@artplaylearn Headlines are starting to tell us about how schools are bound to cut programs, mostly art and other “specials”, and consequently teachers because of budget shortfalls. Let’s be clear though, the problem isn’t a budget shortfall as much as it is a shortfall of understanding how to restructure schools to be effective in our “new normal”. Global crises require global solutions. We cannot afford to keep doing things the same old way and expect them to work when literally everything about our lives and world has changed.
The Why
Let’s take a look at some of the programs that are being cut.
Music
Studying music doesn’t just make you better at making and understanding music. It literally changes the way your brain is wired. The benefits include increased IQ, increased problem solving ability, increased cognitive processing speed and visual perception. All of these processes are used in acquiring basic academic skills and knowledge so by cutting your music program you are cutting the class that develops the parts of your students’ brains that they need to be successful in every other subject. No amount of additional time spent writing, reading or doing math problems can make up for this deficit. Cutting music undermines your academic program on a fundamental level.
Physical Education
Physical activity is vital for general health and for developing parts of your brain you need to learn everything else. Physical education gives students increased ability to focus on sedentary work. Even just having the freedom to sit or stand increases students ability to focus on academic work. Working up a sweat holds additional brain benefits in that intense physical activity lights up the hippocampus which is crucial to learning and memory. Students need to move regularly and their academic life benefits from physical education.
Art
Among other benefits such as enhancing empathy and interest in contributing to society as a whole, visual or fine arts skills strengthen many brain processes. Drawing for example uses the same part so the brain used in writing. One case study even showed that fine arts proficiency resulted in “a more effective network of cognitive processing”* In other words, practicing creating visual art literally strengthens the connection between the parts of our brains that we use to learn and practice every other skill.
Theater & Dance
Theater is an organic integration including requiring reading comprehension skills, an understanding of different cultures and social structures in different places and points in history. It is physical, and vocal. It incorporates fine arts training in the design of sets, costumes and even blocking where balance and cohesion is vital. Dance is the integration of music, movement and theater. It is physical education, music education and everything that is integrated in theater education. Everything that applies to music education, physical education and art education applies to theater and dance education.
You see that these “specials” are not a waste of time and resources but are an indispensable part of academic gain. The solution is not to cut these programs and fire these teachers. The solution is to restructure your day so that these subjects are not only taught in their own sessions but also integrated into every other subject. In my white paper on how to safely open schools in fall of 2020, I lay out some solutions for restructuring how classes could meet and teaching and curriculum staff could work together to provide highly effective education that safeguards our students and staff from contracting the Coronavirus.
The How
In my paper about reopening schools, there is a section on integration. I firmly believe that this is the solution to many of our budgeting and effectiveness problems. I literally integrate any and all subjects. We waste an enormous amount of time and resources creating random content for skills such as reading comprehension, writing and math. Our ELA curriculum needs non-fiction content to address standards for researching and writing non-fiction text, for reading infographics and more. Instead of using the same content that students are learning in Social Studies and Science, teachers have students studying an entirely different set of content, randomly selected. For example, an elementary school class that is studying weather in Science but has a topic of baby animals for their ELA research project. Why? We are missing an opportunity to dig deeper into the Science content and reinforce that learning. That same project can double as a writing assignment or reading infographics in the Science curriculum. It is the most natural of all integrations. Yet we miss it more often than not. By integrating in this way and adding arts (of all kinds) or physical education integrations, we can use the same class period, team taught by subject matter experts to gain time for all subjects. If that is difficult logistically, we can also teach the content in Science using the skills taught in the arts/PE and the reflect them in the ELA and arts/PE classes. For a really specific example that can be adjusted to any developmental level, see my white paper.
I know you’re saying “but that does nothing to solve our budget problems.” Here is the part that addresses that. It is not likely that it will be truly safe for schools to reopen with full attendance in the fall anyway. If we are in lock-down again, which is quite likely considering the new spikes in cases after states hastily reopened and everybody jumped back into “normalness”, our buildings will be left empty again. This saves us lots of money in utilities, maintenance supplies, and running buses. That money can be refunneled to keep our teaching staff onboard. If we are indeed partially open, the best way to do that, as I say in my paper, is to open only for students whose families need them to be at school either because parents need the free child care and school-provided food or because the student is too impaired to learn through a screen. This limits the number of school buildings we would even need to open, would limit the number of non-teaching staff that are required to be at work and would safe-guard everybody from getting sick. Likewise, setting up car pools rather than running buses would limit the exposure of each family to one or two other families in need of transportation and would limit the expenses involved in trying to run an entire fleet of buses.
We have to prioritize money for learning over and above niceties. There are ways to solve every social problem that schools address without getting rid of our most effective academic programs and the teachers who teach them.
Bio: Meredith Kaunitz has been educating professionally for almost 30 years. Her very popular Infant & Toddler Enrichment Program was developed in partnership with the South Bowie Community Center. ¡Canta! Songs to Learn Spanish is a CD she developed to help young kids learn Spanish by listening to music with their family. More recently, she developed a curriculum for a Japanese language program that has earned 5-stars from over 700 students. In her current position as Chief Education Officer of Art Play Learn, her mission is to increase equity through and in education by applying what we already know to be true and by seeking out more answers to important questions about learning, social structure and psychology.
