One of the most influential things I did in preparation for this school year was read Liz Byron’s Art for All: Planning for Variability in the Visual Arts Classroom. It’s an incredibly short & digestible book that provides classroom-ready advice on how teachers can transform their practice in sustainable ways with Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

See how students at RTP combined science and art to explore food webs through abstract prints! See how this arts-integrated approach makes learning about ecosystems engaging and meaningful.

See how students at Hynes UNO brought ancient cultures to life through hands-on art projects! Through 'rock carvings' and the design of Greek vases, they connected deeply with their history lessons.

Discover how students at The NET Central City are exploring cultural relevance and self-discovery through Mardi Gras mask making. Learn how they draw inspiration from Black Masking Indians and create art with intention and meaning!

Discover how stop-motion animation brings science and art together in the classroom! See how Pre-K to 4th-grade students at Esperanza created dynamic films that illustrate kinetic energy and modes of transportation.

Explore how eighth graders at Hynes Lakeview used art to honor Emmett Till and deepen their understanding of Civil Rights history.

Learn how students at The NET Central City used protest buttons and music to connect deeply with African American Studies and Civics in this engaging lesson by Kitty O’Connor.

A look back on all that happened in Mr. Jasper’s classroom this past year.

The right color combinations can draw in attention, generate emotion, and ultimately leave a lasting impression on the viewer.

So, to further explore this concept-and finish off our lesson on saturation, pigment and color theory-we did an experiment on mixing colors!

Building community within a learning environment is an invaluable experience that will engage, surprise, and inspire students. Utilizing drama/theatre strategies (pantomime and improvisation) strengthen your classroom community and is an excellent catalyst for demonstrating collaboration, effective communication, and joyful learning. The basic structure of this lesson consists of a warm up, main activity, and closing reflection.

The process of creating our Kinetic Sculptures showed what can happen when you get art moving: artistic expression and problem solving at its finest!

Science lessons were presented to the students over the course of two months, during which we implemented varying methods of Arts-Integration into Mrs. Auzout’s lesson plan. Through teaching highly complex bodies work at a first-grade level. They were then able to recall the previous body parts that help the brain function and called upon the various creative and social emotional skills they learned along the way through Arts-Integration!

I have found that when there is intention embedded in the way I design my activities, and I am open to accepting that intention does not equal impact, it opens the door for authentic, powerful and completely unpredictable student expression. When I perceive that an activity isn’t working for a student the way I expected, I have found that asking myself, “what is the purpose of this activity?” is a great way to re-calibrate.

5th grade is learning about the Middle Ages. At first thought, you might think, “What fun! Knights, and castles, and dragons, Oh, my!”, but what’s really happening is as unexpected as it is welcome. What’s happening in these 5th Graders doesn’t usually occur until college. These 10 year-olds are questioning. Everything. 

In these classes, I collaboratively implemented Arts-Integration into African American History, Physics, and English. Through this process, I learned so much. As a self-proclaimed “forever student”, Arts-Integration was a wonderful educational refresh for me!

See how students at ReNEW “renewed” an old discarded bench into a show-stopping artpiece

How collaborative storytelling can create something even better together

The benefits of taking students outside

How does ART help us better understand the world around us?