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As an 8th grade history teacher, I’ve found one simple truth: students remember what they experience. That’s why I intentionally build movement and the arts into my classroom every single day. Whether students are drawing, performing, or writing, they are always doing something creative to show what they’ve learned. When students walk through my door, they know they won’t just be sitting and listening - they will be participating. They’ll step into the past, take on roles, and bring historical moments to life through performance and artistic expression. One of the most powerful examples of this approach is how we explore the Stono Rebellion. Instead of simply reading about the event, students become part of it. I invite them to get into character as I narrate the story. As the lesson unfolds, students physically act out the events - moving through the space, responding to cues, and embodying the emotions and urgency of the moment. To deepen the atmosphere, we transform the classroom environment. The lights go out to reflect the nighttime setting of the rebellion. Students create soundscapes; drumming rhythms and layered noises to represent communication and the hope of drawing others to join. Every student has a role, whether through spoken lines, movement, or sound, ensuring that all learners are actively engaged. This type of arts integration does more than increase engagement. It builds empathy and understanding. Students are not just recalling facts; they are processing perspectives, emotions, and motivations. After the reenactment, students shift from performance to reflection. They visually represent what they experienced by drawing key moments and details. Then, they write short narratives from a first-person perspective, imagining themselves within the event. This combination of visual art and creative writing allows students to solidify their understanding in multiple ways. To further amplify student voice, they are given the choice to share their stories; either with the whole class or in smaller groups. This flexibility creates a supportive environment where all students can participate at their comfort level while still engaging in meaningful discussion and storytelling. Across grade levels, this approach can be adapted in powerful ways. Younger students might focus more on guided movement and simple drawings, while older students can dive deeper into complex perspectives, dialogue, and historical analysis. The core idea remains the same: learning becomes more meaningful when students actively create, move, and express. Time and time again, my students tell me how much they enjoy lessons like these. More importantly, they remember them. For me, that’s the goal. When we integrate movement and the arts into content instruction, history stops being something distant and starts becoming something students can see, feel, and understand. Arts integration isn’t an “extra”. It’s a pathway to deeper learning and understanding.
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I’ve always loved being creative, but I never thought I was very good at drawing or realistic painting. This made me think I could never be a “real” artist. This belief changed when I discovered mixed media collage, which was a gateway to unlocking my creativity and confidence as an artist. Mixed media collage is a very open-ended way to make art that allows you to be creative with paper, paint, pens, and lots of wonderful mistakes. Over the years, I have integrated mixed media collage into my teaching and have seen it have the same artistic confidence-boosting effect on students. While the technique may seem a bit intimidating at first, it is actually quite easy when broken down into manageable steps. Start with an Idea First, I start with an idea. I look through magazines, photographs, and my memory to find an image that I want to create. Sometimes the image is something from real life, like a picture of our cabin in Maine or the water tower near my house at sunset. Sometimes it is a collection of images that conveys an idea, like the mixed media collage outside my classroom door, which is filled with hidden images that symbolize my love of teaching reading and writing. In the classroom, my students have used mixed media collage as a way to share facts that they have learned about a topic and to create illustrations to accompany original poetry. Gather Supplies Next, I gather my supplies. I prefer to use a canvas panel or a wood painting panel. In the classroom, I have used thick watercolor paper as a cost-effective base. I choose bottles of paint that match the color scheme that I have in mind. I also round up lots of different colors and patterns of paper. Recently, my students and I have even begun to print our own unique papers using a Gelli plate. I gather various sized paint brushes and my bottle of gel medium. I also need two pairs of sharp scissors. I have a large pair for general cutting and a tiny pair that is perfect for precision cutting. I also have acrylic pens, gel pens, and chalk pastels close at hand. Build the Background After I have my supplies, I start to build the background of my painting. Sometimes I glue down pieces of paper using watered-down gel medium and a big, flat paintbrush. Then I usually paint the background a solid color, allowing some of the papers to peek through. After the first coat dries, I paint over it several times with watered down washes of different shades of the same color. This gives the background some depth. Making Layers The next step is to build the layers that make my picture. I usually start with a hand-drawn image or a copy of a photograph. This will become my template. Using a marker, I divide the image into parts that I can imagine being cut from different patterns of paper. I then make several copies so that I don’t have to worry about mistakes when cutting. Using the image as a template, I cut pieces of patterned paper that fit together like a puzzle. I try to choose lots of different patterns and shades of paper. I use the gel medium mixture to attach each piece to my canvas. When I make a mistake, I figure out how I can turn it into part of the picture. This process of letting mistakes and in-the-moment inspirations guide my process is one of my favorite parts of mixed media collage. Finishing Touches After I assemble the picture, it is time to add the finishing touches. This is what visually binds all of the pieces together and makes the artwork come to life. It is also the step in the process where I work most intuitively. I often trace around pieces with a dark charcoal pencil and smudge the edges. I create shadows and pops of colors using paint and chalk pastels. I sometimes add detail using acrylic pens, gel pens, and permanent markers. Finally, I coat the whole painting with gel medium or spray varnish. Give It a Try! Making mixed media collage takes time, the willingness to make a mess, and the ability to see possibility in mistakes. All you need to get started is a canvas or wood panel, paint, scraps of paper, and a big imagination. I encourage everyone to give it a try, with the promise to yourself that you will withhold self-judgement and go where the process leads. You never know what masterpiece you could create! 
