is messy and blurred. The arts have and will continue to be integrated into the classroom. In order
to treat art with integrity, we need to rupture the space of static arts teaching/learning (e.g.,
coloring in worksheets) to promote dynamic pathways of interdisciplinary teaching/learning that
not only connects the arts to other academic subjects, but also explores the arts as a way to make
meaning of students’/teachers’ lives and the world in general.
In this article, I explore Arts Integration and how the arts in the elementary classroom are
trivialized and devalued, and demonstrate that there is a need for teachers to understand the
possibilities of Arts Integration through the integration of the arts in teaching/learning. I argue that
it is necessary to reevaluate the position of art in teacher education (Rabkin & Redmond, 2004) so
that a deeper knowledge of the arts can be developed, and also to challenge teachers in assessing
why they hold onto familiar instructional practices. Furthermore, I believe adopting a more felt
approach to teacher education can encourage pre-service teachers to work through emotions and
feelings such as their uncertainty about the arts, often overlooked in education but central to
teaching/learning practices including risk-taking and experimentation.
Exploring Arts Integration
Throughout the past decade, the arts have been placed at the center of new ideas pertaining
to the restructuring of school curriculum (Chappell, 2005; Krug & Cohen-Evron, 2000; Gude,
2004, Walker, 2001). Research exposing the benefits of the arts on student learning has gained the
attention of educational reformers, and the arts have undergone a slow transformation from being
the fun free-time coloring activity to an essential subject with significant benefits. The arts have
shown to promote active participation (Goldberg, 2005), help effectively teach toward varying
learning styles (Rabkin & Redmond, 2004), and foster creativity and self-expression (Boyd,
1980). Additionally, the arts can stimulate critical thinking, help form knowledgeable citizens, and
positively affect child development and learning (Stokrocki, 2005).
Because the arts encompass so many disciplines, advocates believe they are a natural fit
into the curriculum, and in order to promote high levels of student learning, school officials and
researchers have suggested Arts Integration (Bickley-Green, 1995; Luftig, 2000). Arts Integration,
generally defined as an arts focused approach to teaching and learning, has recently been
implemented in various schools throughout North America (Luftig, 2000). Large-scale programs,
such as Arts for Academic Achievement, Chicago Arts Partnership in Education (CAPE), North
Carolina A+ Schools Program, Transforming Education Through the Arts Challenge (TETAC),
and Project Zero, have shown positive effects on education (Appendix A), and many smaller-scale
initiatives have also been put into practice in particular schools at the local district level, such as
the San Diego Teaching Artist Project. In hopes of revitalizing community and quality education,
Arts Integration has been implemented in particular schools in geographic areas of poverty
(Burnaford, Aprill & Weiss, 2001; Rabkin & Redmond, 2004), and as interests rise, exploring Arts
Integration may prove to be beneficial for all involved in education.
Arts Integration is a complicated term with no one universal meaning. I explore Arts
Integration
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as a dynamic process of merging art with (an)other discipline(s) in an attempt to open
up a space of inclusiveness in teaching, learning, and experiencing. For example, students can
create and/or discuss works of art that not only teach about art, but also about science,
mathematics, and/or other subjects. Arts Integration recognizes the educational curriculum as a
whole; it does not divide the curriculum into distinct parts (e.g. science, art, etc.), but celebrates
the rhizomatic (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987) overlapping qualities between subjects and content. It
concentrates on the ability of the arts to teach across/through the curriculum and transcend the
school subject boundaries.
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Journal for Learning through the Arts, 9(1) (2013)
2