The Value of the Arts, Part II
August 9, 2007 | Volume 2 | Issue 22
An education in the arts can open up new channels of learning for all students. When schools engage students in the visual, musical, or dramatic arts as separate classes, cross-curricular projects, or extracurricular activities, they get students to grasp and appreciate the elements of human culture that transcend space and time while helping them draw connections between content areas.
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Assessing Enduring Understanding in the Visual Arts
To show their grasp of the concepts of color, value, and symmetry in portrait composition, Maria Saldana's students complete performance assessments in which they draw and paint self-portraits, then evaluate their own work and that of their classmates.
 watch the video | read the transcript
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Fine Arts Team Strengthens Cross-Curricular Learning
In Part 2 of this article, Mount Eagle Elementary School's Fine Arts Team highlights the role physical education's concepts of movement play in forging links with content from other subject areas. more
Drumming for the Common Good
To channel the youthful energy and inevitable frustrations of middle school students, music teacher Thomas Feller Jr. and guidance counselor Brian Gibbs-Griffith have developed Bulldog Beat, a semester-long program that teaches students drumming and musical skills while they learn to work as a team; focus their minds, hearts, and actions; and perform for others. more
A Daily Engagement with the Arts
Sarah Zadny, art teacher at Propel East Charter School near Pittsburgh, Pa., outlines a unique school program that partners with local fine and performing arts groups and recreation centers to implement hands-on curricula in various genres. more
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Insight on At-Risk Students
Canadian teacher Elona Hartjes writes Teachers At Risk, a blog that delves into issues facing at-risk students and the educators who teach them. Hartjes' posts range from insights on bullying to practical advice and resources on instruction and class management. more
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Aesthetic Literacy: Enlivening the Self and the World
The arts are crucial to education, but understanding art is more than creating "product." According to George Sykes, it's also getting students to understand and appreciate the creative process that undergirds a work of art. more
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| Resources for the Value of the Arts |
Book: In Arts with the Brain in Mind, author Eric Jensen presents the most important reason to make the arts integral to teaching in every subject and classroom: brain development.
Newsletter: Curriculum•Technology Quarterly's Winter 2003 issue on technology for the visual and performing arts has inspiring and practical articles about using multimedia to link the past and present, creating a schoolwide arts-technology covenant, and employing music computer technology. (ASCD Express members can log in for complete access to the CTQ archives.)
Newsletter: Classroom Leadership's April 2000 article "A Fine Arts Fix to a Time Design Flaw" shows how one school increased time for both art instruction and teacher preparation.
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 2008–09 Teacher Exchange Program
Apply now for the professional opportunity of a lifetime! In the Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program, you'll switch classes for a year with an educator overseas. Opportunities are available for teachers and administrators from K–12 schools and two- and four-year colleges.
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"So I said to myself—I'll paint what I see—what the flower is to me, but I'll paint it big, and they will be surprised into taking the time to look at it. I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers."
—Georgia O'Keeffe
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