Twitter: @artplaylearn
IG: @artplaylearnllc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/artplaylearn
The Why
Let’s take a look at some of the programs that are being cut.
Music
Studying music doesn’t just make you better at making and understanding music. It literally changes the way your brain is wired. The benefits include increased IQ, increased problem solving ability, increased cognitive processing speed and visual perception. All of these processes are used in acquiring basic academic skills and knowledge so by cutting your music program you are cutting the class that develops the parts of your students’ brains that they need to be successful in every other subject. No amount of additional time spent writing, reading or doing math problems can make up for this deficit. Cutting music undermines your academic program on a fundamental level.
Physical Education
Physical activity is vital for general health and for developing parts of your brain you need to learn everything else. Physical education gives students increased ability to focus on sedentary work. Even just having the freedom to sit or stand increases students ability to focus on academic work. Working up a sweat holds additional brain benefits in that intense physical activity lights up the hippocampus which is crucial to learning and memory. Students need to move regularly and their academic life benefits from physical education.
Art
Among other benefits such as enhancing empathy and interest in contributing to society as a whole, visual or fine arts skills strengthen many brain processes. Drawing for example uses the same part so the brain used in writing. One case study even showed that fine arts proficiency resulted in “a more effective network of cognitive processing”* In other words, practicing creating visual art literally strengthens the connection between the parts of our brains that we use to learn and practice every other skill.
Theater & Dance
Theater is an organic integration including requiring reading comprehension skills, an understanding of different cultures and social structures in different places and points in history. It is physical, and vocal. It incorporates fine arts training in the design of sets, costumes and even blocking where balance and cohesion is vital. Dance is the integration of music, movement and theater. It is physical education, music education and everything that is integrated in theater education. Everything that applies to music education, physical education and art education applies to theater and dance education.
You see that these “specials” are not a waste of time and resources but are an indispensable part of academic gain. The solution is not to cut these programs and fire these teachers. The solution is to restructure your day so that these subjects are not only taught in their own sessions but also integrated into every other subject. In my white paper on how to safely open schools in fall of 2020, I lay out some solutions for restructuring how classes could meet and teaching and curriculum staff could work together to provide highly effective education that safeguards our students and staff from contracting the Coronavirus.
The How
In my paper about reopening schools, there is a section on integration. I firmly believe that this is the solution to many of our budgeting and effectiveness problems. I literally integrate any and all subjects. We waste an enormous amount of time and resources creating random content for skills such as reading comprehension, writing and math. Our ELA curriculum needs non-fiction content to address standards for researching and writing non-fiction text, for reading infographics and more. Instead of using the same content that students are learning in Social Studies and Science, teachers have students studying an entirely different set of content, randomly selected. For example, an elementary school class that is studying weather in Science but has a topic of baby animals for their ELA research project. Why? We are missing an opportunity to dig deeper into the Science content and reinforce that learning. That same project can double as a writing assignment or reading infographics in the Science curriculum. It is the most natural of all integrations. Yet we miss it more often than not. By integrating in this way and adding arts (of all kinds) or physical education integrations, we can use the same class period, team taught by subject matter experts to gain time for all subjects. If that is difficult logistically, we can also teach the content in Science using the skills taught in the arts/PE and the reflect them in the ELA and arts/PE classes. For a really specific example that can be adjusted to any developmental level, see my white paper.
I know you’re saying “but that does nothing to solve our budget problems.” Here is the part that addresses that. It is not likely that it will be truly safe for schools to reopen with full attendance in the fall anyway. If we are in lock-down again, which is quite likely considering the new spikes in cases after states hastily reopened and everybody jumped back into “normalness”, our buildings will be left empty again. This saves us lots of money in utilities, maintenance supplies, and running buses. That money can be refunneled to keep our teaching staff onboard. If we are indeed partially open, the best way to do that, as I say in my paper, is to open only for students whose families need them to be at school either because parents need the free child care and school-provided food or because the student is too impaired to learn through a screen. This limits the number of school buildings we would even need to open, would limit the number of non-teaching staff that are required to be at work and would safe-guard everybody from getting sick. Likewise, setting up car pools rather than running buses would limit the exposure of each family to one or two other families in need of transportation and would limit the expenses involved in trying to run an entire fleet of buses.
We have to prioritize money for learning over and above niceties. There are ways to solve every social problem that schools address without getting rid of our most effective academic programs and the teachers who teach them.
Bio: Meredith Kaunitz has been educating professionally for almost 30 years. Her very popular Infant & Toddler Enrichment Program was developed in partnership with the South Bowie Community Center. ¡Canta! Songs to Learn Spanish is a CD she developed to help young kids learn Spanish by listening to music with their family. More recently, she developed a curriculum for a Japanese language program that has earned 5-stars from over 700 students. In her current position as Chief Education Officer of Art Play Learn, her mission is to increase equity through and in education by applying what we already know to be true and by seeking out more answers to important questions about learning, social structure and psychology.
Twitter: @artplaylearn
IG: @artplaylearnllc
Facebook: www.facebook.com/artplaylearn