Bringing a Book to Life: Student Teachers' Arts-Based Learning Approaches Transform Literature Into a Play!

• In Event: 54.049 - Transforming Teacher Preparation Through Arts Integration and Language Learning in a Bilingual Community School

Abstract

1. Objectives
Studies have demonstrated that the participation in the arts contributes to academic and social success for students living in poverty (Catterall, Dumais, & Hampden-Thompson, 2012), second language learners (Craig & Paraiso, 2008), and students with special needs (Mason, Steedly, & Thormann, 2008). After assessing student data in 37 Minneapolis Public Schools with an arts-integration curriculum, Ingram and Meath (2007) found that the majority of students increased their reading achievement on standardized tests and gained new skills in expression, empathy, diligence, patience, and risk-taking. Teachers and student teachers, however, are rarely allowed to deviate from the skills-based curriculum dictated by standardized testing, especially in schools serving low-income bilingual children from historically-marginalized communities. In this project elementary level student teachers (STs) developed arts-based curricula by analyzing a children’s book and adapting it into a play, which students performed for the school community during Literacy Week. This research investigated how the student teachers’ planned, taught, and reflected on their arts-based learning experiences and those of their elementary students.

2. Theoretical Framework
Theoretical frameworks include funds of knowledge (Moll, 1992), multiliteracies (Landay & Wooton, 2012; New London Group, 1996), and arts integration (Parsons, 2004; Stewart & Walker, 2005). Effective art integration blends opportunities to interpret meanings from diverse artforms, learn skills in various media, and guide students through their own process of creating personally meaningful art.

3. Data Sources and Methods
Fieldnotes, memos, interviews, performance videos, and individual narratives were analyzed to investigate how the STs planned instruction and taught their students. Ethnographic methods (Strauss & Corbin, 1994), narrative inquiry (Alvermann, 2002), collaborative investigation (John-Steiner, 2000) and Vygotsky’s (1978) cultural-historical ideas were used to examine student teachers’ experiences, and to document their progress and potential areas for improvement.

4. Results
Student teachers were transformed as they engaged in arts-based planning and teaching. Their confidence grew through collaboration and skill development, and they recognized new strengths in their students, who emerged as actors, leaders, and motivated learners who took pride in their accomplishment. In grade level groups, the STs selected books such as one book about immigration, which reflected the experiences of many of their students’ families. They learned about story mapping, character research, sociocultural context exploration, script writing, costume creation, and dramatic skills. Collaboratively with their students they conducted research and created content. Data analyses showed that STs may need more support in integrating multiple subject areas, in long term unit planning, and in incorporating arts-based learning into a rigid, standardized, test-driven curriculum.

5. Scholarly Significance
With guidance and mentoring, student teachers can design rich arts-based learning experiences that engage students deeply. Given that people have historically encoded their essential knowledge in the arts to create narratives that tell their stories, preserve their histories, and reinforce shared values, it can be argued that arts-based learning is an educational human right. The arts tap into students’ lived experiences and communication discourses, providing them transformative tools for engagement, agency, and empowerment.

Authors

• Nancy S. Pauly, University of New Mexico

• Asha Baker, University of New Mexico