I am worse then a 3 year old, always asking why???
Why should you integrate art into your teaching? There are probably many academic reasons to integrate art into the classroom and teaching, but as my work tends to be more geared towards post traumatic growth and social and emotional skill building, I am going to answer through that lens.
The arts offer numerous protective and promotive factors - the things that keep people from choosing maladaptive responses to life’s stressors. These factors occur naturally when engaging in art making, so you can reap the benefits without even meaning to! However, I believe understanding the why helps to strengthen the outcome of the what.
Jenny and I focus our practice on the following five protective factors that we believe best compliment the work of growth and healing outside clinical practices.
Body Centered
The arts allow for non-verbal communication, support bottom up, brain based teaching approaches, and strengthen the mind-body connection.
example. Have students improvise movements that reflect story actions as the story is being read aloud. This supports bilateral brain activity.
Relational
The arts provide opportunities for verbal and non-verbal communication/connection between the artist and audience and/or the co-creators. During the process of creation, safe and trusting relationships can also be developed between the artist and his/her chosen medium.
example. Have students work in partners to create a scripted dialogue between two story characters, historical figures, or even inanimate objects.
Metaphor
The arts are often presented through metaphor, or the use of symbolism or comparison to help explain an idea. The use of metaphors can create connections between previously stored information and new information in order to forge more than one neural pathway to that information.
example. Using a display of individually drawn home-to-school maps to symbolize the variety of learning pathways present in a class of students.
Container
The arts allow the creator to pour thoughts and feelings into the creation in order to either release those thoughts and feelings or provide the opportunity to process those thoughts and feelings from a different perspective.
example. Have students create a drawing or painting in response to a historical event being studied.
Creation
The process of art making builds personal agency and efficacy not only in the ability to create, but in problem solving, higher level reasoning, and self-regulation. These skills developed in the safety of the creative process can then be applied to other areas of life and to create a new sense of self.
example. This happens every time a student engages in the creative process.
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