Download Lane rationale

LESLEY UNIVERSITY
Integrating the Arts
Final project
Ashley Lane
3/17/2010
This paper is my argument for the integration of the arts into the academic curriculum. Along with
evidence provided by personal experience in the classroom, I also cite sources from dissertation studies
that prove the correlation between music instruction and improved scores in math and reading tests.
Note the three modalities that I prove in my music instruction: history, language arts, and mathematics.
To Whom it May Concern,
My name is Ashley Lane, and I am the general music teacher at Duluth Middle School in
Duluth, Georgia. My principal recently informed me that my curriculum, along with many others
throughout the country, will be cut from schools in the next academic year. It was mentioned to
me that there is a greater need for students to become more involved in academics to improve
standardized test scores and raise grade point averages (GPA’s). However, instead of giving
students the opportunity to explore non-academic areas for a few minutes every day, state
legislators believe that another math class should take the place of my music class.
I write to you today to introduce you to the concept of integrated arts. Although my class
is a music class in which my students learn how to play a piano and/or a guitar, I also teach “core
academic subjects” such as history, language arts, and math. These academic areas coincide with
my music classes on many different levels. Also, it is through music that I am able to curb the
language barrier between myself and my English language learners (ELL students), to help
students connect with their emotions and feelings, and to help them solve problems on their own.
Since the beginning of this academic school year, I have taught approximately 600
students and will be instructing another 200 in the upcoming quarter. With a total school
population of 1800 students, I have taught nearly half the students of Duluth Middle School in
one academic year. My general music class consists of students with disabilities (SWD), students
with EBD (emotional behavior disorder), ADD (attention deficit disorder), and ADHD (attention
deficit-hyperactive disorder), ELL’s (English language learners), and students of all ethnicities,
races, economic statuses, and intelligence levels. In spite of the many varying levels of learning,
I am still able to provide a safe learning environment in which the students are at the center of
learning.
When students enter my classroom, they walk into a room full of opportunity. I introduce
each child to the keyboard and the guitar and how to be proficient on each instrument in nine
weeks. A few students who come to me might have had music training before, and perhaps very
few have had experience on either instrument. This leaves the majority of the class new and
uncertain of these “foreign objects.” I start from the basics, teaching the parts of the guitar and
keyboard and how to appropriately play each instrument.
However, I do not need spoken language to explain this concept to my students with
disabilities or my ELL students. Playing an instrument is a kinesthetic modality in which
modeling is just as effective as written or spoken language. Once the students know about their
instrument, we begin to play music. Again, not much spoken language is needed as music is
universal. Almost every child I have taught in my music classes have heard of Beethoven’s ninth
symphony, better known as “Ode to Joy.” Here, students connect with their auditory modality
and can figure out the basic melody with very little verbal instruction.
If a student is unable to understand what I am trying to say in words, and if s/he cannot
figure out a tune on his/her own, one resorts to imitation. I have the opportunity of being able to
show my class how to play a melody or chord progression by modeling. Although some may
argue that imitation is not an effective way of learning, Goldenberg (2006) disagrees. In her book
Integrating the Arts, she argues, “Imitation can be a creative process, an extremely useful tool in
learning if a student is motivated” (p. 57). Imitation is an effective tool for learning that I have
witnessed every day in my classroom.
However, kinesthetic imitation is not the only means in which I am able to convey a
concept to my ELL students. In her article entitled “Arts as Epistemology,” author Karen Gallas
(1991) was also able to break through language barriers by having her students show her what
they could do without the English language. One example was with a Hispanic student, Juan, and
his use of art to integrate English and the subject being taught.
As Juan drew, we build a reading and speaking vocabulary from his pictures, and that
vocabulary, together with his interest in representing science, also became the subject
matter of his writing. Juan was teaching me once again a lesson that I seem to have to
relearn each year: when given the opportunity, listen to the children. (Gallas, 2006, p.
