Preparing Educators for Arts Integration: Placing Creativity at the Center of Learning

by Gene Diaz (Editor), Martha Barry McKenna (Revision)

This resource examines professional development approaches from across the United States to help schools and allied arts groups integrate the arts into an already crowded K–12 curriculum. The authors document the purposes and structures of a broad spectrum of current efforts and programs. Several of these programs have been in place for decades, thus demonstrating their sustainability and effectiveness. Emphasizing the value of collaboration among teachers, artists, educational leaders, and community partners, the book draws on the broad range of experiences of the authors, who came together as a working group of the Arts Education Partnership. Readers will find strong, empirically tested models of arts integration to inform curriculum development and teacher professional learning. Book

224 pages, Hardcover

Published February 24, 2017

Reviews

[Joni Newman · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really valuable selection of essays with ideas on how I can better support my community with best practices in arts integration. As I finish my MFA and start looking for jobs in this field, this book gave me a pretty great vision for the avenues through which I can be the most productive. Some of the essays were more helpful than others in terms of practical advice. On the whole, I think this book serves as a wonderful primer and starting point for further research. None of the essays provide enough "how-to" to build a successful program, but the repetitive nature of the advice across programs and around the nation do give a good vision for the necessities as well as relatively current information on where to begin further research. I'm sure it will come in handy.

[Sonia Hipple · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gives numerous examples of how arts integration has been implemented in schools across the United State. The authors list factors that help create an effective arts integration program. This includes principal support at the school level, consistent professional development for teachers (arts teachers and classroom teachers) and connecting with outside resources (university programs, mentors, sister schools, etc).

I really appreciated one of the last statements in the book: "...until there is some consistency across the states in the preparation of educators in arts integration, we believe that the whole field remains in development."