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Recommended Reading

View our collection of articles and presentations addressing a variety of topics related to arts integration and education at large or access the ArtsCore library, where you can check out books!

Library

Arts integration books are available in the ArtsCore Library.

Books currently available

  • Art-Centered Learning Across the Curriculum: Integrating Contemporary Art in the Secondary School Classroom by Julia Marshall and David Donahue
  • Arts Integration and Special Education: An Inclusive Theory of Action for Student Engagement by Alida Anderson
  • Arts Integration in Education by Gail Humphries Mardirosian and Yvonne Pelletier Lewis
  • Childhood and Nature: Design Principles for Educators by David Sobel
  • Creativity and Culture Art Projects for Primary Schools by Nigel Meager
  • Envisioning Writing: Toward and Integration of Drawing and Writing by Janet L. Olson
  • Frog Songs: Modern Haiku by Brian “Fox” Ellis
  • Handbook of Arts-Based Research by Patricia Leavy
  • Mapmaking with Children: Sense of Place Education for the Elementary Years by David Sobel
  • On Stage: Theater Games and Activities for Kids by Lisa Bany-Winters
  • Preparing Educators for Arts Integration by Gene Diaz and Martha Barry McKenna
  • Show Time! Music, Dance, and Drama Activities for Kids by Lisa Bany-Winters
  • Song of the Red Fox: Poetry by Brian “Fox” Ellis

The library is located in the Arts and Communication Building, Room 308. Please contact artscore@uwosh.edu with requests or questions.

Art and Thinking

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

How are we teaching our students to think? How can the arts help? This essay looks at the relationship between visual art activities and various aspects of cognitive development in children. While visual art contributes to education by teaching about history and cultures, the human spirit and the human condition, respect and tolerance for others, and so on, the following focuses only on the ways art behaviors cause students to exercise their capacity for thought.

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Arts Integration: The Impact on Teachers

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

One of the characteristics of ArtsCore that sets it apart from most other educational initiatives is that our focus is on teachers rather than students. It is such a unique feature that it often takes both our participants and presenters a chunk of time to truly understand what that means. Our mission is to help pre-service and early career teachers build competence and resiliency. We have chosen to do this through the thoughtful use of arts integration. Therefore, in this series dedicated to why we focus on arts integration, it is essential to look at how teachers benefit from AI. After all, ArtsCore is predicated on the assumption that they do indeed benefit.

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Collaboration Magic

Ta Feiter
Literacy Teacher, Vel Phillips Middle School

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

When using Arts Integration in your teaching practice, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with the additional content. To help ease the integration and grow your own learning and skills, collaboration is key! Whether you are collaborating on the standards selections, the lesson plan writing, the implementation and/or the teaching, collaboration can make a huge impact on the process. Learn about tried and true methods for collaborating with another educator and the ways collaboration can help you with Arts Integration.

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Inquiry with Arts Integration

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

Inquiry-Based Learning has been proven to increase student engagement and retention as well as develop collage and career ready skills. This presentation demonstrates the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning through arts integration.

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Let’s Talk About Culture: How Arts Integration and Culturally Responsive Teaching Work Together

Kelsey Raschke
Educator, Paine Art Center and Gardens

Annette Koepke
Art Teacher, Kaleidoscope Academy

This presentation examines the intersection of Culturally Responsive Teaching and Arts Integration and how the strategies can be used together.

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Master’s Reflection

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

The purpose of this research was to determine the effect of having a district-appointed ArtsCore Arts Integration Coordinator (AIC) on educators’ and the District partners’ practice efficacy; competence, confidence, and resilience. ArtsCore seeks to support pre-service and early-career teachers in and through the arts by developing and implementing programming designed to enhance their competence, confidence, and resiliency (ArtsCore, 2016). In response to a growing and constant need to maintain professional, qualified educators in the Oshkosh Area School District (OASD), a new position was created in the fall of 2018 to offer support and professional development opportunities in Arts Integration (AI) for District educators. The focus of this position, as well as ArtsCore, is on teachers. However, the data most commonly used to evaluate teachers is student achievement centered. To make the most impact on teachers and to enhance the ArtsCore program, I believed that the position’s efficacy needed to be evaluated and researched. Literature review, reflection, observations, participation, and interviews led me to a greater understanding of the effects this position can have on teachers and how I could support them as the AIC. The data suggested that the main role of the AIC this school year was to coordinate communication, education, support, and collaboration for the teachers in AI.

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Project-Based Learning Starter Kit

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

Project Based Learning (PBL) is a teaching method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and personally meaningful projects. PBL requires critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration, and various forms of communication. To answer a Driving Question and create high-quality work, students need to do much more than remember information. They need to use higher-order thinking skills and learn to work as a team.

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Project-Based Learning Introduction

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

An introductory video to the Project-Based Learning strategy.

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Project-Based Learning and Arts Integration: A Potential Union

Renee Schumacher
ArtsCore Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

An examination of the potential benefits of blending the strategies of Project-Based Learning and Arts Integration.

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The Role of Design in Arts Integration

Wendy Strauch-Nelson
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

Humans are designers. Every building, car, computer, park, dance, song, curriculum, every pair of socks, everything humans have generated has been designed. Design problems are all around us and our students and design problems are inherently integrative. Firm disciplinarity that is the hallmark of our educational system, however, teaches students to engage in different ways of thinking and expressing depending on the subject at hand, not the complex problems we face through our life’s work.

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Tips and Tricks for Engaging Learners: Tools for Engagement

Renee Reszel
Media Specialist, Vel Phillips Middle School

Zong Vang
K-5 STEM Coordinator, Oshkosh Area School District

This presentation outlines techniques to enhance and strengthen student engagement in your classroom.

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Why Arts Integration I

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

This is the first in a series of articles that will discuss the reasons we are passionate about arts integration in the classroom. Arts integration has proven to be an effective approach to teaching and learning for both students and teachers.

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Why Arts Integration II

Historical Context for Arts Integration

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

As readers of this newsletter know, ArtsCore works to strengthen and empower educators who teach in and through the arts. To accomplish this, we have adopted a philosophy of arts integration. Despite the newness of ArtsCore, it is important to understand that arts integration is not a cutting edge, revolutionary, or particularly innovative approach to teaching! It has been around for centuries. In this second installment of a series of articles about why we have centered on arts integration, we’ll look at the historical context for arts integration.

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Why Arts Integration III

Arts Integration in the Late 20th Century

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

In the last newsletter, this series took an extremely short look at the incredibly long history of arts integration in the classroom. This installment will focus on developments of the late 20th century which was a particularly active time for research related to arts integration.

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Why Arts Integration IV

Series Wrap-Up

Wendy Strauch-Nelson, PhD
Co-Founder, ArtsCore

This is the final article in a series that has provided a brief overview of the long history and rich benefits of using arts integration as an approach to teaching. Because this was simply an overview, the intent has been to provide a starting point for individual research and advocacy efforts related to arts integration.

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Your Local Museum Wants to Collaborate with You!

Kelsey Raschke
Educator, Paine Art Center and Gardens

This presentation outlines the Paine’s FREE field trip opportunities.

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