Sneak peeks are fun, especially when you get to have a say in the final product.
Maybe that鈥檚 why, as an elementary visual arts specialist, I am enjoying the chance to approach the language arts standards using . I look forward to February 14, when public commentary on the new draft will open.
The NCCAS calls for arts teachers to collaborate more closely than ever with their colleagues in other disciplines. Some may shudder at this, preferring to remain safely siloed as teachers of electives. To be honest, teaching art for art鈥檚 sake is my first priority, too. I want to expose my students to as many forms of the visual arts as possible before they move onto middle school.
But I am thrilled at the prospect of the endangered arts鈥� legitimate inclusion in schools鈥� efforts to prepare students to succeed in the 21st century.
Critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration are at the heart of what I teach, and it only makes sense to integrate the arts with students鈥� other educational experiences whenever possible.
Artistic Masterworks as Connection Points
What will the standards look like in practice? Examination of artistic masterworks will play a significant role, helping students sharpen critical thinking and research skills while building connections to other academic disciplines.
Close study of carefully selected works can activate students鈥� background knowledge, accelerate further learning, deepen understanding, and facilitate the transfer and application of knowledge. Using a masterwork as the focal point of integrated units has the potential to develop more well-rounded, critical thinkers who can accelerate their learning.
I collaborate with classroom teachers to link unit content to robust, age-level appropriate masterworks. Each masterwork should have an intrinsic interest, represent its genre well, and take students to higher levels of learning and understanding. When selecting a masterwork, it鈥檚 important to keep your own interests and passions in mind; your students will 鈥渃atch鈥� your enthusiasm.
Here are examples of robust masterworks with cross-curricular connections:
The 1st grade teachers in my school were developing a unit on traditions鈥攁nd I suggested we link learning to contemporary artist Carmen Lomas Garza鈥檚 painting (1991). After discussing the piece, students created a tableau. Each student copied the position of a person or animal in the masterwork and froze like a statue in the same position. When I tapped each student鈥檚 shoulder, they said what they imagined their character might have said. After reenacting the masterwork, students then sketched out a family tradition of their own, also writing about their experiences.
I鈥檝e also introduced students to Diego Rivera鈥檚 (1953) for units that deal with bullying. This brightly colored painting reminds us of happy times, but when we take a closer look, we can identify the bully in the party and examine how he is busting his way through the group of children to get more candy. Students can identify with the image and it is an easy one to use as a springboard for discussion and activities that support their mastery of language arts standards.
One 4th grade, arts-integrated unit focused on patterns in art and music that included two masterworks: Vincent Van Gogh鈥檚 (1889) and composer Antonio Vivaldi鈥檚 musical work (1723). While from different eras, both pieces were innovative for their time, blowing away people鈥檚 notions of what art and music were supposed to be. (Students appreciated this intersection of innovation. One sighed and said, 鈥淎hhh, I see what makes the artwork by Vincent Van Gogh even more beautiful; it is music. I have never heard Vivaldi鈥檚 鈥淔our Seasons鈥� before and it makes the artwork come alive!鈥�)
Recently, 5th graders were studying the masterwork (1861-9) in conjunction with a cross-curricular unit about the relationships that formed within different cultural groups in 19th-century America. One of my students gasped when he saw the painting and exclaimed, 鈥淚 know this one! We studied the George Catlin painting in social studies.鈥� Granted鈥攖his particular connection was a happy accident鈥攂ut it鈥檚 exactly the kind of cross-curricular experience I鈥檓 committed to creating. After examining the painting, students selected a 19th-century identity to explore, used iPads to research their clothing and environment, then rendered their own self-portraits as if they were individuals living in 19th-century America.
Two of the other rich masterworks I鈥檝e used when developing units with colleagues are Georges Seurat鈥檚 (1884) and Edward Hicks鈥� (~1833). As an art teacher, it鈥檚 a thrill to use Seurat鈥檚 timeless painting (the first created entirely in pointillism) to address relational prepositions, pointillism, juxtaposition, proportion, perspective, brush strokes, color mixing, characters, and Hicks鈥� painting offers rich fodder for students to observe, think critically, and provide evidence for claims.
Using a masterwork as the focal point of integrated units develops well-rounded, critical thinkers who can accelerate their learning through natural content connections. Visual arts specialists play a critical role in the customized selection of age-appropriate masterworks that connect to content鈥攁nd that also expose students to significant pieces of art. My public comment on the core arts standards is simple: Two paint-stained thumbs up.
