Free Resources… Integrate The Arts In Every K12 Subject Area

Welcome to the seventh in a series of summer posts dedicated to bringing you the biggest collections of national and international resources you will find anywhere. Summer is a  perfect time to examine what you just might want to include in next year’s lesson plans that will engage your students. I plan to share resources that will cover all the curricular areas. Each article will give an in-depth and informative visit to one of these sites. Make sure you bookmark, copy, RSS, subscribe by email and visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki! You will want to share! If it is not summer where you are, then you can jump right in and facilitate learning with some new material  tomorrow. I will announce each post on twitter at (mjgormans) so be sure to follow. – Mike

What could all teachers find on a site devoted to integrating the fine arts? The answer, new lessons to engage students while facilitating Project Based Learning, STEM activities, and 21st Century skill acquisition. ArtsEdge is an amazing site that contains science activities such as, How Many Cells are Born in a Day? and Acoustical Science, plus Language Arts activities with titles like Comparing and Contrasting Fables and Characterization in Literature. Physical Education teachers may want to try Street Games while math teachers have their students discover Melodies & Math: Telephone Improvisations.   With ArtsEdge you won’t forget to put the A in STEM in order to STEAM it in to full power! Language Arts teachers will bring out student creativity through amazing projects, while social studies teachers can make history come alive.  This is an all encompassing resource from the Kennedy Art Center! ArtsEdge, the National Arts and Education Network, has a mission to place the Arts  at the center of the curriculum and further, advocates creative use of technology to enhance the K-12 educational experience. Artsedge claims that it “empowers educators to teach in, through, and about the arts by providing the tools to develop interdisciplinary curricula that fully integrate the arts with other academic subjects.” These are the neccessary ingredients to qualify as an outstanding resource for any 21st Century Classroom intent on student centered learning.

Artsedge offers free, standards-based teaching materials for use in and out of the classroom, as well as professional development resources, student materials, and guidelines for arts-based instruction and assessment.Check out a powerful searchable data base of lessons, standards, weblinks , and how-to’s. All of  this content is searchable by art curriculum, other core curricular content, and grade bands. The lessons under the Art Curriculum include Dance, Music, Theater, and Visual Arts. The Other Subjects include Foreign Language, Language Arts, Math, Physical Education, Science,  Social Studies, and Technology. I invite you to click on your content area in the preceding sentence and guarantee you will be amazed at the creativity found in the lessons. Lessons are also searchable under grade bands that  include elementary, middle, and high school. All lessons are linked to the Arts Standards. Educators must also investigate the over 200 web links of resources divided into the categories of Instructional, Multi-media, and Research. There is also an amazing collection of Teacher How-To’s including such content as Classical Music across the Curriculum, Coaching Youth Storytellers, The Language of Photography, and Filmmaking: Creating and Organizing the Story.

There is an area of Artsedge that allows educators to Connect with Articles/Reports that give valuable information about Arts Education. The Contacts Section can put teachers in contact and provide resources covering over 60 Art related organizations. Advocacy Essentials gives talking points articles on Art promotion for education. A third area allows educators to Explore Artsedge. From here close to fifty activies are available including such titles as, Abraham Lincoln and Music, Corridos, Art/Space, and Art of the Explosion. You may want your students to check out Art Days in history, meet the Artist,  or discover over 250 Art Quotes from various people. There is a small, but growing collection of podcast also available. Be sure to take a look at the Spotlight area and the section entitled Looking Back. Here you will find a collection of their most requested lessons, resources, and activities. Artsedge  is truly a site devoted to Art appreciation and integration and will make all curricular areas  rich in purpose, meaning, and ready to engage your 21st century students.

