Education is not preparation for life: Education is life itself. John Dewey (1859-1952)
Children learn best when they are actively engaged — emotionally, cognitively, and physically — in meaningful, complex, and authentic learning experiences. This website is designed to empower teachers to actively engage children for learning in and through the arts. Arts integration ideas and suggestions are divided in the menu according to four arts: music, dance, visual art, and drama. Articles explore concepts about what arts integration is and what high quality arts integration looks like. Lesson plans/ideas are organized by subject under other subjects. The blog includes less formal reflections about teaching and learning through the arts.
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I am Vincent Bates, an elementary arts integration specialist at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah, USA. My degrees are in music education (BM, Brigham Young University), orchestral conducting (MM, Brigham Young University), and music (PhD, University of Arizona). I taught elementary and secondary music and art in Eureka, Utah for 12 years, music education methods and French horn at Northwest Missouri State for 6 years, and I have been at WSU since 2012. My family and I live in Layton, Utah, next to the beautiful Wasatch Mountains and overlooking the Great Salt Lake. To learn more about me go to my biography.