Five Steps to Integration
Rather than simply give a collection of arts integrated lessons, the aim of this course in elementary integrated arts methods is to empower teachers and parents to develop and apply their own integrated arts experiences. This, I feel, is a much more sustainable approach. Plus, most of the elementary teachers and parents I know tend to think in terms of learning experiences (or activities) rather than lesson plan. The following is a five-step process, involving backwards and forward planning, for arts integrated curriculum development.
1. Choose a curriculum standard from a non-arts subject.
2. Analyze it. Is the standard primarily about learning content or developing skills?
3. Choose a CORE arts experience to complement the standard (content with skills).
4. Align the experience with specific arts standards.
5. Extend the experience to address additional standards.
So, let's try it out! Here are six examples...
Example 1
Step 1: Choose a curriculum standard from a non-arts subject.
For this lesson, I have chosen Science Standard 3.1.a.: Identify the planets in the solar system by name and relative location from the sun. This is backwards planning at this point because we have started with the standard.
Step 2: Analyze it. Is the standard primarily about learning content or developing skills?
This seems to me to be more of a content standard; students will need to hear or read about, discuss, and remember basic information about the planets. I want to make sure that I combine it with something focused on skill development because it is the skill standards that generate the most engaging and active learning experiences.
Step 3: Choose a CORE arts experience to complement the standard (content with skills).
Here's where the fun begins. Review the CORE arts experiences listed by art form in this website. Which ones seem to complement the planet standard. For music, it could be singing a song about the planets. For visual art, we could use a variety of media to create images or models of the planets. For drama, we could create a tableau or a pantomime and, for dance, we could develop a moving model of the planets in our solar system as they revolve around the sun. I am going to combine two arts by having students help choreograph a dance sequence that can be performed while listening to or singing along with the planet song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2prtmPEjOc.
Step 4: Align the experience with specific arts standards.
The CORE arts experiences identified in this website reflect the teaching strategies use by arts specialists to teach each of the arts at an elementary level. So, they each naturally address a variety of arts standards. This dance experience embodies the creativity strand: Students will conceptualize, generate, develop and organize artistic ideas and work. They will complete and refine dance works (Standards 3.D.CR.1–4). For music, this experience addresses Standard 3.M.P.4: Sing folk, traditional, and call-and-response songs in tune, with good vocal tone.
Step 5: Extend the experience to address additional standards.
The video I am using for this lesson includes lyrics so that the students can sing along. This aligns with language arts (reading), but the students will also need to share ideas for the choreography which is also a language arts skill. Language arts standards could include:
Example 1
Step 1: Choose a curriculum standard from a non-arts subject.
For this lesson, I have chosen Science Standard 3.1.a.: Identify the planets in the solar system by name and relative location from the sun. This is backwards planning at this point because we have started with the standard.
Step 2: Analyze it. Is the standard primarily about learning content or developing skills?
This seems to me to be more of a content standard; students will need to hear or read about, discuss, and remember basic information about the planets. I want to make sure that I combine it with something focused on skill development because it is the skill standards that generate the most engaging and active learning experiences.
Step 3: Choose a CORE arts experience to complement the standard (content with skills).
Here's where the fun begins. Review the CORE arts experiences listed by art form in this website. Which ones seem to complement the planet standard. For music, it could be singing a song about the planets. For visual art, we could use a variety of media to create images or models of the planets. For drama, we could create a tableau or a pantomime and, for dance, we could develop a moving model of the planets in our solar system as they revolve around the sun. I am going to combine two arts by having students help choreograph a dance sequence that can be performed while listening to or singing along with the planet song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2prtmPEjOc.
Step 4: Align the experience with specific arts standards.
The CORE arts experiences identified in this website reflect the teaching strategies use by arts specialists to teach each of the arts at an elementary level. So, they each naturally address a variety of arts standards. This dance experience embodies the creativity strand: Students will conceptualize, generate, develop and organize artistic ideas and work. They will complete and refine dance works (Standards 3.D.CR.1–4). For music, this experience addresses Standard 3.M.P.4: Sing folk, traditional, and call-and-response songs in tune, with good vocal tone.
Step 5: Extend the experience to address additional standards.
The video I am using for this lesson includes lyrics so that the students can sing along. This aligns with language arts (reading), but the students will also need to share ideas for the choreography which is also a language arts skill. Language arts standards could include:
- Reading: Informational Text Standard 1. Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
- Reading: Foundational Skills Standard 4. Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension. (b) Read grade-level prose and poetry orally with accuracy, appropriate rate, and expression.
Example 2: Language Arts to Music (skills to content)
- Grade 4: Speaking and Listening Standard 4—Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.
- A variety of skills are included in this standard.
- Music (Communicating). Oral presentations about a musical tradition (music could be replaced easily with communicating about any of the other arts).
- Aligns with a variety of music standards.
- Extends naturally to drama (voice and gesture) and social studies (history/geography)
Example 3: Math to Visual Art (skills to skills)
- Grade 1: Geometry—Reason with shapes and their attributes
- This is primarily a skill standard.
- Visual Art (Analysis): Analyze shapes in two-dimensional works of art.
- Multiple visual art standards
- Language Arts (discuss, analyze illustrations), Visual Art (drawing), Dance (make shapes with partners)
Example 4: Math to Visual Art and ELA (skills to skills)
- Math 4.G.3 Recognize a line of symmetry for a two-dimensional figure…
- This is a skill standard primarily.
- Visual Art (Analysis) Identify lines of symmetry in objects and images. Work with a partner or small group. Record and share findings.
- Visual Art 4.V.R.3: Refer to contextual information and analyze subject matter, characteristics of form, and use of media.
- ELA Speaking and Listening 4.1: Engage in collaborative discussions…; can also extend to dance and social studies (via the art prints).
Example 5: ELA and Social Studies to Music (skills to content)
- ELA Literacy in Social Studies (Grades 6–8) 2. Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
- This is primarily a skill standard.
- CORE Experience: Analyze text. Pair and compare. Share findings with the class.
- Natural Connection: Music lyrics as text (Music 6.M.P.4: Sing folk, traditional, and rounds in tune, with good vocal tone and clear diction. Music 6.M.R.5: Identify possible intent of a music selection, and how the music elements are used to convey it).
- Extensions: Dance, social studies, additional music standards
Example 6: Dance and Drama to ELA
- Standards: Dance 3.D.CR.1: Demonstrate openness, willingness and persistence in trying new ideas, methods and approaches when creating dance. Drama 3.T.P.4: Use body to communicate meaning through space, shape, energy, and gesture.
- These are skills standards
- CORE Experience: With a small group choose an interesting way to move from one side of the room to the other expressively.
- Natural Connection: ELA, Verbs and Adverbs (Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. c. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.)
- Extensions: Social studies, science