What This Means for Instruction

Research in arts education supports many classroom techniques or applications. These general guidelines should help educators plan and implement the historical, cultural and social contexts in arts education.

• Include these elements in a complete arts program: arts instruction, arts integration, artists-in-residence and professional development (Luftig, 2000).
• Look for rich, thematic connections among the arts, humanities and social studies within the context of programs that involve extensive writing (Aschbacher and Herman). Such lessons help develop "constellations of competencies" including elaborative thinking, imagination and variable perspective (Burton, Horowitz, and Abeles, 2000). Art should not be studied or learned in isolation, but within social contexts because the arts reflect culture, and culture reflects the arts in a strong reciprocal relationship. Since arts involve the history and traditions of many cultures, arts learning should give students the opportunity to participate in a variety of cultural experiences beyond formal disciplinary knowledge (Efland, 2002).
• Include a wide variety of cultural activities and lessons to meet the needs of all students, especially at-risk children (Beasley, 2002).
• Use multiple ways to tell a story to improve comprehension (Catterall, 2002).
  Ask professional artists and other community members to mentor students, demonstrate the thought processes they use to make art and lead critiques and discussions of work (Heath, Soep, and Roach, 1998). Teachers should take advantage of museum and gallery visits, theater and concert outings or workshops with professional artists-in-residence to provide vocabulary, techniques, strategies and models of innovative practices that young people can use in their own art works and in their modes of communication. This helps young people learn to work and talk as practicing artists (Heath, Soep, and Roach, 1998). Teachers may involve museum docents and educators in leading students to reflect on the meaning of museum objects and displays. Educators should make sure to link cognitive with affective learning goals and experiences. Teacher participation is critical in all stages of an arts education program (Cruz and Walker, 2001).
• Integrate drama in classrooms with other subjects (Hughes and Wilson, 2004). Make explicit references to the dramatic effectiveness of language (Kempe, 2003). Use Shakespeare in classrooms as part of drama instruction (Seidel, 2000).
• Use specific works of art to prompt student thinking and discussion (Kiefer-Boyd, 2003).
• Know the different phases involved in how children learn to dance including body awareness, creative expression and learning the dance steps (Lutz and Kuhlman, 2000).
• Use nonlinguistic representations such as drawing and movement (Marzano, Pickering, and Pollock, 2001).
• Focus on visual as well as verbal understanding in early reading.
• Involve students in defining the criteria for evaluating their work (Stanley, 2003).
• Use aesthetic objects to stimulate student discussion (Stokrocki, 2001).
• Address the full range of learning styles and understand that they may all be present in the same classroom (Cho and Forde, 2001).
• View formal music study as a part of a comprehensive approach to music instruction that encompasses students’ values and preferences (Hargreaves and Marshall, 2003).
• Pose key questions about topics that interest students or meet their needs. Identify key ideas through classroom brainstorming (Ohio State University TETAC Mentors).
• Integrate a unit around a place. Include arts, history and natural science (Umphrey).
• Encourage students to participate in open-ended conversations that probe the meanings of arts objects and images. Build on stages of aesthetic growth (Yenawine, 1998).

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: