As defined by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts,
arts integration
is an approach to teaching in which students construct and demonstrate understanding through an art form. Students engage in a creative process which connects an art form and another subject area and helps meet evolving objectives in both.
SPARK! facilitates artist residencies that bring local artists and organizations together with classroom teachers to develop original integrated residencies. During an arts integrated lesson, students learn essential skills in subjects like Math and Science through art forms like Dance or Drama. In an effective integration, students will create a product or performance that uses the art form, actively engages, and reveals what has been learned in both the subject area and the art form.
Some of the Arts Integrated Residencies in MCPS Classrooms this November included:
Creative movement elevated Social Emotional Learning in a Lowell 2nd grade classroom with Turning the Wheel Missoula:
"It's like we are telling a story with no words!" a student explained just as her group was about to perform an original collaborative movement piece. Lulu Delphine and Lizzi Judah developed lessons that connected to the school precepts of collaboration, respect, and listening to one another. Focusing throughout on self and group awareness, the students experienced the precepts in action through dance; connecting social emotional learning to the dance concepts of levels, speed, and locomotor movement as they expressed the terms they were learning through movement.
