THE

 ARTS  IN  THE  CLASSROOM   1  

THE ARTS IN THE CLASSROOM

MAT Student

Masters Portfolio ED698

John W. Orsborn Jr.

University of Alaska Southeast

June 20, 2015

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The Arts

Candidates know, understand and use, as appropriate to their own understanding and skills, the content,

functions and achievements of the performing arts (dance, music, theater) and the visual arts as primary

media for communication, inquiry and engagement among elementary students.

Introduction  

  Not  so  long  ago,  elementary schools were places where students could discover what they

were good at, explore the subjects that appealed to them, or maybe just be happy with enjoying

school. Music, drama, and art were all part of the curriculum and students enjoyed a sample of

each in elementary before going off to middle school. The days of students having time to play,

discover, and explore were the highlights of the week. This is when students practiced different

instruments for band; acted out plays in the classroom, and created art projects compatible to the

masters. They danced to ballroom, classical, and country music, all to the music teachers

delight. And then things slowly changed. Programs were slowly removed and an emphasis on

core curriculum became the focus. With the present state of the economy and due to current

legislation (such as the No Child Left Behind Act), public education has shifted most of its focus

toward standardized high-stakes testing, with limited resources for studies other than math,

reading, and writing. Test scores became more important than the arts, and teachers had to teach

in secret and hope they didn’t get in trouble for teaching the “whole child” instead of teaching to

the test (Walker, 2014). Critics charge that NCLB has led educators to shift resources away from

important but non tested subjects, such as social studies, art, and music, and to focus instruction

within mathematics and reading on the relatively narrow set of topics that are most heavily

represented on the high-stakes tests (Fegley, 2010). Several proponents of the arts are helping it
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make a comeback. Research based ideas and practices are implementing the arts back into

education slowly, but surely.

Dance in the Classroom

Throughout history, educational philosophers from Aristotle through Dewey, Whitehead,

and Montessori have all encouraged the use of movement to promote learning (Skoning, 2008).

With more and more emphasis being placed on the core learning of math, writing, and English

language arts, students are spending longer stretches of time in seats and less on other activities

involving movement. This translates into students needing a break to simply clear their head and

dance is one of the best tools to do that. Many young students are motivated by the challenge

and physicality of dance. The movement of dance can be used as a motivator for creativity and

self-expression (Fegley, 2010). Kindergarten classes are using dance at the beginning, middle,

and end of a day’s instruction to promote group activities and student interaction with the

material. Children can dance to a song, dance to a story, or even use dance to solve a math

problem (Skoning, 2008). Nonverbal communication can refer to any bodily movement from

small gestures to expansive full-bodied movement.

The body is the mode through which nonverbal language is communicated. Dance is a

category all its own, but to use dance in education differs from dance classes in schools. Using

dance in the classroom can break up the monotony of a lesson, and relieve stress induced by

constant focus on one set of problems. Using dance as a refocus tool, it can provide students

with creative energy that allows them time to rethink a strategy, refocus energy, and refine

objectives that are relevant to learning (Skoning, 2008). Susan Griss (1994) found that the

ability to move while learning decreased the otherwise inappropriate behaviors of these students.
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Susan Griss (1994) pointed out that many teachers may feel “intimidated or over-

whelmed” by the idea of using creative movement and dance concepts in their classrooms,

especially if they are non- dancers. We also have to have a clear framework for thinking about

movement in the classroom. It is easy to transition movement into thinking; by having students

move their bodies in the same form as the subject being studied. In math for example, students

can bend their bodies into shapes and see the fluid movement as they combine themselves with

others to form new shapes. Students in a government class could use dance to convey the

function of each branch and the power it holds. Students can use dance to convey the meaning

of a presentation for a story, or an idea for a project instead of a verbal report to a class.

Students with disabilities may benefit from dance as a tool of expression of feeling, or

understanding. Children with communication disorders can adapt to a classroom-using dance as

their voice. Children with learning and cognitive disabilities showed increased comprehension

of character, plot, and overall comprehension of novels read (Skoning, 2008). The simple act of

movement recharges a child’s brain in an ever-increasing world of lecture and testing that by all

standards is not going away soon.

Music in the Classroom

When we think of music in education, we think of music class and children playing

instruments. Music in the classroom is much more than band, choir, or students singing songs in

kindergarten. Band in middle school is more than an elective. It is a class that teaches

cooperation, learning, and foundational skills needed to compete in the world we live in. Some

schools have orchestras where students utilize music composed by masters, and in the end

creating their own masterpieces to be performed in public. These students usually go on to be

classical players either forming their own groups, or performing with symphonies around the
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country. This learning style incorporates English language arts, writing, and math into learning.