Thus, my focus, to share with you vast resources such as ARTSedge this summer! Take some time to investigate and possibly implement in the school year,  or tomorrow! I will continue to bring thought, reflection, and amazing web apps along with this summer series. Please share with others, visit the21centuryedtech Wiki, follow on me twitter (mjgormans), and subscribe to this blog by RSS or email . If you have resources that you feel need to be included please leave a reply!  Enjoy, relax, play, and smile…. also take a moment to transform education toward 21st Century Learning! – Mike

Xpeditions:Free Cross-Curricular Project And Inquiry Based Learning: Based On National Standards

Welcome to another post. On weekdays I try to keep the postings short, but fill them with some rich web resources. In researching Xpeditions is was easy to find the rich resources, it will be a challenge to keep it short. Thanks for the visit and let me know via a reply, email, or twitter any feedback or comments. You always have an open invitation to visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki and please follow me at @mjgormans on Twitter.  I will return the favor and we can learn from each other! – Mike (mgorman@sacs.k12.in.us)

The resources in Xpeditions  provide an opportunity to cross the curriculums of  science, social studies, math, and language arts  using National Geography Standards. At the same time students are engaged in unique and well planned  inquiry, project, and problem based activities.  Upon examination, it is amazing the job that Xpeditions  has done in providing a great mix of lessons, activities, videos, simulations,  for all students in K-12. Of course, you can always expect a superior product when the organization behind the project is National Geographic. Upon entering the sight, choices will abound and any click will bring possibilities of engaged learning.

The first thing I always like to highlight are the Standards. A quote on the site states  states “The National Geography Standards contain what is most important and enduring in geography. They help teachers to decide what to teach, at what grades to teach it, and what to expect of students as a result. They give students rigorous but realistic benchmarks for which to strive.” I also noted that the included standards really do merge all core curricular areas!

My next click included visiting the Xpedition Hall which is an amazing interactive museum allowing students to explore archeology digs, map cartology, games, travel, adventure, and unique experiences. Be sure to read through the teacher guide , as it supplies an overview and a way to incorporate the hall in lessons and activities. The hall is built on a virtual premise and is worth the visit to the Xpedition Site in itself, but there is so much more!

Another important link is the  Lesson Plans. They were written by teachers and have been tested in the classrooms across the nation. These lesson plans together, address all of the U.S. National Geography Standards, the five geography skills, and the main geographic perspectives. Resources from this site include the Atlas,  Blue Ribbon Links,   Xpedition Hall, and Activities and are incorporated into the lessons. Take a look at the lesson index and note how it follows grade levels and standards. Not only are the lesson titles numerous, they are impressive, linking to outstanding resources.

The next major link is one that connects to Activities,  offering students opportunities to use geography to complete a variety of missions. Included  are  “X-tras”—maps, games, stories, web sites, and interactive features. These  allow students to complete the tasks and to even visit related annexes in Xpedition Hall once their mission is through. Take a look at this amazing list of activities and note the  included standards and grade level targets. It is  evident that thought has been put toward multiple learning styles with an emphasis on Inquiry Based Learning.

Don’t miss the Atlas link. It allows students to make and then print their own maps. Students have the opportunity to customize these maps by making desired selections. It can also be used as a teacher tool in preparing maps for classroom use.  I believe that the Atlas may be one of the areas that both teachers and students will use most. In conclusion the Xpeditions Web Site from National Geographic offers many opportunities. The choices for a teacher can be overwhelming and I recommend choosing one lesson or activty that can incoporate the standards that need to be addressed by a teacher or multi-disciplinary team.  I am sure all students will enjoy this inquiry and problem based approach to learning. National Geographic has even more to offer and I will be sure to highlight those resources in future posts. I am certain you will find that Xpeditions is a valuable resource  as you continue your own journey into 21st Century Education. Have great and rewarding Xpeditions!

Thanks for the visit and let me know via a reply, email, or twitter any feedback or comments. You always have an open invitation to visit my 21centuryedtech Wiki and please follow me at @mjgormans on Twitter.  I will return the favor and we can learn from each other! – Mike (mgorman@sacs.k12.in.us)