Anyone who walks into a classroom in May can feel the energy swirling around the room. Students’ brains have been filled with knowledge all year long, and they are ready for summer break! We often welcome the slower pace of summer. However, the long, unstructured days that once encouraged creativity and imagination are becoming less common. Instead, many children spend hours on devices, with research suggesting that young children may engage in 6–8 hours of screen time per day during the summer months. This increase can impact the development of fine motor skills, creativity, and social-emotional growth. The well-known child psychologist Jean Piaget identified the pre-operational stage (ages 3–7) as a critical period for creativity. During this stage, children develop imagination through art, play, and hands-on experiences. These opportunities support the growth of symbolic thinking, expressive language, and creative problem-solving. This summer, what better way to support development than to step outside and explore the world around them through arts integration? Arts integration is not just about creating art; it is about using creative expression as a tool for learning, thinking, and exploring the world. Through arts integration, children are not only creating...they are also learning to problem-solve, make connections across subjects, and think in flexible and imaginative ways. Let’s be intentional. Look around the house for art materials you may already have, or pick up simple items (markers, glue, paint, paper, scissors, playdough) at your local dollar store. Turn off the screens and allow children the space to be bored and to create. Nature Summer Art Integration Activities Nature Walk: Find a state park and take a hike. During the hike, bring a gallon-size bag and collect small natural items (acorns, leaves, sticks, etc.). When you return home, use glue and paper to create a person, an animal, a scene you experienced, or a simple collage. This allows your child’s imagination to bloom. Dip in a Creek: Beat the heat and find a creek to wade in. While you are there, gather rocks and build rock towers. See how tall you can make them before they fall. Driveway Art: There are so many ways to create! Use water bottles or water guns to draw pictures or write words on the driveway. Use sidewalk chalk to experiment with color mixing and design. Field of Flowers: Find a field of wildflowers (where picking is allowed). Make a flower wreath, bring some home, and create a picture using the flowers. Beach Art: Bring a bucket and shovel to create the best sandcastle, and don’t forget to add shells. Use a water bottle or spray bottle to draw pictures in the sand. Collect shells and turn them into weeks of activities, such as shell mosaics and shell people. Let your child’s imagination lead the way. Rock Art: Purchase smooth rocks and paint to create kindness rocks. Let your child paint each one and place them around your community to spread kindness. Explore Your Backyard: Head outside and turn everyday items into something magical! Dig through the recycle bin for boxes, grab paint, markers, and scissors, and design your own fairy garden, Pokémon world, or animal habitat. Use old sheets and lawn chairs to build a cozy fort, or use playdough to sculpt with natural materials like grass, sticks, and leaves. You can even go old-school and make classic mud pies - messy, creative fun at its best! Dance in the Rain: Let your child embrace the joy of rainy days! Dance in the rain together, then collect rainwater in containers. Add a few drops of food dye and use the colored rainwater to paint a unique masterpiece. Through each of these activities, your child builds confidence as an artist while developing fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. They engage in tactile exploration, experiment with cause and effect, and practice self-expression. These experiences also nurture focus, persistence, and resilience. Why This is Important Think about stacking rocks at a creek. It takes patience, trial and error, and persistence to find the right balance. That same process reflects how children learn; through exploration, adjustment, and discovery. As Jean Piaget emphasized, each developmental stage builds upon the next. When children engage in open-ended, creative experiences, they are strengthening the foundation for future academic success. By integrating art into everyday experiences, we are not only filling their days but also strengthening fine motor development, increasing focus, and nurturing confident, curious, and resilient learners ready to return to school in the fall. The best part? These simple moments often become the memories children carry with them long after summer ends.
