Arts Integration: How to Use It In Your Classroom

When it comes to the topic of arts integration, many teachers cringe at the thought of trying to bring it to life in their classroom. Many of them become nervous because they do not have an art background. However, whether you have a background in art, or not, you can totally use this approach to teaching. In this post, we’ll look at an example of how to do just that.

What is arts integration, really?

Arts integration takes place in many forms. From integration of the arts into STEM to doing a character analysis with an infamous book, Arts Integration is the connective pathway toward reaching and teaching every child and empowers educators in their professional growth.

Art integration gives teachers the tools to meet each child where they are in their unique levels of development. Instead of expecting each child to be on the same page, arts integration taps into the creativity of each student allowing them to genuinely learn according to their learning styles.

In return, teachers walk out of the classroom feeling more accomplished and confident in their teaching abilities.

Storytelling: An Example of Arts Integration in the Classroom

Sometime ago, I had the privilege of having Terrence Roberts, a teaching artist and storyteller in the West African tradition of Jaliyaa. He goes by the name Da Story Weaver and is well-known for always bringing very interesting instruments to use in his storytelling.

While visiting my classroom, he shared a fable and a very interesting instrument. Below are the steps we took that show how I integrated the arts with his visit.

Step 1: Da Story Weaver told our third graders the Aesop’s fable.

This story is about two men, an honest one and a dishonest one. The honest man loses his ax but a fairy presents him with both a silver and gold ax. He admits neither one belongs to him. Because of his honesty, the fairy gives him his original ax in addition to the gold and silver one. The honest man shares his experience with the villagers.

Then, seeing what the honest man was given, the dishonest man tries to trick the fairy by pretending to lose his own ax. When the fairy presents him with a silver ax, he tells her it is the ax he lost. The fairy knows he is not telling the truth and doesn’t give him any of the axes, including the one he pretended to lose. He was left with no ax at all because of his dishonesty.

Step 2: Students work together in groups.

After hearing the fable, the students gathered into small groups and worked on preparing a retelling of their own that included acting.

Step 3: Students present to the class.

After giving the students ample time, they then had the opportunity to present what they came up with to the class. This encouraged the students to recall the details and theme of the fable. 

Step 4: Students reviewed the story (day 2).

On the second day, the students reviewed the story to recap what they remembered about the details and theme of the fable. Then, they had to work in different small groups to rewrite the story using completely different characters and details all while keeping the same basic plot and theme.

Similar to the previous day, they shared their new stories with the class. This really helped the students understand and imprint the theme of honesty and helped them pay attention to important details.

Step 5: In the art room.

Finally, in my art classroom, we discussed spacing and proportion. To prepare for the lesson, we looked at illustrations in different children’s books. While looking at the illustrations, we talked about how only the most important details were depicted.

We also talked about how the images can typically be seen as though they are going off the page. The students followed up by illustrating their new stories themselves, this time individually and not in a group. Below, you can see some of their amazing artwork.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, integrating arts doesn’t have to take a full-out lesson plan with tons of activities. It’s simply about taking one thing and creating connections with it that lead children to be creative all while having fun at the same time. If you still find yourself struggling with this concept and implementing it in your classroom, I invite you to consider my course, Classroom Management for Arts Integration.