Romans 1 Holly Romans Khara Schonfeld-Karan EDCI301 sec0101 16 December 2013 Personal Statement According to the Oxford Dictionary,

art is defined as the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination, typically in a visual form such as painting or sculpture, producing works to be appreciated primarily for their beauty or emotional power (Definition of Art, Par. 1). I believe that most people stereotypically think that artworks, such as paintings, drawings, sculptures, etc., represent art as a whole. Art is much more than that. Come to think of it, what is not art? Art can be seen everywhere and in everything; it just depends on who the viewer is. There are other various branches of the arts, including: dance, literature, music, photography, etc. Art, to me, is how you apply creativity to any work that reflects the way you see the world. Art can bring people together and spark debate, as well as bring out the best in people. Art allows us to be creative, but what is the relationship between art and creativity? Do they intersect, run parallel, or overlap? If something is art, is it also creative? If something is creative, is it also art? I define creativity as being able to see that anything is possible with everything. I personally believe that if something is art, it is creative, and if something is creative, then it is art. Art and creativity go hand in hand; without creativity, there is no art and without art, there is no creativity. Since there are so many various branches of the arts, I believe that students in elementary school should be introduced to as many art forms as possible and when they are older, students should be allowed to choose which art form they wish to study. That way, students will have a basic understanding for multiple branches of the arts and be able

Romans 2 to discover an art form they enjoy and perform best in. This is why I think it is important that most lesson plans should integrate art within elementary schools. Art within elementary, middle, and high schools are commonly seen in two variations: Art as Curriculum and Arts-Enhanced Curriculum. By using Art as Curriculum, classes are provided for students to take art, music, drama, or even dance allowing students to develop certain knowledge and skills for each art form that is offered (Silverstein & Layne. What Is Arts Integration? Par. 11). By using Arts-Enhanced Curriculum, art is used as a hook to engage students while learning the content (Silverstein & Layne. What Is Arts Integration? Par. 13). These are great ways to have students participate in the arts, but teachers can also use ArtIntegrated Curriculum, the third variation of art. What is arts integration? According to the Kennedy Center, Arts Integration is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process, which connects an art form and another subject area and meets evolving objectives in both. (Silverstein & Layne. What Is Arts Integration? Par. 1) This comprehensive definition clarifies the key ideas so all program participants share a common understanding for what is to be expected (Silverstein & Layne. What Is Arts Integration? Par. 4). For example, in Arts-Enhanced Curriculum, the ABCs are taught in the form of a song to help the students remember the alphabet. If the ABCs were to be taught in an Art-Integrated Curriculum, students would have a lesson on the alphabet and music, learning the ABCs as well as melody, song structure, and singing skills. Arts integration lessons basically kill two birds with one stone; one would think that a single lesson plan that fulfills the requirements of teaching two subjects would be used more often than others. I believe it should.

Romans 3 It goes without saying that arts integration is a great way to teach and should be used as often as possible, especially within elementary schools while creativity is at an all time high. Sir Ken Robinson, chair of the UK Governments report on creativity, reported at a conference that out of 1,600 tested children, ages 3-5, 98% showed they could think in divergent ways, while in ages 8-10, score dropped to about 32% who could think divergently (Robinson. Do Schools Kill Creativity?). Elementary school teachers should allow their students to embrace and practice their creativity instead of put it aside, and then maybe schools would not be blamed for killing creativity. Teachers should fully integrate art when planning and implementing the curriculum instead of using art as a resource. Children thrive when studying the arts and the arts provide opportunities to be creative (Strategies for Arts Integration, Par. 3). In an installment of Schools That Work, a series that profiles K-12 schools, districts, and programs by focusing on evidencebased successes to show dramatic improvements of student learning, Wiley H. Bates Middle School, a public school in Annapolis, Maryland, was reviewed to see how arts integration has benefitted them (Nobori. School Transformation Through Arts Integration, Par. 1). Ever since the school chose to become fully arts integrated in 2009, significant improvements in academics and even behavior have been reported (Nobori. School Transformation Through Arts Integration, Par. 1). Arts integration goes beyond including art projects in class; it is a teaching strategy that seamlessly merges arts standards with core curricula to build connections and provide engaging context (Nobori. School Transformation Through Arts Integration, Par. 3). The Kennedy Center explains two big reasons why educators are becoming more interested in using arts integration. Reason 1: Arts integration practices are aligned with how students learn. Ongoing research about how humans learn supports constructivist theories of learning. These theories reflect the characteristics of effective learning, which include

