Feed: EDUCATION CLOSET

The post More than a Special: Connecting the Arts with Special Education first appeared on Education Closet

Ben was a genius.  He could play any melody back to you on any instrument in my classroom without a minute of practice.  His whole body transformed when he listened to a piece of music.  He was alive with a sense of purpose and joy.  From the moment he entered my 3rd grade music class [...]

The post It’s All About (Brain) Connections! first appeared on Education Closet

Editor’s Note: Please welcome our newest contributing writer, Pat Klos, to EducationCloset!  Pat is an Arts Integration Specialist in Anne Arundel County, MD and has been featured in Edutopia and national conferences for her work in this field.  We are so honored to have her on board and writing for us each Monday.  To learn [...]

The post Transforming Educational Consulting first appeared on Education Closet

You might have noticed a couple of additions here on EducationCloset.  We’ve added a tab to the top of our menu for “The Vision Board” and you’ll also find a banner for this organization on the right side of our site.  We’re so excited to share this new adventure with all of you as we [...]

The post The Art of Data first appeared on Education Closet

Data and art seem like natural enemies, don’t they?  We’re constantly hearing for the need for more data in the classroom. In fact many classroom teachers are fearful to implement arts integration because it may affect their data to which they are held accountable.  At the same time, many arts teachers worry that assessments will [...]

The post Are Your Assessments Aligned? first appeared on Education Closet

One of the biggest fears of many teachers when working through an integrated lesson is how to assess the other content area.  Part of this fear comes from just not “knowing”.  We can punch that fear in the face if we take a few extra steps to ensure that we map out the assessments we [...]

The post Using the Arts to Build Empathy, the Ultimate 21st Century Skill first appeared on Education Closet

What will the world look like when our students leave school?  While we educators may not know exactly, we can see the direction the world is taking and can make an educated guess as to what our students will need to be able to do; hence the creation of the 21st Century Skills.  When I [...]

The post Student Learning Objectives in the Arts first appeared on Education Closet

  Student Learning Objectives are coming to a school near you.  Are you ready?  First of all, if you are not aware of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), I encourage you to find out as much as you can about them during your upcoming summer vacation.  Essentially, these are selected targets based on the students in [...]

The post Form and Observation Arts Integration Lesson first appeared on Education Closet

For today’s free Friday, we’re offering a brand new lesson plan!  Today’s lesson aligns music standards for patterns with the new Next Generation Science Standards for teaching heredity.  This lesson is intended for use in first grade, and relates the understandings of similarities and differences between adults and baby animals to the theme and variation [...]

The post Why Managing a Crisis is Easy first appeared on Education Closet

Have you ever noticed how comfortable people get when a “crisis” arrives in your building?  That sounds a little odd, so let me put it another way.  Which do you think people in your school would prefer: handling a crisis or being creative?  If you have to think about that for more than 1 second, [...]

The post Creating vs. Imitating first appeared on Education Closet

“Ms. Moore can we change it and go like this?”  Ah, the sweet sounds of student engagement and creative thinking!   Some fourth graders said this to me as they were rehearsing raps and corresponding dance sequences that I taught them designed specifically to address science concepts students in the school system had been missing on [...]