Arts Education | NW Education

Picasso in the Wilderness, Part 4.
FINDING THEIR RHYTHM

"We know that people learn in different ways, and this way reaches kids we used to miss."

Music, many staff members contend, has been more challenging to work into the curriculum. But at Elk City School, no one is jolted by the traditional clanging of a bell at the start or end of a school day. Instead, the day may begin with a rendition of Debussy's "L' Isle Joy- euse" or Copland's "Theme for the Common Man." It may end with Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" or Mozart's "Eine Kleine Nachtmuz- ik." During the Silent Sustained Reading and journal-writing periods that coincide throughout the school, classical music continues to pour through the P.A. system.

In individual classrooms, many teachers use boom boxes to play classical music during group projects, study time, even during tests. Sometimes, teachers use specific styles of music or famous works to support studies in history or social studies-jazz for African American culture, or Copland's "Billy The Kid" for studies of the American frontier.

Third- and fourth-grade teacher Jill Wilson plays classical music in the background all day long. "When I turn it off," she says, "I notice that students get off task."

Indeed, researchers are finding that classical music may enhance learning by improving the temporal-spatial abilities of the brain.

Second-grade teacher Rea Ann Loomis has been bringing her guitar to class periodically over the past 15 years, but beyond that, she has used the arts infrequently in her teaching.

"I have a real interest in art and music," Loomis says, "but I never knew how to get it into the classroom." Elk City's arts program has changed all that.

Loomis's students have been studying the Impressionists. Posters and prints of various sizes are everywhere: the paintings of Degas, Renoir, and Van Gogh hang near artwork by students Bashaw, Coy, and Tinker. Claude Monet is a class favorite. Children's books about the French Impressionist stand along a display table, near student essays on the artist. As a tribute, they have painted their own versions of Monet's famous water lilies in preparation for a mural in the gymnasium. Seven-year-old Teisha explains the technique: "You paint with blobs. When you're up close you can't see anything. But when you back up, there it is."

In an exercise called "Impressionist Art Detectives," Loomis assigns each student a famous art print from the "art gallery" on a classroom wall. Each student is to give three clues so that the other students can try to guess which painting they are observing.

The students' clues demonstrate surprisingly indepth knowledge of art technique.

Robbie's clues for Monet's "Branch of the Seine Near Giverny" include observations such as: "It has a vanishing point," and, "It has cool colors." By "cool" he does not mean nifty, but rather the blues, greens, and other bands in the spectrum that are considered cool.

Dusty notes that "Seascape Storm" by painter Orage Marine is more realistic in style and that "the light source is coming from the left." While he may not remember the term "focal point," another clue explains that "the artist wants you to look at the biggest thing in the picture." Dusty is right; the focal point is the sailboat that dominates the canvas.

Loomis has also used art to support learning in other subject areas.

A recent unit on whales resulted not only in science instruction but also in the creation of whale drawings for a calendar. Each month features student artwork along with a whale fact such as: "Orcas belong to a group called a pod. Each pod has its own sound for communicating." Or, "A blue whale can weigh as much as 25 elephants." The class had the calendars spiral-bound and sold them for $4 each to raise money to "adopt" a whale in the Puget Sound. The adoption program provides money for whale research and care.

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Date of Last Update: 9/28/01
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