A Primer on Arts Integration

Strategies, Lessons, and Collective Wisdom of Teacher Leaders

Edited by:
Christian Z. Goering, University of Arkansas
Hung K. Pham, University of Arkansas
Kathryn Hackett-Hill, University of Arkansas
Seth French, Bentonville High School

Published 2023

This edited collection provides middle and high school classroom teachers of English language arts, social studies, and other disciplines the inspiration and insight necessary to utilize an arts integration approach in their teaching. Whether you want your students to create documentaries, maps, mixed media, songs, quilts, dances, masks, or a remix of multiple art forms, the point of school can and should be more about how students create their own meaning in powerful ways and harness their creativity for social good. Arts integration is one approach demonstrated to be invaluable in these terms, moving teachers and students into a mindset of ‘what can we create today?’, sure to inject energy into classrooms, learning, and lives.

ENDORSEMENTS:
"Arts-Integrated theory and practice create a beautiful dance, are quilted together, and even recite a theatrical monologue in this book that takes arts integration in multiple forms and puts it into terms that work for the busy classroom teacher. Written by classroom teachers, passion and professionalism are evident in each chapter as the strategies and stories about them unfold to provide a platform for teachers to grow in their practice and to create vibrant classrooms along the way." — Sean Layne, Focus 5, Inc.

"For all of us working in the arts, arts integration is a term that gets thrown around with many competing definitions. The authors have taken all that and made it practical and useful for this generation of learners. This book has the special sauce for making arts integration relevant to student learning and encouraging creativity though practical examples that can and will inspire you to try them out. After reading this book you will want to sing, dance, draw, and make art in your classroom or museum." — Zev Slurzberg, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements, Christian Z. Goering, Hung K. Pham, Kathryn Hackett-Hill, and Seth French. Introduction: “Nobody Told Me There Would Be Dancing!”: The Why and How Behind Arts Integration in Secondary Settings, Christian Z. Goering and Hung K. Pham. Because That is Our Only Choice: Art as Anti-Racist Teaching, Kathryn Hackett-Hill. Legendary Mockumentaries: Using Drama to Create Short Films, Joshua P. Davis. Connecting to Early 20th Century Immigration to the United States: Greenscreening in the ESL American History Classroom, Kelly J. Buckley. Art as a Path to Empathy: Creating Compassionate Learners, Julie Griggs and Heather Thompson Hooks. “I Contain Multitudes”: Embracing Complexity With Monologues in the ELA Classroom, Kathryn Hackett-Hill. A Patchwork of Selves: Exploring Identity Through Quilt-Making, Hung K. Pham. Mixed Media Projects in a World History Classroom, Lyndsey Randall. “Each Color Represents an Emotion”: Navigating Literature By Remixing Maps, Jessie Lorimer. Faces of Faith: Building Understanding, Empathy, and Respect, Ashley Grisso. Documentary Filmmaking: An Arts Integrated Approach to Research, Michelle Cearley Martin. A New Song Every Year: Writing Songs with High School Students, Christian Z. Goering, Amy Matthews, and Nathan Strayhorn. “Never Shall I Forget”: Mixed Media Responses to Elie Wiesel’s Night, Jennifer Henderson Harp. Literacy, Connection, and Leadership: Experiential Theater in the ELA Classroom, Martha Sandven. From Van Gogh to Rothko: The Art of Reading, Discussing, and Analyzing a Visual Text, Josh Vest. Breaking Down the Fourth Wall: Teaching Through the Lens of Experiential Theater, Hannah Faught. Lost Without It: An Exploration of Setting and Theme Through Maps, Katherine Collier. Unmasking Identities Through Mask Molding: Arts Integration Within an ELA Classroom, Brooke K. Felt. Dancing the Ozark Mountains: An Arts-Integrated Approach to Science Teaching and Learning, Nathan Windel. A Deeper Look at Arts Integration in the Context of Educational Research and Theory, Seth French. Author/Editor Biographies.