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INCORPORATING ART CURRICULUM IN SCHOOL-WIDE GOALS
This section will provide important information and ideas to make your art
program more important to your school in the way that it hits principals and
superintendents most: the test scores. The arts are, in my opinion, the best
way to cement learning, especially with the younger kids. Nearly any
elementary child will tell you that their favorite classes are Art, Music, & Gym.
There’s a reason schools refer to these as “specials.” The best artillery you
have is to sneak in learning about reading, writing, math and science without
the students realizing it. The important thing is to document this in your
lesson plans or whatever you may have to turn in to your principal. If you’re
really sharp (or really in danger of getting your program’s funding cut), do a
simple research project using your kids. (I’ll use a music example because
that’s what I’m most comfortable with - if you don’t know why that would be,
read the intro to the section page) Let’s say that one of the school’s goals (In
Kansas they call them QPA standards) is improving student’s math skills
across the board. I, as the music teacher, have come up with a fabulous
lesson for the fourth graders involving rhythm and counting. Before
beginning the unit, I give a test to all my fourth grade music students. Then,
with one of the classes, I teach a unit on melody. To the other class I teach
the unit on rhythm. At the end of the unit, I give the test again. If my
fabulous lesson worked, the test scores for the class that received the rhythm
lesson (or in research-speak, the treatment) will be much higher that the class
that received instruction on Melody. Now I have good ammunition to take to
my principal so that s/he will not cut my funding since it has been proven
that my program aids in math learning. Admittedly, this is extremely
simplified. I know it’s not really that easy. But, if you can show your
principal on a continuous basis how much the content you are teaching the
kids reinforces what they learn in basic studies classes, the less you will have
to worry about your funding being cut. This section will hopefully give you
some examples of ways to incorporate your curriculum with other subjects
outside of the arts. (Note, this is also part of art standards numbers 4 & 6)
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