Reflection on TPCK in Arts Education - Chapter 8

This chapter verifies how necessary Arts Education is, how technology supports and transforms it and how important it is to integrate the arts and accompanying technology into other content areas. The point is made that this is especially timely as budget constraints are resulting in cuts in these areas. Edutopia has a timely article on this very subject this month.
I was interested in the list “The Partnership for the 21 rst Century” reported as necessary for students to have to meet the demands of the twenty-first century. This reinforced what I have read and seen reported in other documents. Additionally author, Nancy De Plantchett, claims that everyone of the skills listed can be enhanced through arts education. This really stood out to me. Recently I had had a conversation with the Elementary Art teacher. She was relating her apprehension as we head into budget preparation. She is nervous about the Art and Music positions. She told me of several schools that were considering making substantial cuts in these areas. My daughter teaches in a small Downeast elementary school and she told me that Art and Music positions were both being considered for cuts there. Arts Education rarely get the same emphasis as core content areas. They are considered extras or enrichment rather than vital content. Little time is allotted for their instruction and this is without considering technology integration. The case is certainly made for the regular education teacher, or in upper grades for content area teachers, to integrate arts into their content area instruction.
Arts integration should be considered or expanded not only to support the arts but as a way to access effective learning and implement research on cognitive learning theory. Arts education integrates assessment and instruction and emphasizes “cognitive theory-based experiential learning, inquiry, and exploration.” This reading also stressed that arts education allows students to maximize the use of both brain hemispheres. Opportunities to access multiple intelligences is another reason to integrate the arts and technology in other content areas. Project Zero was founded at Harvard Graduate School of Education to study and improve education in and through the arts. Howard Gardner is involved in this program that believes that arts learning should be studied as a serious cognitive activity, but that "zero" had been firmly established about the field; hence, the project was given its name. This is an awesome site to investigate.
This chapter provided a wealth of examples and links to support TPCK in Arts Education. Arts Education was subdivided into: visual arts, music, dance, drama, and media production. Some of the sites were familiar to me but as I continued reading I realized my familiarity was in Art, Music and Media. I haven’t ventured into the areas of drama and dance using Internet resources. There are several sites that I plan to explore and bookmark when I am back in school and using a faster network than dial-up. The Old Sturbridge Village Kids Club is recommended as having information about drama and history integration for young students. This could be integrated into the early history unit I am currently teaching. This is just one example. There were many other sites, especially The Kennedy Center's ARTSEDGE, a k-12 site that appears to have helpful information, interactive displays, activities, shows and museums.
The concluding section brought back the reality of the “wicked problem” of integrating the Arts with and without technology. As elementary teachers we used to include art projects, sing poetry and songs, work on skits and puppet shows with our students. Much of this is no longer done as our focus is on reading and math. Social Studies and Science instruction is also taking a backseat to these areas. My challenge is not to allow technology, the Arts, Social Studies and Science to be extras in my classroom but to integrate them into literacy and math instruction. I need to take advantage of the many supportive materials and tools that the Internet makes available.I need to harness the many benefits that all of these areas have to offer and that are vital to our future citizens. I need to not let the questions of “When?” or “How Can I Find the Time?” be roadblocks but be willing to take one step at a time.
Great additional links, for Arts Integration, not mentioned in the chapter reading follow. I have chosen to organize them by art content areas. Many cover the K-12 grade span or can be modified to do so.

Art
Artrageous Thinking - thinking like an artist.
Art Sparklers - ideas
Art Junction - a collaborative art space for teachers and students see Artist Trading cards and much more.
Music
Science of Music-Explore the science of music, through these online exhibits, movies, and questions. Along the way, you can compose, mix, dance, drum, experiment, and above all…listen.
www.ikeepbookmarks.com/mallett - In the Podcasting folder you will find Tutorials for Audacity and Garageband as well as sites for free music and sound effects for audio track projects.
Dance/Drama
ArtsWork- Integrated arts site that has k-12 lessons that integrate the arts into many content areas.
Virtual Tours
Virtual Tours of over 300 museums around the world.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
And lastly, The Portland Museum of Art has a teachers' resource section on their website that features Maine educator made lessons and assessments that match Maine Learning Results.