Arts Integration Minutes - January 9

Meeting 1/9

Attending: Dahms, Bishop, Stultz, Soto, Schmidt, Gregory, Regan and Craig (SAM team), Stefan Nelson (district Arts Coordinator)

Focus of meeting was to look at samples of Arts Integration across the country and choose a model that best suits us.

Norms

• Speak your truth with kindness and compassion
• Share Air Time
• Speak from your Perspective

Activities – done to demonstrate what arts integration could look like

• Line Activity – demonstrating emotions through writing Lines
• Pattern Activity – demonstrating historical and social patterns through Art

Discussion Question:  What does Arts Integration look like now in our school?

• Scattered
• Superficial
• Add on
• Used to increase motivation
• Inconsistent
• Teachers have a high interest but don’t always have the ideas of how to do it
• Not collaborative, done more individually
• Needs support at administrative level for planning and reflection
• It would be cool to have a unifying theme that every discipline connects to throughout the year

Defining Arts Integration – We looked at 5 definitions of Arts Integration and gave feedback:

• Integration should influence student achievement/success in our tests performance and demonstration of skills/knowledge
• It should be part of the way we market our school in explaining how arts integration prepares our students for college, career and citizenship.
• Integration should not just use the arts to support academics but vice versa 

We did not reach a consensus on a definition – Regan and Craig took down our ideas and will bring a definition which we can wordsmith to the next meeting.

Other Concerns

• We want the process to include a tangible lesson/plan to put into practice
• We want a tool box
• We want to make sure whatever we try is right for our kids
• We want to bring student work in and figure out how arts integration would help the student

 Agenda for next time: To be set by SAM team.