Arts Integration - How ICT can be involved.

In a video that professor Nantais recently put up on the NING, educators discuss the importance of integrating arts into the classrooms.  Well, a lot of you might be thinking "isn't art a class?  Don't they have music for that?"  It is so interesting because they want to integrate the use of the arts into ALL of the classrooms.  That's right.  Math, Science, History, English, etc...  What a great idea.  This is another branch of learning for the students.  One of the ideas shown in the video was a teacher showing a piece of art and asking the children to use it as the beginning or the end of a story.  Now, this idea is great, along with many others.

How can we also integrate ICT into this concept?  Or technology in general?

You can use a smart board to simply show the image, or video you want to use as art.  You can use cameras for a photography project which can EASILY be used in any subject area.  Perhaps in your math class you are working on the concept of shapes.  Have your students take pictures of things that represent these shapes!  Maybe you want your students in your band class to take pictures of what they think represents the piece you are currently working on.  Some restrictions will apply to this idea, but it can easily work.

Using iPhones, iPads, smartphones etc... to create art of their own.  Do not want the mess of paint?  Then use those pieces of technology instead!  Create a slideshow with the art and share this with the rest of the school!  In another example in the video, the teacher decided to use dance to help interpret rotation vs. revolution!  You can use dance to also help feel the pulse of a song, or to help interpret a lot of other things!!

Integrating the arts is not just about "advocating" arts programs; It's about allowing students to be able to learn in a way that may better suit them.  One of the students in the video said this way of learning helped learn better AND made it more interesting.  Not all students learn the same way.  Shame on ANY OF US who think that they do.  It is our job as educators to give our students every opportunity to not only learn, but understand what they are learning.  Understanding.

Why can't learning be fun?  Why can't we involve technology and arts?  The question should not be "why can't we?" rather, it should be "why haven't we already?"

That's all for now!

BeeLAMS