Read, Write, Think, Draw, Eat, Sleep. Repeat.

Natasha LeRutte- HS ELA

I am so excited to share some of the resources I found for all of us! 

1.) ReadWriteThink is an absolutely amazing resource tied to the NCTE.  On the site there is a gallery of lesson plans tied to English and loosely to history, but more importantly there are lessons with great potential to be transformed into arts integration lessons!  Some of the lessons are ripe with arts components that just need a little modification to truly be an arts integrated lesson.  For example, one of the lessons introduces Pablo Picasso to students (Picasso Lesson).  One of the listed resources with this lesson is the Picasso Head website.  Picasso Head site can be found by clicking here. This site is incredibly fun and can be used to introduce the components of Picasso’s style.  You must visit this and create a little something for fun.  

2.) I can’t give enough credit to the free Ted Talks that spark so much creativity and thought.  During my research time, I wanted to explore something new, something that I could potentially tie in with an upcoming arts integration lesson.  I stumbled upon a Ted Talk by Sheikha Al Mayassa (Click here for her Ted Talk).  She ponders some wonderfully thought provoking questions like, “What should culture in the 21^st century look like?” as she states, “Art becomes part of a culture’s identity. “  I thought immediately of my students and how they must reflect on who is creating their identity as a community and how art is one way to express their culture and identity.  To add, Sheikha Al Mayassa introduces the Picasso of her community.  The artist is one that I had never heard of named “Baya”.  More information on her can be found here: http://www.galerielmarsa.com/site/en/artist_details.php?id_article=42 .  I began to think about how I could tie the arts into a multicultural lesson to truly expose my students to artists who aren’t household names, but have every right to be.