How painting, ceramics and just plain creating can help your child become a better student
When Erickson Elementary art teacher Katherine Fisk looked through her fifth-graders’ work for the day, one project stood out. The student had used scraps of textured paper to create an expressionistic view of a tornado.

Fisk, who urges her Ypsilanti students to ask questions about what they learn through their art, read what the fifth grader had to say about his piece in his required artist’s statement. Turns out earlier in the day he had come across the expression “nature’s fury” in his language arts class. He wanted to explore just what that would look like.

As with other art teachers in southeast Michigan, Fisk encourages her students to make connections between what they’re learning in other subjects and what they create in her classroom. While she does teach from a curriculum to include lessons on artists, art history and different techniques, she believes that much of a student’s learning comes through the process of creating art.

“(Students) really have to use a great deal of creativity, problem solving and reflection in order to make something,” explains Fisk.

On the surface, art instruction may seem disconnected from socalled traditional topics, like science or math. But an understanding of art can enhance – and potentially improve – a student’s ability to learn in all subjects.
Keeping the art room Even with the slumping economy, many area school districts aren’t slashing art programs. “Art and sports used to be the first place we’d look when making (budget) cuts, but that’s just not the case anymore,” says Frank Ruggirello, a spokesperson for the Plymouth-Canton Community School District, the third largest in the state with around 19,000 students.

“Even though the district is already bare bones, we’re going to do everything we can to maintain our art program and keep it going strong.” Liz Margolis, a spokesperson for Ann Arbor Public Schools, agrees. “While we are definitely going to have to make budget cuts, we’re trying to make sure those cuts won’t be touching our classrooms. We have no plans to eliminate any of our ‘specials’ (like art).” While art programs are still thriving, there have been some changes. Wendy Sample, the art resource teacher at River Oaks Elementary and coordinator for art programs in Dearborn Public Schools, remembers times when her students had district-wide field trips. Big field trips are no longer possible, but Sample notes plenty of other art-inspired events that augment students’ classroom experience.

Each year, for instance, the district puts on a student art show at the local Padzieski Art Gallery. Sample and Fisk also bring in guest speakers to give students a better idea of what artists do.

Not your mother’s art class “Some think you just send (students) to art class and give them crayons to make drawings,” explains Sample, “but there’s a lot of theory behind what happens in the classroom.” For example, she uses Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS) – a program developed by art educators Abigail Housen, Ed.D., and Philip Yenawine – to guide her teaching principles.

The VTS program has several strategies for helping students evaluate art, but in a nutshell, it comes down to having students stop, look, think and speak.

Sample describes how this works in her classroom: “As a group, we analyze a painting.

Kids have to observe and defend their answers about what’s happening in the painting. We ask questions, like ‘What do you see in the painting that would make you say that?’” The conversation and critical thinking that takes place during these discussions can instill in students a greater ability to express themselves and to be more observant of what’s around them, believes Sample. “That kind of questioning can easily be transferred into other subject matters.” Innovation and attention to developing students’ critical thinking through art drives Fisk’s classroom instruction, too. Just this year, Fisk changed from a teacher-directed to a student-directed approach.

“In the past, I might have taught students about van Gogh’s Starry Night, and then have students imitate the technique,” says Fisk, who recalls “losing half the kids” in the process.

“This year, the students are more engaged, because it’s more meaningful to them.” Fisk remembers one student who last year struggled through a unit that focused on the work of Georgia O’Keefe. Under the student-centered approach, the fifth-grader has thrived. So far this year, he’s created three books, cutting the wood for the binding, punching holes in the paper and binding the paper together to create sketchbooks.

“I know it’s a catch phrase, but sometimes when I stand there looking at students’ work,” says Fisk, “I can see the wheels turning in their heads, trying to figure out how to make something work.” Process vs. product When asked what she wishes parents understood more about art instruction, Fisk quickly points out, “Especially at the elementary level, art is more about the process than the product. It’s not about everyone having a pretty picture.” Instead, students learn, under the direction of their art teachers, how to take their own intangible ideas and communicate them to others through various media like paint, clay and paper.

While this process might sound simple, Fisk explains that it takes skill for students to “come up with the idea, figure out how they’re going to make it, then make it and reflect on what they’ve done.” Art can build students’ confidence in their ability to tackle new ideas – not just in what they’re creating in the art room, but also in other classes. “Art instills (in students) a confidence for risk-taking,” says Fisk. “I think that’s a skill that would definitely help in other subject areas, especially writing.”
So the next time your son or daughter comes home from school and asks you to look over a project from art class, Fisk says to ask questions that emphasize the process of creating, rather than simply commenting, “Nice picture.” For example, ask your son questions about how he came up with the idea behind the work. Or ask your daughter why she chose certain materials in order to construct her piece.

The art of test-taking “Not all students learn the same way,” explains Sample. “Some are verbal learners,Or kinetic learners, and others are visual learners.” Art can bridge a gap in a student’s understanding of other subjects.

Sample remembers a time when her students were measuring out a square foot for a project in her class. One of her fourth-graders piped up, “So that’s what my math teacher meant.” The student didn’t comprehend the concepts in math class until he saw the literal measurements.

While art teachers and many other educators understand the importance of art instruction, sometimes it’s difficult to explain it to others. Sample points to one
Study, which is part of a broader movement, that demonstrates how students schooled in analyzing artwork become better critical thinkers.

The “Thinking Through Art” study, funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Arts in Education Model Development and Dissemination grant program, introduced local students to art through instruction in their schools and visits to the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum in Boston. At the end of the three-year program, researchers declared their efforts a success. Although the students who participated in the program didn’t have higher test scores on standardized tests, they did exhibit a greater ability to think critically.

Sample realizes that these more subjective measurements of art’s importance in a student’s education may be lost on some, so she points out more tangible benefits. Along with a group of art teachers, Sample sat down to study last year’s Michigan Educational Assessment Program (MEAP) test to see how many questions had to do with concepts taught in the art room. “We went through every question,” recalls Sample.

“About one-third of the questions had to do with something about art. That’s a good chunk.” The next time you notice your child having a hard time concentrating – or if your child seems to need help learning how to focus – consider taking him or her to an art museum instead of a tutor. Or maybe you should take out a sketchpad instead of the flash cards.

“Just think about it,” says Sample, “when you open the social studies books and learn about history and cultures, you don’t study their accountants; you study their art.”