Arts Integration vs. Arts Enhancement
What’s the difference?
Chances are, if you’re here, you’re leaning towards using some type of creative curriculum in your classroom. I would guess you’re probably already using fine arts-related content — am I right?
We see this a lot. Teachers come to us looking for new ideas, thinking they’re already using arts integration in their classrooms. But they’re not. They’re using arts enhancement instead. Both arts integration and arts enhancement have valuable uses in teaching core content curriculum, but it helps to know what’s what, so you can make the best decisions about what will work best for your students.
So, let’s get into it!
What is Arts Enhancement?
Arts enhancement is an excellent way to introduce creative teaching into a classroom. We see lots of teachers using arts enhancement, but thinking it’s arts integration.
When teachers use arts enhancement, the core content standard holds more weight than the fine arts standard (if one is addressed at all). Arts enhancement can look like:
Making a model of a cell
Singing a song about the days of the week
Coloring a picture of an historical figure
Writing a story using vocabulary words
The idea is that the fine arts content supports the learning of the core content standard, but students are not also learning about the arts at the same time. It’s only a support tool.
This is a great stepping stone for arts integration, as it reinforces creative thinking, provides students with multiple ways to show understanding, and helps teachers become more comfortable using arts-related materials in their lessons.
But the PAIR Program is the Professional Arts Integration Resource — we’re focused on integrating the arts into core curriculum lessons.
What’s the difference?
What is Arts Integration?
Arts integration occurs when a core content standard and a fine arts standard are taught in tandem. The idea being that students learn something about math through music, and something about music through math. Or history through drama and drama through history. The combinations are endless.
An arts integration lesson should end with students showcasing knowledge in both subjects.
So, what does this look like?
Arts integration often looks like:
Using arts specific vocabulary throughout the day
Active participation in lessons
Questioning and discussion that encourages higher order thinking
Lots of movement and teamwork
FUN!
But these are very generalized ideas of what visitors would see when they happen upon arts integration in a classroom. What are the specifics?
Examples of Arts Integrated Lessons
We know this is all well and good to talk about, but how does it actually work? Here are some typical arts-integrated lesson ideas that we work with often.
Active Discussion Starter - Grades K-12 - SNOWBALL
Teacher Preparation
The teacher should decide on a prompt or several prompts for students to respond to.
Student Preparation
Students should have a slip/ piece of paper and something to write with.
Instructions
Introduce the lesson. Today you’ll be making snowballs out of this paper! Remind students about classroom boundaries and expectations. You should also address that this is a team activity, and set your expectations about how the teams will work together.
Give the prompt. The teacher announces a question for students to respond to, like, “What was the best part of summer?” or “What’s your favorite Saturday morning activity?” or “What’s one thing you want to learn in this class?”
Students respond by writing the answer on their slip of paper. Then, they ball it up like a tiny snowball.
Snowball! Now, the fun part-- students throw their snowballs toward the center of the room. (Who doesn’t love to throw things in class!?) Then, they retrieve a snowball that is not theirs, open it up, and share it with the class. Simple as that!
Snowball is a creative curriculum tool and is very adaptable to interdisciplinary learning. Apply Snowball to any Georgia Standards of Excellence.
In math, allow students to write numbers, snowball the numbers and then practice math facts with different functions.
In science, ask students to describe an animal, rocks, etc., and have them classify the animal.
In ELA, practice writing parts of speech (like, everyone write an adjective) and have them practice writing sentences with their snowball answer.
In social studies, have them write characteristics of the Regions of Georgia or parts of a map.
Or have students use different colors of paper.
Write verbs on blue paper, adverbs on yellow paper, and a noun on pink paper. Use the combination as a story starter!
Write one thing you learned today on blue paper and a question you still have on yellow paper. Use the yellow papers to start tomorrow’s discussion.
Write an external conflict of a character on blue paper and an internal conflict on yellow.
Reflect
Allow students time to reflect on the experience of the lesson. Ask them the following questions:
Think through the subject matter: what answers did you hear today that you did not expect?
Think like an artist: why is it important to share our ideas with other artists?
Think like a teammate: how can Snowball help us collaborate more effectively?
Having students think about the activity in different ways helps their learning stick.
Dance & Math - Grades K-2 - BODY NUMBERS
Teacher Preparation
The teacher should decide on a movement or pose that represents each number from 0 to 9. Simple addition sentences should be ready to be displayed or written in real-time on the SmartBoard or whiteboard.
Student Preparation
Students should have an understanding of simple addition and counting skills.
Instruction
Introduce the lesson. Today you’ll be using your body to make numbers! Remind students about classroom boundaries and expectations (i.e. what kind of movement is okay, what kind of movement is not okay, what the noise level should be, what are the consequences for stepping outside of a boundary, etc.) You should also address that this is a team activity, and set your expectations about how the teams will work together.
Teach the number poses/movements. Have students stand quietly beside their desks. Teach students each pose/movement that represents the numbers 0 to 9. Teach the number poses/movements chronologically, then try a quick pose-making game where the students make the numbers out of sequence. This is also a good time to reinforce noise and movement boundaries with students. When they have their poses memorized, ask them to sit down again.
Pair students. While they’re seated, pair the students in groups of two. Assign each student an “A” or “B” designation. It’s best to pair students sitting near each other, but if you need to pair students that are away from each other, make sure they know who they’re working with but don’t have them move until all of the students have been paired. Students who are A’s will be the front number (so the 1, if the answer is 17) and students who are B’s are the back number (the 7, if the answer is 17). If you have an odd number, create a three-person (A/B/C) group, and have one member rotate out on each turn. You can also have a student work with you, or another adult in the classroom.
Now, it’s time to play! Show an addition equation on the board. Each team will be responsible for showing you the correct answer with their body poses/movements. Repeat as many times as you like! I always like to end the activity with a “number dance” where we dance in place, or in a designated space, using our number poses. It’s fun to freeze the dance and see if you can guess what number each student has become.
Reflect
Allow students time to reflect on the experience of the lesson. Ask them the following questions:
Think like a mathematician: How did you solve the problem so quickly?
Think like a dancer: what kind of movements did you use to represent numbers?
Think like a teammate: What was it like to have to work with a partner to solve the problem?
This is an easy activity to adapt to your student's needs. If you’ve got a class that likes a little competition, you can award homework passes to the team that shows the correct answer the fastest. This could also work for greater than or less than units (using teams of three with one student showing greater than or less than), and subtraction, multiplication, or division, as students are ready.
Ready to level up from arts enhancement to arts integration. We’re ready to help with customized support tailored to your students and your specific classroom needs. Working with PAIR gives you access to art integration-specific lesson plans and in-person classroom support to help you grow your teaching practice.
Call us today at (706) 324—1100 to start your arts integration teaching journey!