 What happens when we ask students—and ourselves—to look within? Not just inward in a personal sense, but inward as a creative practice. Inward as away of seeing, interpreting, and responding to the world around us. A recent collaboration in Greenville, SC offered a powerful model for this kind of exploration. One that arts integration teachers at any level can bring into their own classrooms. In partnership with our Greenville Poet Laureate, Glenis Redmond, the Metropolitan Arts Council (MAC) launched its third annual Visual & Verse exhibit. The concept is simple, but incredibly rich: 15 visual artists each create a piece centered on the theme “within,” and then 15 poets respond to those works with original writing by way of an ekphrastic poem. The result? A layered conversation between image and word; between what we see and how we interpret it. A Dialogue Between Art Forms At its heart, this exhibit is built on the idea of connection. Each artwork becomes more than a standalone piece. It becomes a prompt, a question, an invitation. The poets step into the visual space and respond, creating something new which both reflects and expands the original work. Displayed side by side, the artwork and its corresponding poem invite viewers to experience both simultaneously. You’re not just looking. You’re interpreting. You’re feeling. You’re making meaning across forms. And that’s where this becomes especially exciting for educators. What Is Ekphrastic Poetry and Why Does It Matter? This kind of creative exchange is rooted in a practice called ekphrastic poetry, poetry written in response to a work of art. It’s an approach that naturally lends itself to arts integration because it:
disciplines: look closely, think deeply, and respond meaningfully. From Greenville to Your Classroom Projects like Visual & Verse remind us that powerful learning doesn’t occur in isolation. It grows through connection; between disciplines, between people, and between ways of thinking. How can you bring this kind of partnership into your own school/learning community? Maybe it’s a collaboration between an art teacher and an English teacher, where students create visual pieces and then exchange them as inspiration for poetry. Maybe it’s a cross-grade level project, where older students write in response to artwork created by younger learners; building both mentorship and creative dialogue. Or maybe it starts small, with a single lesson that invites students to look closely, reflect deeply, and respond in a new medium. These kinds of experiences don’t require a formal exhibit or a large-scale event.They begin with a willingness to connect. A willingness to let one art form spark another, and to trust that students have something meaningful to say when given the space to reflect and respond. When we invite students to create within and in response to one another, we’re not just teaching content. We’re cultivating perspective, empathy, and voice. And who knows? Your classroom might just become the next space where words and images meet in ways that surprise, challenge, and inspire.
