How I Address the Arts in My Classroom

     I have to admit that before I worked on my National Board certification, I did not integrate art into my lessons very much.  I thought this was the job of the art/music/drama teacher.  I had other things to do.  I would give myself a pat on the back when I did the little cutesy lessons with an art project included, but I rarely thought about ways to use art to make the lesson stronger. 
     When I had to include art in my social studies entry for National Boards, I found myself researching the topic and trying out ideas I never would have attempted in the past.  To my surprise, my students were incredibly motivated by the art part of the lesson.  When used correctly the arts help my students understand what is being taught.
     One of my students' favorite arts activity is music.  I use a lot of music in social studies class.  I try to find music from the time period we are studying and my students sing the songs and explain what the songs tell about that period in history.  Drama is another favorite activity.  I have used both pre-printed plays and student written plays in the classroom.  We discuss costumes, stage directions, how to use props to get our ideas across, etc. as we act out stories we are reading in the classroom.  I also have a collection of posters of famous oil paintings that are on history topics such as the Trail of Tears.  We looked at these masterpieces as a class and discussed how the artist shows emotions or other details that make the masterpiece helpful to a study of a certain era. Students then created their own art work in a similar style that shared the topic being taught.
     Using the fine arts makes my lessons more interesting and motivates stduents that may not enjoy a subject to participate in the class.  I've found that once I've gathered a collection of art pieces, songs on cds, or plays that go along with the novels I am teaching, integrating arts into my lessons isn't all that difficult.  Of course, the internet and all of the resources available online make my "stash" unnecessary since I can find almost anything I need on the world wide web.