Reflection is woven throughout the creative process as students reconsider the impact of their choices on an ongoing basis.
This line is very important. I think it is easier to reflect in the arts than when facts are just thrown at you. While doing art you are highly encouraged to think about what you are doing and how it might affect others.
Arts integration practices are aligned with how students learn
Not to beat a dead horse here but I found this heading good. Arts are flexible enough to incorporate many learning methods and therefore it is fitting that it is tied to how students learn.
In contrast to a one-size-fits-all curriculum, arts integration offers personalized learning.
The flexibility of arts integration is really cool. I think part of the reason is is so personal is that students are driving their own education much more in an arts setting. For many assignments they are exploring the bounds of the rules which encourages learning.
This Whole Child tenet on safety focuses also on students’ ability to manage their behavior.
I would've never known this. Managing behavior is such an important skill in adulthood. This is all the more reason to include arts in school.
differentiated instruction is: “a way of thinking about teaching and learning that values the individual
This is something that I've learned is very important to teaching. You should strive to know your students to better gear your lessons for your class. You will be more successful by being flexible than not.
For example, some students learn aurally, visually, or kinesthetically. Some learn quickly, others struggle, and still others fall somewhere between
This reminds me of all the progress we have made on IQ testing. Until recently IQ was thought to be ridged and reflective of someone's life long intelligence. Now we now that it's not ridged and can be improved over time. Teachers are evolving to fit that idea.
The second part of the Formative Assessment Process is OBSERVE.
I think this is the step where informal assessments are the most handy. If you plan lessons with this step in mind you can engineer situations where you can learn what each student knows and what you need to teach all without the students really knowing you are assessing them.
In the model depicted here, the process is made visible as five open circles.
I've never seen this model before. I'm blanking on the model I had seen previously but I like this one more. This one really shows the flexibility and fluidity of creativity. There isn't necessarily a starting point nor an end point. You could just continually move through the circles finding new ways to apply knowledge.
visual, aural, and kinesthetic
I like that they include these in here. I don't think everyone thinks about how these can drastically change the lesson for some students especially those with disabilities. It's good to have these in your mind when making a lesson.
Some believe that unequal access has resulted from a reliance on teaching strategies that use only traditional forms of instruction (e.g., lectures, learning from textbooks).
This is what I think is the key to the whole thing. Previous teachers focused too much on getting the material into the brain. Since not everyone can learn that way it was impossible for everyone to do well. I don't think all teachers were like this but some were. Art's integration is a great boon to the UDL framework.
reason effectively, make judgments and decisions, and solve problems, among other things.
I believe these aspects to be most important. The ability to analyze and sort out new knowledge will largely decide how well your life works out. Contrary to popular belief there is a best way to solve each problem but it is up to the individual to find what that solution is. These skills are foundational in that process.
how to create “a new learning environment consistent with the cognitive and expressive demands of the 21st century.”
I think this is a fitting question, and one I believe this class is particularly suited for. In my personal opinion the best thing to teach students is how to think for themselves and solve problems. The flexibility of arts integration is fantastic for teaching this and a great solution to this question.