KENNICKER MASTER PORTFOLIO: ARTS INTEGRATION
Master’s Portfolio Project: Arts Integration
6/26/2020
Brenna Kennicker
University of Alaska Southeast
Beth Hartley
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Abstract
The Candidate demonstrates understanding of the central concepts, tools of
inquiry, and structures of the discipline(s) he or she teaches and creates learning
experiences that make these aspects of the discipline accessible and meaningful for
learners to assure mastery of the content in the areas below. Arts Integration:
Candidates engage learners in critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and
communication to address authentic local and global issues using the arts (music, dance,
theater, media arts, and/or visual arts).
Arts Framework
For the section on arts integration I would like to discuss a lesson I wrote as part
of ED320C back in the spring of 2013. Per the assignment, we were to create a lesson
which incorporated music into another subject and teach it. Looking at this lesson, I
think it would be a fantastic lesson for my 4th grade student teaching class, or my 5th
graders. However, I wrote the lesson for a class of 2nd graders and that is where my
problems begin. Back in 2013 there were no state standards below 3rd grade for science
or social studies, and while I wanted to incorporate one of these subjects into my
classwork, I didn’t have developmentally appropriate standards to base my lesson
planning on, instead using the 3rd grade standards and hoping for the best. I was also
focused on the wrong aspects of the lesson. Instead of looking at the standards and
adjusting my objectives to be grade level appropriate, I focused on the incorporation of
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the music. This meant I was asking too much of students when it came time to teach the
lesson and there was a lot of frustration and confusion among students.
I also vastly overestimated the attention spans of 7 year olds. The most
commonly cited numbers are for each year of age a child can focus for 3-5 minutes,
meaning a 7-year-old has an attention span of 35 minutes, tops (Schaefer & Millman,
1994). This lesson ran for over 40 minutes, and it was clear to see in my reflection that
though the lesson was engaging, I lost several students along the way. The inclusion of
a writing portion with a group that was still learning to write was also a poor choice on
my part. This lesson showed that even though a lesson may be engaging to students, it
may not hit the objectives you want. However, despite the failings of the lesson the
students absolutely loved the song, and would hum snippets of it even days later. Why?
Music, especially songs and rhymes have the ability to act similarly to mnemonic
devices, helping the brain with memory recall (Crowther, 2012). I have since used music often in
this manner, especially with concepts which require certain step-by-step processes, like long
division. I showed my class this video from Youtube channel “Math Songs with Numberrock”
(2018) when we were learning about the standard algorithm for long division. This song became
a major part of that unit, with students requesting it almost daily. During independent work or
math games, students would sing a few bars of the song to themselves or each other to help recall
the next step of the process. The 2nd graders were also using the song from our social studies
lesson in a similar way, though due to only hearing it a few times didn’t know the full song.
Another question which plagues all educators is why did I lose some students, but others
managed to plug along even past their theorized limit for attention? Looking at my lesson plan
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it’s obvious why I lost students; I was going far beyond the ability levels of some, if not the
majority of the class. But what about those few who stuck it out, who were humming the song
days later? If we look at the theory of multiple intelligences posited by Howard Gardner (1983)
perhaps those students who followed through were musically minded students, and my lesson
had tapped into their preferred method of learning.
As I wrote in my original reflection, this lesson would be much better suited for an
intermediate class. Given that in my current district 4th grade learns physical geography as part of
their social studies curriculum, and I am going to teach 4th grade next year, I plan on adjusting
this lesson for my class.
I plan to do so by introducing the song, by itself in perhaps the second lesson of the unit.
I want students to have the opportunity to hear the song, by itself, with no other distractions. I
would also play it multiple times and ask students to focus on the content as well as the tune.
While the writing portion was poorly planned for 2nd graders, I think it would be great practice
for 4th grade, and given some of the difficult spellings of state names could also become a part of
our spelling curriculum too. Lastly, I’ll look to see if an instrumental only version of the song
exists, and perhaps play that as background music during independent or group study times. I
find the playing of music softly during certain times of the day as background noise is not only
calming to most students, allowing them to focus on the task at hand better (Kagan, 2014) but
brain science states that children who are frequently exposed to music develop more, and
stronger neural pathways (Weinberger, 2004). I think by making these adjustments, and by
choosing an appropriate grade level for the lesson, it could be successful in its original
objectives.
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Overall, though the lesson itself was kind of a flop, it was valuable in that it helped me
develop a better understanding of what developmentally appropriate lesson plans look like. It
also helped me to practice incorporating music into lessons and subjects I may not have
originally thought possible or feasible. Incorporating music into my lessons has become
something I enjoy doing to engage my students and provide them another avenue to learning and
is something I plan to continue honing in my next year of teaching.
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References
Crowther, G. (2012). Using science songs to enhance learning: An interdisciplinary approach.
CBE—Life Sciences Education, 11(1), 26–30. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.11-08-0068
Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of mind: The theory of multiple intelligences. Basic Books.
Kagan, S. (2014). Brain friendly teaching: Tools, tips & structures. Kagan Cooperative.
Math Songs by NUMBERROCK. (2018.). “Long division with remainders song”. YouTube.
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcGB39f66RY
Schaefer, C. E., & Millman, H. L. (1994). How to help children with common problems. J.
Aronson.
Weinberger, N. (2004). Music and the brain. Scientific American,291(5), 88-95. Retrieved June
29, 2020, from www.jstor.org/stable/26060767
