Arts Integration
Arts integration is instruction that integrates content and skills from the arts—dance, music, theater, and the visual arts—with other core subjects. Arts integration occurs when there is a seamless blending of the content and skills of an art form with those of a co-curricular subject. There are over seventy schools within twelve counties incorporating the arts integrated approach to instruction. Professional development programs including the Maryland Artist/Teacher Institute and the 21st Century Learning Institute offer training in the arts integrated approach to instruction. Organizations such as the AEMS Alliance and Arts Every Day host workshops on integrating the arts across the curriculum.
Download a copy of the AEMS Alliance Creating an Arts Integration School Resource.
Are you interested in downloading ready to use arts-integrated lesson plans? Check out the ArtsEdge website. Cecil County Public Schools has posted their lesson plans online as well! Interested in arts-integrated lesson plans that support 21st Century Skills? Check out the Verizon Foundation's Thinkfinity website.
The Maryland Arts Integration Resource Guide, compiled by Arts Integration Specialist and Teaching Artist Karen Bernstein, is designed for teachers and administrators in Maryland schools and is filled with resources to improve the quality of instruction in your classroom by teaching in and through the arts. The information in this document will assist you in locating high-quality individual artists and companies to bring to your school to support this effort and help you identify sources for funding to make it possible. This guide lists the professional development available for teachers to help gain insight into new strategies on how to be more effective and confident teachers using arts integration. The information included will also lead you to arts organizations, web sites, conferences, and books to discover more about the arts and arts integration.
Download your copy of the Maryland Arts Integration Resource Guide.
21st Century Skills Map
Anyone who has ever seen a student become excited, energized, and confident through artistic exploration has seen first-hand how arts education engages children and contributes to their overall development. The arts – dance, music, theatre, and the visual arts, which collectively include the media arts – are recognized as “core academic subjects” in Federal law, as well as in state statutes and core educational documents. While each of the arts disciplines has its own unique set of knowledge, skills, and processes, the arts share common characteristics that make arts education powerful preparation for college, career, and a fulfilling life.
This Skills Map presents just a few of the many ways that children acquire 21st Century Learning Skills through arts study. Educators and others knowledgeable about arts education will see connections among these examples, the student achievement goals listed in the National Standards for Arts Education (1994), and the artistic processes of creating, performing, and responding that educators use to evaluate learning in the four arts disciplines. Collectively, the examples in this document demonstrate that the arts are among society’s most compelling and effective paths for developing 21st Century Skills in our students.
Download a copy of the 21st Century Skills Map.
Maryland Teacher Extols Arts Integration
Nikki Rittling, dance, physical education teacher, and team leader for the Willards Elementary School Integration Network (WIN), provided testimony on Meeting the Needs of the Whole Child at an Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) reauthorization hearing conducted on April 22, 2010 before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension. Willards Elementary School was named a Maryland School of Distinction in Arts Education and was nominated for the National School of Distinction in Arts Education Award from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts by the Arts Education in Maryland Schools Alliance.
According to Ms. Rittling, professional development under the leadership of Principal Regina Rando and Vice Principal Katrena Bailey lies at the heart of the school’s success in meeting the needs of children in support of academic achievement. School-based professional development and collaboration among WIN members Josie Cover, Mike Bagillieri, Debbie McCormack, Karen Apolenis, Jessica White, and Angela Cassels in support of student learning across disciplines are important components of the school’s success stories. “Other professional development has been for groups of specific subject-matter teachers within the district and collaborations with teaching artists and university professors. We have also participated in intensive 5 day workshops at the Maryland Artists/Teacher Institute each summer, which helps provide our school team the tools for integration in the coming school year.”
Download a copy of Nikki's testimony or view the video of the Senate hearing on Youtube.
The Maryland Artist/Teacher Institute (MATI) community congratulates Willards Elementary School and teacher Nikki Rittling for the opportunity to highlight the role of arts integration as a strategy for meeting the needs of the whole child.
Arts and Early Childhood
The arts have traditionally been a part of early childhood education. Many professionals and researchers believe that the arts foster the “whole child” and are important to both cognitive and emotional development. Art in Early Childhood: Curriculum Connections by Jill Englebright Fox, Ph.D., and Stacy Berry, M. Ed. discusses the importance of art in young children’s learning and development and describes t he elements of an art program within a developmentally appropriate early childhood curriculum.
