1. Unique Contributions of the Arts
   1. Communication
      1. Arts communication is integral to cognitive social and personal effects of the arts
      2. Literacy includes language and arts-based communication to understand, respond to , and express thoughts and feelings
      3. Unparalleled symbolic languages that exist because all thoughts can't be captured by words
   2. Content of the Arts
      1. Vast treasury of art
      2. Serve as learning tools
      3. Key ways to introduce and develop lessons and units
      4. Invite students to form new perspectives
      5. Students can work backwards from a finished product to understand the kinds of thinking, skills, and values it represents
   3. Intellectual Contributions
      1. Creative Problem Solving (CPS)
         1. At the heart of how artists think and work
         2. Summarizes how intelligent people problem solve in all fields
         3. How meaning is constructed
         4. Grounded in seeking and synthesizing diverse problem solutions, purposefully capitalizing on mistakes, making paradoxical connections, and embracing surprises
      2. Critical Thinking
         1. Heightened focus on thoughtful and skilled use of ideas, techniques and materials
         2. Help refocus on the potential of a single word, a small sound, or a slight gesture to speak volumes
         3. Use critical thinking to judge their own work and the work of others
      3. Comprehension
         1. Comprehension product is big ideas that are found and constructed from texts ranging from a song to a painting to a social studies textbook
         2. The arts stress such personal meaning making with special attention to visualizing, taking new perspectives, and making original connections among ideas
      4. Composition
         1. Higher order cognitive work in the arts is possible long before students have the skills to use printed word-based texts
         2. Process of expressing meaning
         3. Contribute special principles, techniques, and materials to the composition process
   4. Social Contributions
      1. Culture
         1. Arts uniquely record ways people have lived throughout history
         2. Arts provide rich contexts for growth, including positive classroom climates
      2. Cooperations/collaboration
         1. Arts involve students in group problem solving
      3. Community
         1. Create a sense of belonging
         2. Belonging based on respect for distinctive contributions of each person
      4. Compassion
         1. Build empathy by providing experiences that create new perspectives
   5. Personal/Emotional Contributions
      1. Commitment/interest
         1. Develop intrinsic motivation
         2. Persistence, based on curiosity and choice, gives satisfaction, and feel rewards of commitment
      2. Concentration
         1. Capture attention & develop concentration because they are emotionally compelling
      3. Confidence
         1. Develop courage to take risks
         2. Develop pride in one's unique contributions to solving problems
      4. Competence/control
         1. Develop skills to work with tools and materials
         2. Develop control over mind, voice, and body
         3. Build strategies to plan, think, work and produce
2. Meaningful AI
   1. Collaborative planning by grade level w/ art specialist consult
   2. Teach and assess specific arts concepts and tools
      1. Topic
   3. Multiple forms of assessment for academic areas and the arts
   4. Students engaged throughout lessons
      1. Cognitively
      2. Physically
      3. Emotionally
      4. Socially
   5. Explicitly teach how to understand & express thoughts &feelings using arts key communication tools
   6. Teach students HOW to use creative problem solving strategies
3. Push for AI
   1. Outside forces
      1. Business leaders want creative problem solvers
         1. Arts based education engages students in creative problem solving and use of new technologies
         2. Competitive advantage for those with arts based education
      2. Jobs in the Arts
         1. Serve as important career destinations- architect to dance teacher, set designer to car designer
         2. Multi billion-dollar business
         3. Estimated that 1/3 of today's students will be employed in arts-related occupations
      3. Arts Education & in Education Promote
         1. Higher order thinking (e.g. analysis, synthesis, evaluation & critical judgement
         2. Imagination and creativity focused deliberately on content & quality end products
         3. Prudent risk taking & experimentation
         4. Technological competencies
         5. Flexible thinking and appreciation for diversity
         6. Self-discipline, persistence, and taking initiative
   2. Inside Education
      1. Schools must become DO places!
      2. At-risk youth experience success in AI programs in both urban and rural settings
         1. The arts contribute to increased self-esteem and development of creative problem solving skills that build independence
         2. Give students the desire to learn
      3. Well substantiated body of research shows strong positive relationships between AI and academic gain
      4. Integral Connections
         1. Arts provide unique ways to perceive new relationships, to notice details and patterns, and connect ideas across disciplines
         2. Subject area boundaries are blurred
4. The Arts as Meaning Makers
   1. Nature of the Arts
      1. Time-honored ways of communicating
      2. Used to record what people saw and felt
      3. Vital forms of communication
   2. Meaning Making
      1. Potential to allow us to make sense of ourselves and the world
      2. Open vital communication channels in unmatched ways
      3. Art's power to cause us to question and wonder
5. Meaningful Arts Integration
   1. Definition
      1. Meaningful use of arts processes and content to introduce, develop, or bring closure to lessons in any academic area
   2. Goal
      1. Transform learning
      2. Use arts to engage learners in problem solving
      3. Problem solving creates understanding and expands expressive communication abilities
   3. Building Blocks for Meaningful AI
      1. Philosophy of education (beliefs about and value for diversity, creative inquiry, engaged learning & student independence)
      2. Arts literacy: content and skills (basic concepts & skills need to be taught because they are a fundamental communication vehicle)
      3. Collaborative planning (classroom & arts teachers need to co-plan standards-based lessons & units that focus on relationships among big ideas, key concepts & skills)
      4. Literature as a core art form (most readily available arts material, thus core aspect of AI)
      5. Best practices (explicit teaching of arts concepts and processes & use of high-quality materials & art examples)
      6. Instructional design: structure and routines (need prolonged lessons & use of specific arts routines)
      7. Differentiation (arts communication processes & materials expand options for learners to comprehend & express ideas & feelings)
      8. Assessment FOR learning (needs to be used as a motivational tool to increase learning, with continuous feedback on progress and multiple ways for students to "show they know" things)
      9. Arts partnerships (co-planning and co-teaching with arts specialists is needed; partnerships with community arts agencies should be sources)