Over the past four years, the Berkeley County School District (BCSD) has made a commitment to empowering educators through access, collaboration, and innovation. Out of that commitment, the Instruction Hub was born — a one-stop digital destination designed to support teachers across all grade levels and content areas with the tools they need to plan, teach, and inspire. The Vision: Simplifying and Strengthening Instruction The idea for the Instruction Hub began with a simple question: How can we make it easier for teachers to find what they need, when they need it? Educators across the district expressed a common challenge: instructional resources were scattered across multiple platforms and folders, making it difficult to locate consistent, high- quality materials or the ultimate fear- we had nothing for the teachers. The goal was clear: to create a centralized, user-friendly, and dynamic hub that houses curriculum resources, pacing guides, professional development links, instructional tools, and district expectations, all in one place. The Process: Collaboration in Action Developing the Instruction Hub was a collaborative effort involving teachers, instructional coaches, curriculum specialists, and district leaders. Each team played a vital role in identifying needs, organizing content, and designing the layout to ensure that the platform truly reflected the voice and workflow of classroom educators. Through multiple planning sessions, pilot phases, and feedback rounds, the Hub evolved from a simple concept into a living resource that continues to grow with teacher input. How It Has Grown What began as a small internal project has expanded into a district-wide resource that supports every school. Today, the Instruction Hub includes:
instructional needs. Teacher Involvement and Impact Teachers are at the heart of the Instruction Hub. Their feedback drives updates, their lessons inspire new features, and their success stories prove the Hub’s impact. Many educators have shared that the platform saves them valuable planning time and helps them stay aligned with district goals while still allowing creative freedom in their classrooms. Implementation and Training BCSD prioritized training and accessibility to ensure every educator felt confident using the Hub. Through professional development sessions, school-based training, and ongoing support from instructional coaches, the Hub has become an essential daily tool for planning and collaboration. What’s Next? As Berkeley County continues to grow, so will the Instruction Hub. The district plans to expand features to include interactive collaboration spaces, teacher-created resource libraries, and more multimedia instructional tools. The Instruction Hub represents more than just a collection of resources, it’s a symbol of Berkeley County’s commitment to excellence in teaching and learning. It brings our educators together under a shared mission: to provide every student with high-quality, engaging instruction, every day.
I’ve always loved teaching theater, but what I love even more is using theater to teach everything else. Whether students are writing a monologue, creating a tableau, or improvising a scene, theater has a way of unlocking creativity and deepening understanding. We teach that every story needs characters, setting, and action. Those same story elements become a natural entry point for teaching theater, because you simply can’t teach theater without teaching story. Start With Story: The Picture Game One of my favorite ways to reinforce story elements is through the Picture Game, a fast-paced tableau activity that works beautifully in any classroom. Five students line up in front of the class. One at a time, they step forward, say “I am a…,” and create a frozen picture with their body. By the end, the group has built a complete image that includes character, setting, and action. It’s quick, it’s collaborative, and it requires real listening. And here’s the part teachers sometimes forget: let them fail. The arts thrive on trial and error. When the first few groups struggle, have them restart. That moment of “try again” is where the learning really happens. This simple game reinforces story structure while giving students a chance to be bold and imaginative. Theater Games Teach Life Skills Theater games may look like pure fun, but they teach essential life skills: listening, focus, creativity, and cooperation. These skills can be taught, practiced, and assessed through structured play. One of the most important habits you can build is the ritual of the warm-up. Warm-ups teach skills, create ensemble, and build trust. I like to start by getting the class into a circle. It doesn’t matter how big or small your space is; a circle always works. My students head to the perimeter of the room and sign our contract, based on Sean Layne’s Actors Tools. Then we play a circle game like Pass the Clap or Zip Zap Zop for older students. Build Trust - Begin With the Mirror Game Once students are warmed up, I love moving into the Mirror Game, a theater classic. Partners face each other, and one leads while the other follows. It teaches cooperation, confidence, eye contact, and the balance between leading and following. I always connect these skills back to the classroom. How do we show we’re listening? By watching. How do we follow directions? How do we work as a team? Sometimes you lead and sometimes you follow, and both roles matter. Add Give and Take After mirroring, I introduce Give and Take, which is really just taking turns with intention. One person moves while the other stays frozen, and then they switch. You can also use this structure with words during pair-share activities. Pair-share is one of my favorite tools because it can be a warm-up, a brain break, or a purposeful moment for students to talk and think. Try “Makes Me Think Of” One of my go-to pair-share games is Makes Me Think Of. One student says a word, and the partner responds, “That makes me think of…” and adds a new idea. They go back and forth, building connections and stretching their thinking. It’s simple, energizing, and fantastic for vocabulary development. Teach Verbs and Adverbs With “Yes, Let’s!” Another wonderful game to integrate into academic content is Yes, Let’s, a classic improvisation activity that’s perfect for teaching verbs and adverbs. One student suggests an action, like “Let’s jump,” and the whole group enthusiastically responds, “Yes, let’s,” and performs the action. Once they understand the rhythm, you can layer in adverbs. “Let’s march slowly.” Teacher Tip: perform this in a circle and once the action is introduced, give a countdown at the end of each action so everyone freezes together and is ready for the next suggestion. Small Steps, Big Impact These activities are just the beginning. Small, simple steps like warm-ups, tableau, and pair-share games can have a big impact on student engagement, confidence, and understanding. Theater doesn’t have to be a separate subject. It can be woven into everything you already do. And once you start, you’ll see just how naturally it fits.
At J Paul Truluck Creative Arts and Science Magnet School, we believe that learning is more meaningful when students are encouraged to make cross-disciplinary connections. My Physical Education students regularly engage in Arts Integration with their PE content. Most recently, I challenged my students to use the creativity of the visual arts and the energy of volleyball to create artwork that demonstrated both. The task was simple: students were asked to create an original piece of art featuring volleyball as the subject, using any artistic style of their choosing. I front-loaded this by exposing the students to numerous pieces of artwork, in different styles, focused on volleyball. The students were free to utilize any art style that they wanted to. Some explored edgy graffiti art designs, others leaned into impressionistic brushwork, while a few captured the essence of volleyball in abstract and contemporary forms. The project didn’t end with the creation of the art itself. We also examined the importance of an artist statement and each student wrote their own, explaining their creative choices, the style they chose, and how their work connects to the sport. These reflections give the viewers a glimpse into their thought processes, allowing the students to take on the roles of athlete, artist, and storyteller. To showcase their efforts, exemplar works were carefully selected and curated into a virtual, interactive art gallery. Visitors can “walk through” the gallery virtually, view the pieces up close, and read each student’s statement in their own words. The gallery highlights the diverse ways students approached the project while also celebrating the powerful link the students created between volleyball and visual expression. Projects like this serve as examples that physical education doesn’t have to be just about physical activity—it can, and should, also be about expression, personal connection, and creativity. By joining together art and athletics, my students learned to see volleyball not only as a sport to be played, but also as a source of inspiration and a subject worthy of artistic expression. My students and I are incredibly proud of the work that they produced, and we invite you to step into our Virtual Volleyball Art Gallery to experience it for yourself. We hope that you enjoy it! When you open the Google Slide Show just click on “Slideshow” on the top right or the “view” tab and then “slideshow”. Once you start the slide show please feel free to click around and see the art (and a couple “Easter Eggs” on the start screen. You can click on the individual art and the student’s name and artist statement will appear. You can then click on the screen to return to the gallery.
 We all get those holiday jitters when there is a holiday break coming up—students and teachers alike. It gets hard to focus and the chaos starts to take over. Movement supports self-regulation, increases oxygen flow, and gives jittery bodies a productive outlet. Instead of fighting it, channel the energy into some quick, fun, low-prep movement activities to boost engagement, strengthen focus, and (hopefully) deepen learning in these last few days. 1.Vocabulary Statues: Play some winter or holiday music and let students move or “float” around the room like snowflakes. Stop the music and show a vocabulary word (have it on a card that you hold up, write it on the board, unhide it on the smart board, etc.). Students must freeze in a statue that represents the word’s meaning. It’s silly, memorable, and academic! 2.Holiday Theme Pantomime: [First, pantomime is telling a story using body language and movement without using your voice.] Pick a topic you’re teaching -theme, plot structure, states of matter, place value, etc. and challenge students to work together to create a 15-20 second pantomime to show the topic related to some holiday theme through movement without words. (Ex. States of matter-build a snowman, then it melts into a puddle of water.) Students can talk while they create, but not when they present. 3. 12 Days of Mystery Moves: (or however many days you have left until your break) Create an advent calendar type display (envelopes in the shape of a tree work great)-it could also be some sort of digital reveal on your smart board. Have a “Mystery Move” to be revealed each day and students do that move first thing in the morning, then periodically as they or you need a quick break throughout the day. You can even have them repeat previous days’ movements a la “12 Days of Christmas” style. Examples: 12 jumping jacks, A silent (tip toe) walk through the snow (around the room and back to their seats), 10 candy cane twists, 5 reindeer kicks…The possibilities are endless, and it can be used repeatedly as needed. 4.Merry Stretch-mas: Play a slow instrumental holiday song (instrumental so they won’t sing along) and lead a 1-minute stretch. Have students stand behind their desks (push chairs in to allow a little more room). Lead a slow, full-body stretch, holding each stretch for 5-8 seconds. Reach up to the ceiling, touch toes, shoulder and arm circles forward and back, lunge stretch (front leg bent and back leg straight then reach for toes, repeat on both legs), torso twists (stand with feet slightly wider than shoulders, hold arms out straight at shoulder height, twist to right wrapping arms around torso and look over right shoulder without moving feet, repeat on left; you can also reach right hand down to left foot and reach left arm straight up, then repeat that on the other side as well). 5.Merry Math Human Number Line: Turn the hallway into a giant number line. Students solve problems and move to the correct spot. You can step it up a bit by using comparison problems, fractions, integers, or place value. In other subjects, you can order events in the plot of a story or put historical events in order on a human timeline. Bonus Simple Solutions:
Don’t dread December. It doesn’t have to feel like a marathon sprint to winter break. Use creativity and movement to help your classroom become festive, focused, and fun. Embrace the wiggly energy—it’s part of the magic of the season! 
