The Washington Post: The children puffed out their chests and mimicked drama teacher Melissa Richardson, rehearsing their big, booming “rhino voices.”
“Giant steps, giant steps, big and bold!” the kindergartners yelled in unison in a classroom at Westlawn Elementary in Fairfax County.
In groups, the children were then cast as animals and bugs: Big, stomping rhinos; delicate lady bugs skittering across the tile; leaping kangaroos and tiny frogs. All made their way to the classroom’s imaginary “water hole,” formed with blue tape.
7 comments:
My mom is a preschool teacher who holds classes in our house, so I've grown up with a first-hand experience of the impact integrating the arts into more "academic" subject matter. I'm so glad to see that schools are adopting this model, and that it seems to be having a positive impact on the students. I agree with the article that being able to experience the abstract concepts in a concrete way allows children to retain the information and be able to apply it in different ways. You can only use the lessons you're taught when you fully understand them, so just working out problems in front of young children doesn't always give them the fullest grasp of the idea but just shows them how to use it in particular circumstances. By engaging the child more fully, the arts-integrated method helps with this issue. As the article mentioned, this method also helps with children who are more easily distracted and may become frustrated with traditional teaching methods.
I hope that more schools start to take this more integrated approach to teaching. There are a lot of reasons why teaching by this method makes more sense. First, it gets the students to be having fun and actively participating, and second, they use the activity and the following discussion to figure out the concept. From what I have seen, people are more likely to remember an idea if they had to come up with the solution, and this type of activity allows for a process where the students discover the material rather than just have it presented to them. Additionally, it decreases the abstraction of math and makes it a more concrete thing. That being said, to me, it isn’t really about the theater and dance. As the article says, using sculpture to learn about exponents does the same thing. Theater and dance is one possible tool, but there are any number of hands on activities and examples that can be used to teach new mathematical concepts. My guess is that these types of activities can’t be used for every lesson, simply because they take more time per concept, but they are a really good way to introduce new major concepts or complex concepts.
This is kind of a huge misnomer for a lot of reasons. Yes, I'm sure there have been moments where this has been successful, but this makes me worried for the kids in the class with social anxiety. Some people would say I'm playing Devil's Advocate here, but that's not fair, because children that have no desire to put themselves out there to their classmates shouldn't have to. I always dreaded having to do skits and things in front of my classes in elementary school, because it made me uncomfortable and gave the other children something to make fun of. The article discusses the academic gains, but doesn't speak to the ramifications of kids going up in front of their peers and potentially making a huge fool out of themselves. On the playground kids become a whole new breed of animal. Especially in today's society, in which shaming people that are different is all the rage, I feel intense concern for kids that get very excited to perform, and in turn get bullied for being a nerd or things of that nature. Being able to present yourself is important, but dancing about math might not be the best thing for certain kids at the young age we're talking about.
I think that this article explains a great strategy that can benefit not only those who have trouble learning through traditional book methods, but it can also be a great way for every student to really grasp the lesson. I love to hear stories like this because it reminds me how universal theatre really is and how it can help anyone in ways that we can't even imagine. I think the article makes a really good point about how it can be easier for a student to comprehend something when they see it acted out. Also, I think that if the activity of learning is more fun and engaging, you can get more out of that lesson. It is also really interesting that Hunt is able to use theatre and teach children English and its hard concepts. I think this can be really beneficial not only because they can act things out, but also so they can connect emotions to the words and not just see them on a paper. Overall, the concept in this article is certainly a step toward the future for teachers and how they help children learn.
I was kind of skeptical when I first saw the title of this article - combining something fun like art with my least favorite subject on earth (math) sounds dreadful. My high school is also starting to employ this method of learning, as they are starting to integrate different courses (such as math and environmental science) as well as fine arts classes into more academic classes so that every course is related to another in some way, and I'm glad that I was able to escape it by graduating before it was implemented. After reading this article, I'm surprised to see the positive results and maybe integrating different disciplines isn't that bad. I can definitely see how this way of incorporating art into math can help elementary/middle schoolers, but I wonder if it will work well for older students like high schoolers. I'm interested in seeing where this new way of learning takes us.
I think this is really incredible. I went to an Arts Magnet High School and was a student ambassador so I was constantly talk to perspective students and their parents as well as Board of Eduction Members, and one question I would get all the time is how does studying art help in academic classes? I've come up with some pretty creative answers because it's really different for every person, for me it allowed me to be better at focusing and time management. But, integrating art in an academic setting at a young age most be so beneficial. It gets the students involved and having fun which really should be any kindergarten teachers goal. I think the exercise of the animals to represent big and small amounts is genius because those kids will grow up and still remember that concept so well which can help in later math classes when things become more abstract. As important as teaching kids facts and formulas is and teaching them to work through difficulties it has such a more positive impact if it is done in an engaging way like through art.
I’m glad the article pointed out the difference between conceptual understanding and correct answers. This distinction should be noted across the board and integrated into how we grade and analyze a student’s performance. In life, the correct answers are not always apparent, but understanding a situation or problem will get you a lot closer to a more meaningful solution. (Excuse the vagueness). I remember my education in the Navy, every test and exam was based on my conceptual understanding of the material. Everything was fill in the blank. There was no multiple choice. Grading was done by another human, not a ScanTron machine. You’re work was graded step-by-step for comprehension. In this form of education, I may get the wrong answer to a math problem because of a mathematical error, but the process by which I arrived at the answer was conceptually sound. In the end, my work would receive a better grade than someone who arrived at the correct answer but using the wrong theory/concepts. I see parallels between this form of education and the method being used to teach these children with Dance and Theatre. Ensuring that concepts are truly comprehended is much more important than arriving at the right answers via a faulty understanding.
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