At first
glance, the subjects seem as different as Felix and Oscar of "Odd
Couple" fame.
Poetry and science. Music and
history. Paintings and mathematics.
But like the famous roommates, the
pairs go hand in hand, according to Merryl Goldberg, a Cal State San
Marcos education professor and creator of SUAVE (Socios Unidos Para
Artes Via Educacion/United Community for Arts in Education), a
professional cultural development program for North County teachers.
Goldberg, 37, who spent 13 years
as a professional saxophone player, has written a book on a new trend
in education: using the arts to teach the fundamentals.
"I wouldn't argue that the three
R's (reading, writing and arithmetic) aren't super-important, but
that's where the arts help," said the author of "Arts and Learning:
An Integrated Approach to Teaching and Learning in Multicultural and
Multilingual Settings" (Longman, $19.95). "The arts are a way to get
the basics across."
Having a class listen to the music
of an era breathes life into history lessons, Goldberg said. Seeing
different shapes and sizes in classic paintings or current
architecture allows children to grasp abstract mathematical theories.
And using poetry helps students communicate their understanding of
complex subjects.
The book is full of examples from
North County classrooms where Goldberg did her research.
The Vista resident helped teachers
Judy Leff of Pacific View Elementary in Encinitas and Michelle
Kihm-Doyle of San Marcos Elementary integrate poetry into their
science lessons.
"It's just an incredible
experience," said Leff, an advocate of the integrated arts approach.
"It facilitates learning. It reaches children in ways you don't tap
into in regular curriculum. It helps them better understand what they
have learned.
"For many kids, it gives them an
outlet," continued the fifth- and sixth-grade teacher. "Writing
poetry allows them to find a voice which many times they didn't
realize they had. They produce stunning poetry using just a few
words. There's a lot of pride in that."
One of the poems included in "Arts
and Learning" was written by Joey Strauss when he was a fifth-grader
at Pacific View Elementary:
The Cliff
It stands alone in silence
never losing its strength
except sometimes a wave
will come and dig beneath
the sandstone shell
It cannot lose more than a
chip
but slowly it
disintegrates from
all the time the tide has
come and
all the time the wind has
gone
Specifically, integrating arts
helps in Southern California's bilingual, bicultural climate,
explained Goldberg. Where Spanish-speaking children might not be able
to find the English words to explain a particular scientific or
mathematical theory, different art forms might give them an outlet to
show they do understand subject matter.
Kihm-Doyle said that was true in
her fourth-grade class, where Goldberg experimented with using poetry
to assess the bilingual children's understanding of such science
lessons as matter, molecules and energy. As a class, the children
came up with words that had to do with the particular subject. Then
they used those words individually to jump-start their poems.
"It was so successful because the
kids really felt good that they had created something," said
Kihm-Doyle.
Besides that, it showed the
teacher that the students - who were learning English as their second
language - really did understand the complex subject matter.
They had to know the information
to string the words into a coherent poem. On standard tests, she
explained, the students frequently scored low because they could not
understand the questions.
'They do understand, they just
don't show it in a standard way," she realized after the poetry
assignment. "They just don't have the ability to express it on a
standard test."
"Poetry frees up kids to be
imaginative," said Goldberg, who received her master's and doctoral
degrees in education from Harvard. "They don't have to worry about
grammar and syntax."
Using an art medium to assess a
student's understanding of a subject can be extended to all students,
said Goldberg, not just those who are learning English.
"It's good for parents to know
that not all kids do great on tests," Goldberg said. "The child could
be smart, it's just their medium is different from verbal or written.
Some kids who have trouble writing, if they draw out the idea first
it might be easier for them to write it down."
Learning to express themselves and
then earning better grades helped bolster students' self-esteem,
Goldberg and the elementary teachers agreed.
"I found my kids take more risks,"
said Kihm-Doyle.
"They self-esteem in classrooms
blossomed," added Goldberg. "As a result, test scores are going up
and the students are more willing to participate in class.
"Research shows that when kids
feel better about themselves, they do better in school."
The co-editor of Harvard's Arts as
Education publication, Goldberg said her belief in using art as a
learning tool generally has been well-received by the educational
community.
In traditional classes, the arts
are separate subjects, not woven throughout lessons and used as a
learning tool, as Goldberg proposes.
However, according to Goldberg, in
California only 7 percent of elementary students study music and
fewer than 1 percent learn about visual arts.
"The real difference in this
philosophy from others is that I look at art as literacy - a method
and strategy to express ideas. It's using art as learning-expressive
tools."
Seated in her office surrounded by
children's artwork, Goldberg added, "Another important point that's
real fundamental is that by introducing the arts as a thinking tool,
the students practice being imaginative and creative. They need that
in order to succeed."
Goldberg maintains a lofty goal of
"reintroducing art in every school. I'll smile big-time when all kids
get to use the arts and teachers are comfortable integrating art in
subject matters."