Reflections on Teaching and Learning the Arts: A Middle-Grade Classroom and a High School for the Arts

Abstract

In this article, Rosemary Barilla, a middle-grade language arts teacher, inspired by her own dedication to the arts, describes the ways she integrates the fine arts into her classroom program that is designed to teach reading and writing. She notes,

My priority is to address and teach the language arts standards, and I believe that to do so in good faith is to teach a well-versed understanding of how to “read” and write various texts, whether the text is in the form of a painting, a song, a play, or a novella. (p. 12)