Professional Development : Best Practices :
The Arts in Your Classroom
By Mary Ellen Bafumo
Using the arts promotes academic achievement and inspires creativity within your students
High-quality approaches to reading include author and illustrator discussions. While many teachers use author studies to extend reading and writing skills, most prefer to leave artist studies to the art teacher. Using author studies in your classroom, however, is an excellent way to combine reading, writing, language skills and art.
New vistas
Students find that artist studies can be as engaging as story content. Learning about how an artist imagined and created the main character often helps readers to think more deeply about the story. Students are often surprised to learn that some artists started drawing when they were very young. Or that others were inspired by famous artists, encouraged by teachers or had to overcome restrictions and liabilities to pursue goals. This opens new vistas to students about choices they can make, despite the perceived or real limitations of their surroundings.
The arts are often the one area in which students who are challenged by academic content can first succeed. Don't wait for the art teacher – try these techniques to increase student achievement. Here's how to get started:
- Choose a well-known artist/illustrator with a distinctive style that your students enjoy. An example is Leo Lionni. In his beautifully written and illustrated book,
- Ask your students to visit the website www.google.com and type in the artist in which they're interested. They'll find information about his or her life and works beyond what's on the book jacket (you'll have to do this and #3 for young students).
- Assign pairs of students to write a brief biography about the artist's life, including any unusual or interesting facts and edit their work.
- Practice making a simple cut-paper drawing so that you are comfortable with the technique. You don't have to be an expert, just able to demonstrate how to do it.
- Have students try the technique working in pairs, then write a brief story about their artwork.
- Ask each pair to edit their story and attach it, the bio and artwork together to share with peers in an "Artist's Corner" in your classroom. Repeat the process with other artists and encourage discussion comparing and contrasting artists' lives and techniques.
I hope you see great results with these artistic activities.
Mary Ellen Bafumo is Executive Director of Professional Development in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District.
March, 2005, Vol.35, No.6
