7. Use Arts Integration to Enhance Common Core

The article “Use Arts Integration to Enhance Common Core,” states that in today’s world integration seems to be the “buzzword” to curriculum designers everywhere. The article stresses how integration is a rare yet seemingly “magical” approach that has the capacity to turn learning into meaningful practice. Integration requires collaboration, research, intentional alignment and practical application on behalf of the teachers who take on this challenge. From the students, integration demands creativity, problem-solving, perseverance, collaboration and the ability to work through the rigorous demands of multiple ideas and concepts woven together to create a final product. The article portrays that integration combines two or more contents together to approach the aligned standards, and these components will be able to facilitate the Common Core State Standards.  The article also provides information how along with Common Core, that often integration approach is presented through STEM.  Arts integration is just as effective yet many time overlooked.  The arts have some unique parallels to the Common Core Standards. Theses parallels attest to the rigors of the arts and the need for their processes in today’s global workforce and unforeseen future.  The article provides some shared features: 1. Process produces product, 2. Access points, 3. True equity, and 4. Analytic practice.  Strategies for implementation include: 1. Mirroring, 2. Stepping into the painting, and 3. Call and response.  The article closes with a suggestion, “are we building cooks or chefs?” arts integration allows us to build chefs who make choices, not cooks who merely follow the recipe.

I whole-heartedly agree with the article that integration seems to be “buzzword” for any curriculum. The curriculum of any choice needs art integration for any subject matter to better enhance the lesson intended. Art allows students to participate, see, and grasp the objective better. I also love how the article provides many examples of how to implement art. My chosen favorite was the mirroring strategy.  It simply demonstrates how it provides students with a way to share understanding using movement, concentration, and problem-solving skills. It involves partnering students and having them mirror each other’s actions. I believe this allows students to be able to take criticism from peers and learn from it.