Why Art is Important in the Classroom

Creative Arts and Movement 

Art in The Classroom

A common topic that we have touched base on in this class, is the idea of bringing art into our future classrooms. Many people look at art as a busy work for their students, or something for kids to do during recess time, but we have to understand that art has a stronger effect on our brains. Edutopia is known as a place for teachers and students to explore education related topics. In 2012, Mariko Nobori wrote an article on How the Arts Unlock the Door to Learning. This article perfectly describes how art is not just an activity to do for indoor recess, but it is essential to students' development. The article focuses on the students who attend Wiley H. Bates Middle School in Annapolis, Maryland. What's so special about the students and faculty at this particular school? “Every teacher there is committed to weaving the arts and standard curricula together to create a richer and more lasting learning experience for their students.” That's what. 

Many people think that past a certain age, it's nearly impossible to connect your curriculum to art being used in the classroom, but it is fairly simple. Remember it isn't just including art projects for your students to work on. Art integration focuses on a teaching strategy that connects what the students are learning with art standards. This helps students build connections and allows them to become involved in classroom engagement. 

Art in the classroom is not as common, unless you are in art class. Why? Because teachers and facilitators are struggling to find ways to connect art to things like math and science. With such advanced technology that we are given, we should be using it to our advantage to find ways to integrate art into our classrooms. When allowing students to create in the mainstream classroom, you will find that they are far more engaged in what they are doing. Not only are students engaged in their learning, having art in the classroom has also been proven to boost academic growth and improve discipline. 

In 2007, Bates Middle School decide to become a fully arts integrated school. After they started to integrate art into their classroom they found a 23% drop in the average number of referrals and suspensions. “The school’s percentage of students proficient or advanced in math has grown four times more than the state's over the same period, and five times more in reading.” Crazy how much they advanced by simply integrating art. 

Art integration works because students are actively engaged in their learning. Expecting a student to memorize everything you recite to them is unrealistic, but teaching them something and having them show you what they know increases their chances of remembering the information. Along with that, “It encourages healthy risk taking, helps kids recognize new skills in themselves and others, provides a way to differentiate instruction, builds collaboration among both students and teachers, bridges differences, and draws in parents and the community.” 

Reflection: Before this class, I always thought that art in the classroom was simply for students to have busy work, or for the teacher to decorate the walls with students work. I have now learned that that is not the truth. Art does wonders in the classroom. Not only does it call students to engage in their learning, it also gives students the ability to work on fine motor skills, creativity, mindfulness, and collaboration. Even at the higher education level, I believe that students should be given the ability to use art in order to express themselves, and reflect on their learning. We can't take away the innocence of children by sitting them down and having them repeat their multiplication factors to us. We have to allow our students to use their minds to the best of their abilities, and show us what can be done with a paper and colors.