Playing music requires all facets of learning to be able to compose and play with organization.

Music used as an instructional tool is more than instruments and playing, it is using emotion and

feelings to convey a message, or to organize thoughts (Trinick, 2012).

With so many programs being cut, music was the first to go in a lot of districts

nationwide. The teaching and use of music has fallen on the classroom teacher to incorporate it

into learning in the classroom. Regular use of music experiences such as singing in the

classroom has benefits for both language development as well as music development and should

be viewed as a partnership that may enrich the learning process, with a purposeful methodology

for both (Trinick, 2012). Music can help children understand the meaning of a story, the value of

writing, and the presence of art. Singing and dancing go hand in hand to breaking the stale

environment of learning to give it a new meaning.

Children don’t have to play an instrument to understand that music can only be composed

with reading, writing, and math. The beats of a song can be incorporated into math programs in

the early grades. The sound and feelings of songs can ignite a fire for struggling writers and

lyrics can help struggling readers understand sonnets and stanzas in a poem. There are several

areas or domains of mutual benefit for both music and language, including affective,

sociocultural, cognitive, and linguistic (Trinick, 2012). Imagine a classroom in which children

sing every day, establishing singing as an important social and cultural experience in each child's

life. Singing is celebratory and social, establishing meaningful connections to children's lives and

experiences, such as birthdays, welcomes, sports events, and festivals. Teachers expect, and are

faced with, the challenge of recognizing and acknowledging cultural practices of their students.
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Songs provide a rich context for recognizing and celebrating cultural diversity, and for

developing an understanding and appreciation of different languages (Trinick, 2012).

Children can absorb and acquire language through song and dance. Music is the

stepping-stone of foreign language in early elementary learning (Trinick, 2012). The PBS show

Sesame Street uses both English and Spanish songs to teach basic sounds and words to children.

Children that are not English speakers can begin to learn the language through music and song,

the same way we learned foreign languages in college.

Exposure to different genres of music teaches children about diversity, culture, and

language that are authentic (Trinick, 2012). Traditions are passed in song and dance in many

cultures, and should be part of the classroom today.

Music in the classroom can also be used as a tool for behavior. The sound can relax a

class after recess, can calm nerves before a test, and can provide inspiration for a struggling

student. Music is more than instruments and rehearsals. It can be the difference in learning and

understanding for a struggling student.

Drama in the Classroom

Drama and theater are usually thought of as being a program offered in middle and high

school. The program offers students the opportunity to be part of an act, part of a team that puts

it together, and part of an organization that teacher team building. Drama in its nature offers

students the opportunity to practice speech, expand literacy, and use math to choreograph a set of

goals to completion. In the elementary setting, it is not as broad a program, but a refined set of

the same skills.

For the most part, when people hear the word “drama” they automatically think

performance. Drama in the classroom can be adapted across the curriculum, and also be used to
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build individual skills that students use later in life. Drama makes learning purposeful and it

engages students in a subject. Exploring alternate endings, different scenarios, and character

traits helps struggling students understand literature. Changes to a script can be made which

helps students with writing and creating new possibilities with characters. Students working

through this process learn critical thinking skills, which can translate to math and science.

Moreover, it builds imagination and exploration which again are tools needed to compete in

math and science.

When working with ELL, and students with disabilities, drama provides the opportunity

to express ones self to the world. Chris Boudreault (2010) believes that the benefits of drama in

language learning are as follows:

• The acquisition of meaningful, fluent interaction in the target language;

• The assimilation of a whole range of pronunciation and prosodic features in a fully

contextualized and interactional manner;

• The fully contextualized acquisition of new vocabulary and structure;

• An improved sense of confidence in the student in his or her ability to learn the target

language.

Drama puts the teacher in the role of supporter in the learning process and the students can

take more responsibility for their own learning (Boudreault, 2010).

Drama at the elementary level is normally used for seasonal events, Christmas program,

spring programs, and sometimes heritage programs. But drama used as a tool to convey the

meaning of a story, or to act out a math problem is no different than putting on a play for another

class. Drama should be used more extensively in the classroom than what it is now. Using

drama to bring literature to life for the students is more dynamic than simple text and helps the
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visual learners as well as recycles new vocabulary (Boudreault, 2010). Young children love to

act out games, stories and problems. Using drama in elementary classes can be as simple as

puppet shows to retell a story, acting for the class in groups, and sharing activities with peers in

literature. These simple activities help students with expression and fluency in reading.

