My Other Son and Arts Integration

There has been long-standing controversy about justifying arts education using the argument that the arts develop skills and habits of mind that can turbo-charge learning across the curriculum. Arts integration, while convenient for arts advocacy, has been a very polarizing issue in our field.  I have observed arts-integrated lessons where there is integrity in the art form and real transference of skills to another academic area.  I have also seen arts integration so poorly realized that neither the art skill nor the companion academic concept was effectively taught much less learned.

The most troubling ideological use of arts integration has been to ghettoize the arts as a nice “extras” rather than rigorous academic pursuits.  Art and music teachers, in particular, have been burdened far too often with doing extra preparation beyond teaching their own curriculum to make arts integration lessons really work.  So while I am a true believer in the concept, I understand why it has engendered so many enemies among arts educators.

When executed by highly trained teachers and supported (THIS IS CRITICAL!) by administrators, adequate scheduling and sufficient budget, arts integration can transform education.  My youngest son Danny experienced how arts integrated lessons can positively impact learning and prepare students for work and life.

Danny was struggling academically and “bored” with school as he entered the sixth grade. Luckily Sonnet Takahisa, who co-founded The New York City Museum School, was a good friend and colleague. She suggested that her school might help close Danny’s achievement and motivation gap.  This New York City Public Middle School was founded nearly 15 years ago in collaboration with some of New York City’s premiere museums (e.g. The Brooklyn Museum, American Museum of Natural History, and New York Children’s Museum.) The basic premise is that by allowing students access to authentic objects, inquiry-based observation and project-driven, integrated units of study, which formed 75% of the curriculum, all students can learn and thrive.  The school made an even more challenging commitment to economic and ethnic diversity, experimenting early on with closing the achievement gap through an infusion of the arts.  Each unit of study was evaluated through student portfolios and hands-on demonstrations of the mastery of learning. Students were also accountable for all district-mandated standardized tests.

See this link to the South Street Seaport Museum’s description of its partnership with The New York City Museum School.
 
http://www.southstreetseaportmuseum.org/index1.aspx?BD=9079

One of my favorite units was an 8-week study of Colonial America, which made use of the remarkable period rooms and colonial portrait collection of the Brooklyn Museum, the historic sites of lower Manhattan, the South Street Seaport Museum, theatre and the visual arts.  Each student was assigned to study a particular Colonial figure in depth.  Danny was to “become” Abigail Adams. Part of his demonstration of learning portfolio was the successful completion of a portrait of our second First Lady in the style of the period with careful attention to the portrait conventions of the era.  The portrait was completed with a Polaroid image of Danny’s face!  Another assessment was the presentation of an improvised conversation about a contemporary Colonial issue among students portraying their individual historical characters. I remember Danny saying one night,  “Mom, I have to talk to ‘George Washington’, I mean Shameka, to prepare for our discussion of the issue of slavery with ‘Phyllis Wheatley’, you know, Juan.”

NYC Museum School  Graduation
(Our Danny is the one with the white tie!)

The 8th grade graduation ceremony at the Brooklyn Museum included a theatrical presentation of an assessment reflection module. The most important thing that Danny learned at the Museum School was how he learned. He learned to observe objects and interpret narrative with an anthropologist’s eye. This taught him to understand the essence of particular historical characters and the cultural context of the era in which they lived.  He learned how to communicate his learning to other people through multiple media.  The skills he learned in arts integrated units of study propelled him through high school, college abroad and on to his first job with an international marketing firm based in Madrid.

I know arts integration as practiced by the New York City Museum School prepared my son for a global life in the 21st century. I encourage all of us to advocate for authentic arts integration that incorporates the rigors of our disciplines without compromising our pedagogical principles.  Our kids deserve it and our future depends upon it!   

-BJ Adler