Romans 4 learning that is active and experiential, reflective, social, evolving, and focused on problem solving. (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 4-5) There is so much potential for the classroom when it comes to arts integration because art has the power to engage students in experimental learning, which allows students to connect meaning from a learning experience over learning facts through academic learning (Strategies for Arts Integration, Par. 2). When students are engaged in experiences, they actively develop and present their understanding of the art form as well as the other subject area (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 6) and brain-based research have shown that these teaching practices improve comprehension and long-term retention (Nobori. How the Arts Unlock the Door to Learning, Par. 7). The second reason states, arts integration energizes teachers by providing increased professional satisfaction (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 12). Studies show that teachers with instructional strategies that primarily rely on textbooks and worksheets report that they feel increasingly discouraged by the drudgery of teaching and the lack of student engagement (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 13). Many of these teachers tend to become bored or disenfranchised, and even decide to leave the profession (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 13). Arts integration has been said to be engaging and motivating for not only students, but for teachers as well (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 13). It was reported that teachers who use arts integration within their classrooms are put back in touch with what originally excited them about teaching (Silverstein & Layne. Two Big Reasons, Par. 13). Arts integration not only improves creativity and learning, but benefits the teacher as well, which is why I plan on using arts integrated lesson plans in my curriculum when I become a teacher.

Romans 5 In the spring of 2013, I had the experience to be placed at Adelphi Elementary School, a Title I school in Adelphi, Maryland, for a field placement. While sitting in on a 5th grade class, I noticed that the children never attended an art class or a music class. This was because the school did not have a permanent art or music teacher; instead, an art teacher came to the school once a month. I also noticed that the students teacher had them do several art projects that required drawing, but never introduced the students to an artist or different art forms; she was using an Arts-Enhanced Curriculum. For my future classroom, I want to be prepared in the event that my school does not have an art teacher. By using arts integration, I will be able to enrich my students minds with two subjects within one lesson plan, whether the school has an art teacher or not. Since I am an experimental learner and students seem to understand materials better when they have an experience to connect it to, I will try to incorporate as many branches of the arts within my integrated lesson plans. Not only will I try to explore different types of art media, I will try to integrate dance, literature, drama, and other types of art forms into my classroom. I have learned so much from taking EDCI301 and have been provided with various integrated lesson plan ideas that I can use, including: dance to represent the life cycle of birds and frogs; pattern and rhythm within artwork to determine fractions, decimals, and percentages; and instrumental music to prompt creative writing and the production of comics. Arts integration means that the artist provides a resource, not a recess for teachers (Burnaford et al. Renaissance in the Classroom, Page 10). Using integrated arts in elementary school is extremely important because it introduces students to all types of art, allows them to continue to be creative, and gives them the opportunity to possibly discover a true passion.

Romans 6 I dont care how cute the activity is, how much fun the kids have, or how much art they are doing. Show me how its related in a meaningful way to the objectives and standards, and to the curriculum. Show me how you focus on those things to help students achieve. -Principal Rebecca de los Reyes

Works Cited Burnaford, G. E., Aprill, A., & Weiss, C. (2001). Renaissance in the Classroom. Mahwah, N.J.: L. Erlbaum. Definition of Art. Oxford Dictionary Online. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/art Nobori, M. School Transformation Through Arts Integration. Edutopia. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://www.edutopia.org/stw-arts-integration Robinson, S. K. (2007, January 6). Do Schools Kill Creativity? YouTube. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY Silverstein, L. B., & Layne, S. The Kennedy Center: ARTSEDGE- The National Arts and Education Network. What is Arts Integration? Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/arts-integration-beta/what-is-artsintegration-beta.aspx#background Silverstein, L. B., & Layne, S. The Kennedy Center: ARTSEDGE- The National Arts and Education Network. Two Big Reasons. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/educators/how-to/arts-integration-beta/why-artsintegration-beta/why-two-big-reasons-beta.aspx#why-arts-integration-reason-2 Strategies for Arts Integration. Teachers. Retrieved December 16, 2013, from

Romans 7 http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/collection/strategies-arts-integration