Drama inspires imagination. Imagination is the magic force that is beyond facts, figures and

techniques, which can inspire new ideas. It is with imagination that the ordinary is transformed

into something significant. There is a need to cultivate this trait in our students (Boudreault,

2010). The STEM movement requires students to think outside the box and to use imagination;

drama helps students utilize these skills in simple tasks like a classroom play.

Drama has the unique ability to engage many different learning styles, thus facilitating

connections with students and motivating most learners today (Ashton-Hay, 2005). As students

re-create images, pictures, visual details, staging, movement, location and direction with drama

their spatial learning skills are developed. Logical learning follows from using rational patterns,

cause and effect relationships and other believable concepts involved with the drama (Ashton-

Hay, 2005). The act of performing a piece of literature can help struggling readers feel emotion

written in words by seeing it acted out.

Drama engages the brain and physical body in realistic simulation exercises which have

proven to be powerful and successful teaching and training techniques for a wide range of

institutions, including NASA astronauts (Ashton-Hay, 2005). Although our students may not be

NASA astronauts, drama does engage multi- dimensional learning styles including verbal-

linguistic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, kinesthetic, spatial, and logical and often incorporates

music, or the music of language. It promotes cooperation, consideration, self-control, goal-

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oriented learning as well as emotional intelligence skills, empathy, and social learning

environments (Ashton-Hay, 2005).

Art in the Classroom

Most schools in America do not have the benefit of an art class separate from the

classroom due to budget shortfalls. For that reason it is important for the classroom teacher to

understand the basic fundamentals of art and use those in cross-curricular activities. Arts

educators often had to justify their place in K-12 education. Art education included state and

national standards for art activities and formal assessment in K-12 art classrooms. More recently,

arts advocacy adapted to the pressures of

the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) and relating art education to other academic subjects in a

multi-disciplinary approach rather than emphasizing its position as a completely separate subject

(Bobick and Dicindio, 2012).

Students should be introduced to the art world through virtual museum trips, and visual

images of different forms of art. Using crayon, colored pencil, pastels, and paint children need to

understand that the textures of our world can be brought to life through art.

Art provides children the opportunity to express themselves in ways they may not be able

to convey verbally. If children are happy or sad, we can allow them to express their feeling on

paper. If students are having difficulty during a writing project, the ability to draw what they

want to say can open the doors of imagination and creativity to allow them to see the words they

want to write. Benefits of engaging in art activities are numerous, as it is suggested that art

allows children to express their ideas (Hallam, Hewitt & Buxton, 2014).

Teaching student depth, length, height, and width increases spatial intelligence (Hallam,

Hewitt & Buxton, 2014). When working in math, transitioning from two-dimensional to three-
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dimensional objects, special intelligence is challenged. Artists, architects, and engineers all use

special intelligence when they imagine how their creation will look and function.

When using literature circles, art is an integral part of telling your perspective on the

story. Students love to draw what they have read, and they like to recreate the story with

drawings. When creating an alternate ending to a story, students have to visualize the characters

and what they are now, opposed to what has already happened. This act helps them to write the

new end using art as the leading piece.

For writing warm-ups, drawing is a great tool to open the mind, and get lost in the

imagination (LaJevic, 2013). Getting the creative juices of the brain flowing helps students to

utilize adjectives, which are usually missing in early childhood writing. Art provides them the

visual of the written.

Students that learn through touch can most benefit with clay, rubbings, and three-

dimensional projects that require them to creatively think about the outcome of the piece

(LaJevic, 2013).

Dioramas in social studies and science allow students to bring stories and ideas to life.

Solar systems, volcanoes, tribal civilizations, and tribal art can all be explored through art

integration.

Art promotes diversity for struggling immigrant students that may be new to the English

language. Visual aids are a literacy teacher’s best tool when teaching English, and art as an

expression of understanding provides opportunities for ELL students to participate in learning.

The New York State Education Department (2010) states:

The visual arts enhance language development by offering non-verbal methods for

communication and understanding and by providing a platform for students to create

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mental images. Integrating the arts into language arts and the content areas for ELLs can

give students the opportunity to engage in new and varied approaches while gaining

positive emotional responses to learning, understanding others and communicating their

own ideas. (p. 2)

By using art within the context of learning it enables ELL students to express their ideas visually

as well as speaking and writing. This creates creative thinking, Makes learning relevant, and

helps in problem solving.