41)
In my classroom, I give the students the opportunity to show, not just myself, but the rest
of the class what they can do with music. During the week, everyone has the opportunity to
“Play for Points.” This is when I stop my curriculum instruction for the last fifteen minutes of
class and focus on the individual students. A child then can proceed to the piano in the back of
the classroom and play a song for the class. To help the students feel comfortable with playing
for a large group, I tell them that they can play any song, whether it is a song that I taught in
class or a song they learned on their own. The children love being able to show their peers what
they can play! They thrive for that chance to do something that they know and love and feel
comfortable knowing that their performance will not be graded.
The arts invite students to be active participants in their world rather than mere
observers of it. But it’s not busyness alone that matters. Their participation in the task is
teaching them something incredibly important. In the process of creating their own
visions, students learn craftsmanship. Arts curriculums invariable teach students how all
the expressive details work together, and how important those details are. (Fowler,
1994, p. 6)
Aside from my personal experiences in the classroom, much research has been conducted
over the years to prove the correlation between music and performance on standardized tests. In
the study entitled “Music and Mathematics: Modest Support for the Oft-Claimed Relationship,”
Vaughn (2000) states her findings:
The meta-analysis of the correlational group indicated a significant relationship between
music study and mathematics achievement. Students who take music classes in high
school are more likely to score higher on standardized mathematics tests such as the
SAT. (Vaughn, 2000)
Again I can testify to these same findings when I introduce the concept of a time signature
during a music theory lesson. I teach the difference between the four basic units of rhythm:
quarter note, half note, dotted-half note, and a whole note. Within a given time signature, there is
a limited number of beats we are able to place in one measure. In my instruction, I use the most
common time signature, 4/4. In a 4/4 time signature, the quarter note is the unit of measure on
which we base our rhythm, and only four beats can fit in a measure. To ensure understanding, I
relate a measure to a dollar bill. I then ask the class to think in a world in which they are more
familiar with, like a trip to McDonalds. I tell them that we are at the counter and are going to
order off the “Dollar Menu”, but do not have any dollar bills. Problem solving comes into play
and I have the students figure out what coins can make a dollar. The first one that comes to mind
is “Four quarters!” Of course, and therefore, four quarter notes can fit in one measure.
To a musician, the concept of math and music is understood as counting: it is a very
essential factor in performing. A lesser known correlation to music is that of reading. In the
study, “Can Music Be Used to Teach Reading?” Ron Butzlaff (2000) investigates whether or not
music instruction can lead to enhanced reading ability. His findings are as follows:
The rationale stems from four ways to approach conditions for learning transfer that
may exist between music and language: (1) music and written language employ highly
differentiated symbol systems yet both involve analogous decoding and comprehension
reading processes (such as reading from left to right, sequential ordering of content,
etc.), (2) there are also interesting parallels in underlying concepts shared between
music and language reading skills, (3) music reading involves the simultaneous
incorporation (and reading) of written text with music, and (4) learning in the context of
a highly motivated social context such as music ensembles may lead to ‘heightened
academic responsibility and performance’ that may enhance reading achievement.
(Butzlaff, 2000)
Again, I have witnessed this result in my personal keyboard and guitar instruction. Many a time
have I told my students to read the music and refer to reading a book, going from left to right and
then down to the next sentence. I have them count the number of beats and measures before they
change the melody/chord progression, reading ahead to see if there is a rest or a chord change
coming in the next measure. Math and reading are directly connected to music!
In my two years of being a music teacher, I have seen music do more than just improve
reading and math scores; I have seen music change lives. I have watched the school’s meanest
bully become my best section leader. I have witnessed a child crying at the beginning of the
quarter because she could not understand the theory involved in music, only to turn around and
become my best sight-reader by the end of the nine weeks. I believe that music makes an
emotional connection with everyone that cannot be studied or measured. Therefore, regardless of
whether or not my music class can help improve standardized tests in my school, I can say that
each child will walk out of my classroom after nine weeks with the comfort and confidence in
knowing that s/he can play and read music.