Addressing the Arts in the General Education Classroom

This is a huge concern for me! I am not that artistic which makes this a very uncomfortable area in my teaching expertise. It is essential for children to have exposure to and master the arts curriculum. Since we do not have an Arts teacher at our school, it is especially important for me to integrate the Arts into my classroom lesson plans. I love to use art to activate prior knowledge. For instance, in Language Arts I sometimes allow children to express their prior knowledge about a topic by drawing an image of it and inviting the children to share their thoughts and ideas. This helps when introducing an abstract topic. I used this when we taught the story, Akiak, A Tale from the Iditarod. Knowing my children were probably not familiar with the Iditarod, I asked the children to draw a picture of the longest trip they have ever taken. While drawing, be sure to include the weather, things you saw, etc. After children shared, I asked them think of how their trip would be if it were extremely cold, on foot etc. Children were able to visualize better what the Iditarod would be like now they were in the mindset of traveling. It was wonderful because I could see several, "Ahah!" moments. :)  Other times, I give children choice activities to encourage them to use their talents to share their mastery of a subject. For instance, children can choose to write a poem, create a song, draw an image with a caption, or write a story displaying their gained knowledge. Children love the choice and the opportunity to express themselves in different ways. This strategy is also very effective in differentiating my instruction for the different levels of students in my class. Also, children tend to stay more focused during the presentation of products since there is a variety of things to see and hear. My goal is to use the Arts even more effectively in my classroom after completing this course.