A Primer on Arts Integration (PDF)

This edited collection provides middle and high school classroom teachers of English language arts, social studies, and other disciplines the inspiration and insight necessary to utilize an arts integration approach in their teaching. Whether you want your students to create documentaries, maps, mixed media, songs, quilts, dances, masks, or a remix of multiple art forms, the point of school can and should be more about how students create their own meaning in powerful ways and harness their creativity for social good. Arts integration is one approach demonstrated to be invaluable in these terms, moving teachers and students into a mindset of 'what can we create today?', sure to inject energy into classrooms, learning, and lives.ENDORSEMENTS:Arts-Integrated theory and practice create a beautiful dance, are quilted together, and even recite a theatrical monologue in this book that takes arts integration in multiple forms and puts it into terms that work for the busy classroom teacher. Written by classroom teachers, passion and professionalism are evident in each chapter as the strategies and stories about them unfold to provide a platform for teachers to grow in their practice and to create vibrant classrooms along the way. - Sean Layne, Focus 5, Inc.For all of us working in the arts, arts integration is a term that gets thrown around with many competing definitions. The authors have taken all that and made it practical and useful for this generation of learners. This book has the special sauce for making arts integration relevant to student learning and encouraging creativity though practical examples that can and will inspire you to try them out. After reading this book you will want to sing, dance, draw, and make art in your classroom or museum. - Zev Slurzberg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art