Art 5

5 Ways to Teach Literacy Via Art

Teaching literacy often goes beyond the walls of academia. Literacy sponsors come from many directions: family, church, history, media, local organizations, and global corporations. Scholar Deborah Brandt (2001) describes sponsors as, “Any agents, local or distant, concrete or abstract, who enable, support, teach, and model, as well as recruit, regulate, suppress or withholds, literacy – And gain advantage by it in some way”(p.19). Today, some sponsors utilize art as a means for teaching literacy. Dance, music, visual art, and performing art are all resources that can connect to various academic subjects.

For example, using art in the reading and writing classroom benefits students who have a reluctance to learn. According to Kansas University Professor Arlene Barry (2014), "The art can often be controversial, and that can get them thinking, talking, arguing and making them want to find more information to prove their points" (as ctd. in “Education professor shows…”).

Barry now mentors some teachers of the college’s writing across the curriculum courses. She leads trips to the Spencer Art Museum, in order to explain how different works of art work well in different classrooms. “Emphasizing literacy and the ability to read and write in any subject is increasingly important as Common Core standards are adopted across the country,” Barry (2014) said, adding the idea that teachers need to utilize “multimodal experiences to reach all students in a more holistic way"(as ctd. in “Education professor shows…”).

The five examples below represent the movement of using art to teach literacy in the classroom. Whether at the local or global level, educators should consider using art as a means to teach reading and composition.

The Getty Museum

THE POWER OF ARTS INTEGRATION: SERIES OVERVIEW

Through a series of new programs, workshops, and practical lessons for administrators, teachers, and students, museum educators from the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, strive to make art integration a daily event in kindergarten through twelfth grade classes across the country. Their program offers different methods of teaching academic subjects by using art, and they offer a variety of lessons which are contingent upon students’ age and levels. The pedagogy brings the benefits of art literacy as it applies to academic lessons in various curriculums.

Lily Jones (2014), writer for The Learning Channel (TLC), explains that the Getty and TLC have created a partnership, presenting 19 videos on art integration. Jones reports, “It's inspiring to watch teachers use arts integration with English Language Learners, students in Special Education, and in conjunction with the Common Core.” Both the Getty and TLS sponsor literacy, but they also get something out of the program. Deborah Brant contends, “Any education or training serves not only the students but also the donors, corporations, non-profits, and governments that create and fund systems through which learners pass from literacy to literacy”(p. 127). A benefit to all parties, art integration in the classroom works.

Paul, aka: bcwalden43

Literary Devices in Pop Culture

In 2012, for his English 7741 class, this grad student used movie clips, TV clips, and music video clips to show the use of a few literary devices. Here, he utilized art to give examples while also presenting clear definitions. Paul's models, familiar to many students, make a meaningful and memerable lesson. This would make a good review of these often-used devices in any literary classroom.

**Paul is now a school teacher.

Mrs. Mathieson

Figurative Language in Popular Music

In 2014, this teacher created a video using current popular music to demonstrate figurative language. She covers a lot of territory. Certainly, any student having problems with understanding these terms will have a better grasp, after seeing how they are put into practice. Author Julie Nelson Christoph (2014) posed the question: "Why are illiterate activities seen as irrelevant to so many concrete aspects of their daily lives?" (p.86). Using the art of today's popular music should make this activity quite relevant.

CETA

CETA PROGRAM OVERVIEW

CETA stands for Changing Education through the Arts, and the organization offers a Definition of Arts Integration (presented in the graphic above). The Kennedy Center for Performing Arts presents a series of programs for educators, in order to help in the integration of arts in the academic classroom. Their website (n.d.) boasts: “Each year, more than 700 teachers participate in approximately 60 courses and workshops” (para. 2). The program reaches educators both locally and nationally. CETA is but one program involving the arts. The other, Artsedge, exposes children to live performances of the performing and visual arts. Educators may apply for both programs online.

Educationalist, Debora Brandt suggests that there is a difference between literacy as a tool for individualist achievement and the preferred use “to sustain the process of inner subjective life” (as ctd. by Donhower, 2014, p.98). The Kennedy Center does both. As evidence, the Center’s first three affirmations in their mission statement make clear their purpose:

Help students learn through arts integrated instruction,
Provide teachers with ongoing professional learning opportunities and support,
Affect whole school change by establishing a shared vision for arts-integrated instruction and a climate for teacher learning and collaboration (para. 2).

UMS and the University of Michigan

UMS and U-M Faculty on the Value and Challenges of Arts Integration

The UMS (University Musical Society) in collaboration with University of Michigan’s College of Literature, Sciences and the Arts recently began a series of seminars and workshops in the pursuit of integrating art into pedagogy across all disciplines at the undergraduate level. According to website posts on the “Faculty Institute”(2015) page, a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation allowed for a small stipend “to all faculty members who participate fully in the institute and its follow-up sessions, with the stipulation that participants will be expected to incorporate performing arts experiences and themes into their teaching in the academic year 2016-2017 by either creating a new course or partially revising an existing course” (para. 12). As the video shows, this program has seen success in the past.

Another initiative offered to students, called “engaging performance,” requires students to go to art performances on campus; these performances include some kind of workshop or discussion session. Then, in the classroom students and teacher discuss the performance and how it affected their literacy. This new approach, different from the art integration movement, produced strong reactions from students who affirmed that the experience was meaningful, memorable, and inspired learning and critical thinking. Both methods of integrating art into the classroom produced very positive results, with student enjoying, learning, and excited to continue down this pedagogical path.