New Boston Central School

Arts Integration &  Interdisciplinary Learning

Arts Connected Teaching

"The arts contribute to an overall culture of excellence in a school. They are an effective means of connecting children to each other and helping them gain an understanding of the creators who preceeded them. They provide schools with a ready way to formulate relationships across and among traditional disciplines and to connect ideas and notice patterns.

Works of art provide effective means for linking information in history and social studies, mathematics, science, and geography. A work of art can lead to many related areas of learning, opening lines of inquiry, revealing that art, like life, is lived in a complex world not easily defined in discrete subjects."

New Boston Central School Integrated Arts Team consists of the art, music, and physical education teachers, along with the librarian, a classroom teacher, and the reading teachers. Each of the artistic fields collaborates on integrated arts projects. This type of collaboration makes connections within and among the arts as well as with other subjects. Integration is an approach to curriculum development, instruction, and assessment, building student competencies through the use of an integrated curriculum. A working knowledge of each artistic discipline enables students to make connections within and among the arts and other subjects. Interdisciplinary learning is an approach that seeks to develop and build student competence by consciously applying and utilizing the knowledge, skills, and methods of more than one discipline or subject to inquire about and explore an objective, central theme, or experience.

Our arts connected teaching model places a high value on creating an arts-infused environment. New Boston Central School strives to provide a seamless flow of learning through strong arts, arts integration, and democratice practice.

Through the use of the seven essential process traits of writing, students learn that all process, whether it be writing, reading, dancing, visual art, or music must contain IDEAS, ORGANIZATION, CHOICE, FLUENCY, VOICE, CONVENTIONS, AND PRESENTATION.

At NBCS   these traits are a common language that transcends all content areas.

Integrity and Integration:

Although integrating the visual, kinetic, and musical curricula is an important part of New Boston Central School's arts connected teaching model, it cannot and does not replace each subject's integrity. While students work to assemble the whole project, they will also work to meet specific objectives in each respective discipline. The art, music and physical education curriculum is never sacrificed to accomplish our integrated arts goals.

*The Power of the Arts to Transform Education:  An Agenda for Action.