'Visualizing Experience' by Edith Gwathmey and Ann Marie Mott

I think it’s such a shame that the importance of visual arts in the curriculum is often dismissed and that art is more and more being omitted from the basic K-8 curriculum, as Gwathmey and Mott point out. Art plays such a key role in allowing children to express themselves. Even if students have well-developed language and communication skills, they often express more and different things through their artwork. At a younger age, especially, “children’s limited power with the written word is in sharp contrast to their expressive abilities with art materials” (Gwathmey & Mott, 2000).

I am enthused by the fact that in my classroom my cooperating teacher incorporates many visual arts projects into the curriculum. However, though these projects are related to the social studies curriculum the students are learning, they rarely involve the students’ work in their art class with their art teacher. “When schools offer art, the art teacher often works alone in the art room and rarely communicates with other teachers or becomes involved with their ongoing curriculum” (Gwathmey & Mott, 2000). Though the art teacher and the students’ head teacher communicate, I would love to see more interaction on the curriculum and joint art projects that intertwine between the classes.

When building my own classroom curriculum, I plan to incorporate various elements of the visual arts into my students’ daily curriculum in other subjects. I also will make it a point to develop a relationship with the art teacher in my students’ school (if there is one) to discuss cross-curricular activities and work together on consistency throughout projects and throughout the curriculum so that students can really get a holistic learning experience.