skills (as well as others.) Please let me know if you have any questions about this. I am here and happy to help!
I hope you enjoy the Norman Rockwell free ebook. Please let me know how it goes for you. I plan on using some of the activities the first week of school myself!
Classroom culture will have a huge impact on how students feel about learning in the classroom, as well as how they treat other students. Start the culture early and enforce it w. repetition every day! A Classroom which uses art every day inspires a culture of
1. collaboration
2. visual learning
3. multiple perspectives
4. creativity
I started using a Tumblr this year-I write a lot, but thinking in graphs has changed the way I view subjects! Also consider NYTime’s iconographics.
I have recently become very passionate about teaching with images-visual literacy is of growing importance in today’s media age. I have a few articles on it here:
http://caffinatedcarbivore.blogspot.com/
Thanks for your reply, it was very helpful and got me thinking. I am starting to think about incorporating the ideas in my learning centers as well.