What This Means for Instruction

Support from administrators, integrating the arts into classroom instruction and teachers who have a strong professional interest in the arts and in collaborating with their colleagues are critical to successful arts education. Schools should display student art and give students opportunities to participate in plays, music and other art forms to enhance their total educational experience. Burton, Horowitz, and Abeles (2000) refer to a "constellation of competencies" fostered by the arts and urge a "critical mass" of arts instruction during young people’s school lives.

Teachers can use the arts to stimulate analysis and critical response in their classrooms. A work of art, regardless of medium, can be a starting point for questions and investigations. Plays and works of dance, music or visual art that deal with issues relevant across time can enhance student oral discussions or writing experiences that meet standards in English language arts.

The arts should be used to aid students’ conceptual development. Through lessons in arts production or analysis, students should develop an increasing mastery of theories about the arts that prepare students to handle complex roles in a pluralistic and dynamic society. Teachers should choose lesson plans that have essential, targeted understandings and questions, and valid, performance-based assessments.

For lessons that meet this standard, refer to the following lesson plans on the IMS Web site at http://ims.ode.state.oh.us/ODE/IMS/Default.asp?bhcp=1: