Integrating Art and Language Arts in Elementary Education

Visual Journals and Integrated Learning

Alexander is drawing in his visual journal in a grade two classroom while classical music plays.
Alexander and Ian are collaborating on a story about Jungle Boy, creating a storyboard for an illustrated book.
The teacher sometimes suggests topics like "what I did last weekend" or observation drawings of beans.
Other times, children follow their own interests, fostering intrinsic reward in their visual journals.
The teacher balances structure with freedom to develop their own ideas.
The school day starts with music and journal time, which helps prepare students for writing later.
Students have many ideas in their visual journals to put into words and share.
Visual journals and daily drawing are a school-wide focus, connecting images and words.
Students use their journals for writing class and larger art projects.

Integration of Subject Areas in Primary Education

Integration of subjects is common in primary classrooms, unlike the separation in high school.
Curriculum units are often developed around themes like dinosaurs or cultural events.
This approach integrates science, social studies, math, art, language arts, and music to understand a theme from multiple perspectives.
The article focuses on the similarities in a process approach to teaching language arts and art.
Combining art and language arts enhances children’s engagement and learning (Steele, 2010).
Visual and verbal literacy take precedence, with connections to other disciplines integrated as appropriate.
Many elementary teachers are more comfortable with language arts instruction than teaching art.
Approaching art from a writer’s workshop perspective and integrating the two subjects promotes accomplishment and satisfaction.
The idea of linking art and language arts is not new, but there is a resurgence in interest.
Whole language instruction in the late 20th century changed teaching approaches (Fleckenstein, Calendrillo, & Worley, 2002).
Teachers discovered the writing process or writer’s workshop approach (Browlie, 2009).
Writing became synonymous with thinking and expressing in words, not just skills like spelling and grammar.
Reading and writing were seen as complementary processes.
Teaching process rather than products became accepted.
Brain research and Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences (Gardner, 1983) influenced teaching to different learning styles and encouraging multiple forms of representation.
Art education included aesthetics, criticism, and art history, bringing writing and speaking into the art classroom.
Children became creators, critics, and consumers of art and images.
British Columbia piloted ‘The Year 2000’, built on constructivist learning.
Teachers experimented with changes to align with growing understanding of how children learn.
Similarities in teaching writing and art were explored (Grauer, 1984).
Using visual and verbal modes enhances children’s expression.
Visual and verbal thinking allows for deeper communication and appreciation of diverse capacities.

Processes in Art and Language

Art and language can be thought of as processes for giving form to ideas.
If writing is thinking expressed in words, then art is thinking expressed in images.
Images are our first form of thought, preceding language.
Infants use images to identify, classify, and remember aspects of their world.
Image is the root word of imagination.
Children engage in scribbling and drawing, developing visual symbols before written symbols.
Children often talk about their pictures and picture their thoughts, establishing the relationship between art and language.

Changes in Art Education

Teaching art is not just about exposure to media or isolated skills.
Skills are necessary but should be taught in the context of problem-solving.
Exploring visual culture helps deconstruct and construct identity in a world saturated with media images.
A process approach to teaching art parallels the writing process or writer’s workshop approach (Barnett, 2013).
The stages of the process overlap and the model is spiral rather than linear.
Artists and writers need to think about their ideas before expressing them.
It is better to start with art when combining art and writing experiences because children think visually first.
Images prior to words provides for a richer verbal experience as children discuss their pictures.
Visual thinking can be encouraged through reading to children, looking at art, guided visualization, etc.
Motivating children allows them to sort through images and develop their own thoughts.
Drafting is the stage where ideas move from mind to paper or clay.
Real artists often do many drawings or models before choosing one.
Showing artists’ sketchbooks helps children see that drawings are not always perfect the first time.
First images are an attempt to make thoughts public and express an idea.
Visual journals are an example of drafting ideas first in images.

Critique and Refinement

‘In process critique’ or ‘editing’ builds children’s confidence and competence in art.
The artist can examine the rough draft alone or with peers/teacher.
Elements and principles of art and design (color, line, texture, shape, balance, harmony, unity, rhythm) can be contemplated.
It is a time to look at technical skills and image development strategies.
Teaching specific skills at this stage helps children refine their ideas.
Feedback can come from other children, the teacher, and references to other artists.
Many children appreciate feedback at the ‘in process’ stage rather than at the end.
Peer critiques help develop a real audience and provide a chance to share abilities.
This technique is useful for older children who are reluctant participants in class art critiques.
‘Critiques in process’ turns peer pressure into peer support.
This technique is used as an ongoing form of assessment and self-reflection that defines criteria for evaluations.
Once completed the artwork is ready to be finished in some type of frame or display format.

Stages in Art and Writing Process

All stages are ongoing, overlapping, and repeated.
Motivating:
- Getting started, thinking about the topic.
- Brainstorming, webbing, guided visualization, looking at slides, films, videos or artists’ work helps generate ideas.
- Choosing an audience and a medium (clay, paint, ink, etc.).
Drafting:
- Drawing ideas on paper.
- Initial attempts at composing ideas in pictures.
In Process Critique:
- Making it better.
- Revising first sketches by subtracting, adding, rearranging, or substituting material.
- This is done in consultation with peers and/or the teacher.
- Developing the ideas in a suitable medium.
Refining:
- Checking it.
- Checking technical qualities to determine if the result is ready for matting, framing or displaying.
Exhibiting:
- Sharing it.
- Sharing the work with others in gallery style.
Writing Process Stages:
- Pre-writing:
  - What we do before we write.
  - Thinking about the topic.
  - Activities like visual representations, videos, pictures, discussions, reading, listening to speakers or music help generate ideas.
  - Choosing an audience and a style of writing.
- Drafting:
  - Writing the words down.
  - Initial attempts at putting ideas into written words.
- Revising/Editing:
  - Making it better.
  - Rewording, altering, adding, eliminating, and rearranging words and ideas.
- Proofreading:
  - Checking it.
  - Examining the revised draft for errors in capitalization, punctuation, spelling, usage, and form.
- Presenting/Publishing:
  - Sharing it.
  - Sharing the work in oral or written form.
Art and writing processes are not mutually exclusive; starting with art helps children discover what they want to write.
Varying between art and writing builds on the strengths of both.
In many intermediate art classrooms, an artist statement is a requirement.

Example in the Classroom

The teacher reads the story of the Nutcracker to the children.
A parent brings in their Nutcracker collection.
Children learn observation drawing and draw the nutcrackers on large sheets of paper.
The first drafts become finished drawings that they display.
They talk about their artwork in small groups, using descriptive language.
The teacher suggests adding descriptive sentences about the drawings in their draft writing books.
The process between reading, drawing, talking, and writing looks seamless.
The finished products displayed at the parent open house are impressive and individual.
If provided with an environment structured around learning children can accomplish a lot.
Teaching art and language arts in combination helps children access two ways of knowing and celebrate the joy of creation and expression in both.