Using The Arts in the Classroom

I try to incorporate all the arts into my instruction, but in reality it is hard to do on a daily

basis. I love to use dance to break up transitions because the students have to sit for hours before

moving. Using movement breaks the monotony and gets the blood flowing again. We have

group challenges of different dance styles, with each group performing something different. The

students like the challenge, and enjoy the break from pounding lectures.

I use music during writing activities to relax the class and give them calm feelings during

stressful activities. For most of my students, writing is painful; it is like having teeth pulled

because they have no experience with it. Using soft classical music, students relax and allow

themselves to feel the music, and step out of the rush of pace to concentrate on the task at hand.

I have found that soft calming music relaxes even the ADHD students and allows them to

process while they work.

Out of all the arts, the one piece I use the most is art itself. Developmentally, children

have the ability to express themselves through visual art much easier than through written words

(Harris, 2011). For fictional writing, I have the kids do squiggle writes before we begin a

project. I allow the students to choose the topics, and the squiggle write allows them to
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brainstorm before the process begins. They draw their picture, color it, and label if necessary.

This process gets their mind into the subject, and provides them with a base to start with. They

use the colors and sizes to include adjectives in the writing. The information from the picture is

then placed in a graphic organizer and the students are able to write with meaning rather than just

putting things on paper. I have found that a combination of soft music and art aid in the writing

process. This process for my students is like a support system.

When it is time for them to begin writing constructed responses, my students do not need

to draw, but can find the main idea and the details by picturing the information in their head. As

my school year progresses, squiggle write becomes more of a relaxer than a tool needed to write

a response to a question. Students are able to better utilize a graphic organizer, and complete a

first draft.

I believe that all the arts should be incorporated into learning at all levels of education.

Students should be well rounded in aspects of learning, not just writing, math, and English

language arts. The arts as a whole build self esteem, confidence, teamwork, critical thinking, and

goal setting. When the arts are integrated, students are more engaged because they take on a

more active role in learning by experiencing things directly and expressing themselves in

multiple ways. They are challenged to take what they learn, build a deeper understanding, and

then do something with it. When the arts are integrated well, students are involved in making

decisions about and taking responsibility for their learning. This worked for me forty years ago

in elementary school; why not try to empower our students by giving them choices in the

classroom.
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References:

Ashton-Hay, S. (2005). Drama: Engaging All Learning Styles. Unpublished Manuscript.

Economics and Technology University. Ankara, Turkey

Bobdick, B. & Dicindio, C. (2012). Advocacy for Art Education: Beyond Tee-Shirts and

Bumber Stickers. Art Education, 65 (2), 20-23

Boudreault, C. (2010). The Benefits of Using Drama in the ESL/EFL Classroom. The Internet

TESL Journal, 16 (1). Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Boudreault-Drama.html

Fegley, L. E. (2010). The Impact of Dance on Student Learning: Within the Classroom and

Across the Curriculum. (Unpublished dissertation). Evergreen State College, Olympia,

Washington. Retrieved from http://archives.evergreen.edu/masterstheses/Accession89-

10MIT/Fegley_LMIT2010.pdf

Griss, S. (1994). Creative movement: A language for learning. Educational Leadership 51(5),

78-80.

Hallam, J. L., Hewitt, D. & Buxton, S. (2014). An Exploration of Children’s Experiences of Art

in the Classroom. International journal of Art 7 Design Education, 33 (2), 195-207

Harris, N. (2011). The Benefits of Writing Through Art in the Classroom (Unpublished

dissertation). Western Connecticut State University, Danbury Connecticut. Retrieved

from http://library.wcsu.edu/dspace/bitstream/0/603/1/THESIS+FINAL+1harris.pdf

LaJevic, L. (2013). The Lost and Found Space of the Arts in Education. International Journal

of Education Through Art, 9 (1), 41-54

Skoning, S. N. (2008). Movement and Dance in the Inclusive Classroom. Teaching Exceptional

Children Plus, 4 (6), 2-11

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The New York State Education Department Office of Bilingual Education and Foreign languages

Studies (2010). Art As A Tool For Teachers Of English Language Learners. (P-16).

THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF

NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY. Retrieved from

http://www.p12.nysed.gov/biling/docs/Art_as_a_Tool-for_Teachers.pdf

Trinick, R. M. (2012). Sound and Sight: The use of Song to Promote Language Learning.

General Music Today 25 (2), 5-10

Walker, T. (September 2, 2014). The Testing Obsession and the Disappearing Curriculum. [Web

log comment]. Retrieved from http://neatoday.org/2014/09/02/the-testing-obsession-and-

the-disappearing-curriculum-2/