Arts Education can inspire, excite and empower learners. It can provide a strong connection, helping educators incorporate the arts as a powerful tool to support learning across the curriculum.
The Kennedy Centre for Education (Washington USA) has a range of professional readings, articles and video to support creative learning pedagogy. These ideas have been proven to engage and uplift learners in a way which sparks curiosity, builds empathy and emboldens citizenship.
Articles below have been grouped into those of most interest to teachers and school leaders, but of course all articles may be of interest across both groups.
Click links to access specific articles (links open in a new browser tab)
Support for teachers:
Creating a Topic – Explore how arts integration connections are made. Examples of successful connections between different arts disciplines and identified curriculum concern/need.
Arts Integration in Practice: Cross Curriculum – Examples of arts integration strategies that are adaptable to a wide range of curriculum areas. Short conversational interviews with teachers who use arts integration strategies that have been applied successfully across curriculum areas.
Arts Integration in Practice: Language Arts – Explore arts integration connections to visual narratives, poetry, musical compositions, dramatization and oral performance.
- Classroom examples for integrating language arts and drama, history and puppetry.
- Short conversational interviews with teachers who provide examples of connections between language arts and visual narratives, poetry, musical composition and dramatization
Arts Integration in Practice: Social Studies – Powerful connections between history and portraiture, drama/tableau, puppetry and music
Short classroom examples for integrating social studies with drama, visual art and writing.
Arts Integration in Practice: Science – Exploring strong arts integration connections between science and story dramatisation, choreography and dance with short classroom examples.
Arts Integration in Practice: Math – Exploring strong arts integration connections between maths, music and dance with short classroom examples.
For School Leaders:
Arts Integration and 21st Century Skills – Explores how Arts Integration can support skills development – Creativity and critical thinking.
Arts Integration and Universal Design for Learning – Explore the powerful alignment between arts integration and three principles that guide UDL.
Why Arts Integration- Rationale – Creating a rationale for arts integration – the What? and Why?
Why Arts Integration – Perspectives – Exploring various viewpoints about the value of arts integration – short conversational interview.
Current Topics in Arts Integration – A selection of articles covering current approaches to arts integration in the classroom, inclusion, rigour and adopting and arts integration approach, these include:
- Fostering a culture of Connection through the Arts – embedding arts into culture and climate of schools
- Explore the importance of prioritising connections
- Learn ways to sharpen relationship skills with the arts
- Discover how to weave the arts into the fabric of schools
- How teachers can transform learning in inclusive Arts – Integrated classrooms – bolster engagement with arts integration by adapting time, classroom tools and instructional techniques, including:
- Explore how increasing arts integration builds inclusive classrooms
- How can teachers make time for arts integration
- Discover the tools teachers need in arts-integrated classrooms
- Review what instructional techniques should be applied
- Academic Rigour through Arts Integration – building creative learning spaces without compromising rigor in primary school, including
- Explore how learners synthesise other disciplines within an arts integration approach
- Learn how higher order thinking skills and arts integration are connected
- Discover how arts integration builds practical skills
- How school leaders can support arts integration – foster arts-integrated spaces with purposeful planning, a shared mindset, community resources and celebrating each step, including:
- Discover ways to strategically plan for arts integration
- Review strategies for shifting mindset
- Maximising limited resources
