Growing up, my fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Rosson, gave me an assignment to design a hallway bulletin board, and part of that was to lead the class in an activity. That’s the day I decided to become a teacher because designing bulletin boards seemed to me to be the best job ever. Little did I know then that minimal time is spent designing bulletin boards as a teacher.
Looking back, I’m certain that Mrs. Rosson was demonstrating an important leadership trait – delegation. She had lesson plans, test prep, and much more on her plate, and the bulletin board was probably at the bottom of her priority list. However, she knew my creative abilities and provided me a way to express them by letting me lead an art lesson on how to make daffodils out of tissue paper and construction paper. Voilà – a beautiful spring garden appeared on the bulletin board. (At least that’s how I remember it, anyway.)
This was a small rural school in Kansas with excellent teachers but not a lot of resources. That didn’t stop us from having art and music classes! The teachers integrated what we learned in those classes into the classroom. I was encouraged to turn my poetry into music. I learned the recorder and then the clarinet (much to my parents’ dismay). I received such a well-rounded education that I went on to major in graphic design with a minor in math (which stumped my college adviser).
Then, after a year of studies, I switched to elementary education so that I could incorporate all subjects into my classroom. Now, my career is where all of my interests collide – education, math, leadership, and creative projects!
The formula seems simple to me. IF art and music provide an outlet for the creative mind . . . AND classrooms are producing the future workforce . . . AND the future workforce needs more creative thinkers with the capacity to solve more and more complex problems . . . THEN we need more art and music integrated into the classroom!
The benefits of implementing the arts back into the school day aren’t just seen in the future. They’re often seen immediately as well. Eric Jensen, in his book Arts with the Brain in Mind, outlines the effects of a fully implemented art program:
Want to get started implementing the arts? Here are five ways to do just that.