Arts Integrated Practices in the Classroom

Arts Integration in the Classroom

This website’s purpose is to introduce the power of teaching and learning through the arts and to discuss the benefits of art integration, as well as its challenges. These challenges and benefits are sourced from valued, professional voices in the education and arts communities, as well as from my own observations and experiences. As a TE 491 student this semester, I have explored how performing and visual arts can reach multiple learning styles and nurture the creative process of children through their innate variety of educational methods and expressions. Through the study of practices, engaging in arts integration, and expressing my own personal artistic talents through projects and lesson plans, I have grown as a both a future educator and as an artist.

An Overview of Benefits and Challenges

There are a number of challenges that come with introducing arts integration into your classroom. Many are described on this website, including the push on test subjects, lack of time or knowledge on how to integrate art, and the challenge of helping students get over their fear of art.

Overcoming these challenges is not easy, but the benefits are almost endless. Arts integration allows students the ability to express themselves while learning and teaches them how to think in new, non-traditional ways. It engages students and increases imagination and participation. Art integrated lessons are also commonly child-centered learning, which helps the student find value in learning and will encourage them to continue learning outside of the classroom. Creative and artistic kids get the chance to have fun in academic classes and have their talents valued through these lessons, and art helps to enforce the content of the lesson in a hands-on and highly memorable way.

Students will also be more confident in their art as well as in their common schoolwork, valuing creativity and problem solving more and fearing failure less. And, of course, they will learn the arts: music, dance, theatre, and visual art, depending on the lesson. The thing that you can be sure of is that the time and energy it takes to overcome the challenges of art integration is greatly outweighed by its benefits.

About Me:

My name is April Olinger, and I am currently an undergraduate in the College of Education at Michigan State University majoring in Elementary Education with a specialization in Language Arts and a minor in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages. I have always had a passion for the arts, and learning about arts integration and ways to teach the arts in TE 491 this semester has been fundamental to my growth as a future educator. My dream is to teach overseas in diverse environments, and I hope to bring an appreciation for all the arts have to offer us to global classrooms, regardless of where I may be.