 I became a Cool Teacher! I found a unique way that connected me with students and it is still paying off today. I am a teacher with 25 years of professional teaching experience in the visual arts, but it was not my skills in teaching art that truly connected me with my students. It was when I shared my hobby with them that I was more relatable. I shared that I was a teacher who played the video games they played. I did not just start talking about video games while teaching my content area, even though video games are visual art. It happened organically. You see, during the brief activity called “Good Things,” a component of the Capturing Kids Heart system, I would ask my students to share any personal good news they had with the class. However, I observed that most students were unwilling to talk and share their experiences. So, to demonstrate that good things can be an acknowledgement of something simple but positive in one’s life, I sometimes broke the ice and shared my own good things, which, at that time, involved news about popular video games. The effect was students in the class who related to video games began to open up and share their good things about video games, and other students began to share about things that were good and positive in their lives. However, my story does not end there. Encouraged by the students’ reception to the good things I would share with them about video games, I got the idea of starting an Esports club/program at the school, and with interested students made it happen. Esports are video games played in a highly organized competitive environment. These games can range from popular, team-oriented multiplayer online battle arenas to single player first person shooters, to survival battle royales, to virtual reconstructions of physical sports. Since its inception, the Esports club/program at Fort Dorchester High school maintains membership of twenty plus students each semester. Each semester, participating students sign up and represent the school in online and in-person Esports competitions against other high schools. Recently, a graduating student who had been a participating member in Esports at Fort Dorchester High school was awarded an Esports scholarship at the college of her choice, and in May of this year I was awarded Cool School teacher, an award given by WCBD News 2, Charleston's NBC affiliate. The award recognizes schools in the Charleston area that are excelling in innovation, among other things. Taking a moment to connect with my students changed the way I was perceived by my students and, eventually, the way they perceive themselves. Being a Cool Teacher is more than just a title. It is how I live and breathe into my students.
DonorsChoose, founded over 20 years ago by Charles Best-a NYC Public School teacher now turned CEO, has been a fuel source for classroom teachers successfully funding 85% of projects created since it’s inception in 2000. Multitudes of classroom projects spanning from flexible seating for your average Joe’s ELA classroom to replacing an entire high school drum have been fulfilled thanks to the widely-known crowdfunding source. Teachers and students alike have acquired resources beyond their wildest dreams thanks to the generosity of community members, family and friends, and benevolent donors across the globe. Why, just 26 years later, have we forgotten about this amazing funding source in such a short amount of time? The easy answer? Out of sight- out of mind. Let’s revive an interest in this amazing alternative to spirit nights at your local fast food joint, loyalty punch cards, and car washes with some exceptional project ideas donors can’t ignore! Teachers work hard, and let’s face it- sometimes spend our own funds on our own classroom needs because our students need us to in order to learn best. The truth is, the community wants to help us do what’s best for our youth but just doesn’t know how. Let’s let them in! Let’s lean in to the generosity of our community locally and globally and be courageous enough to ask for our needs. The key to capturing your audience’s attention? Be authentic and take a proactive approach! Here’s some tips for successfully, and quickly, funding your project! Time Your Project Launch and Identify Targeted Donors.
Just like any other funding platform, there’s a science to it! The great thing about science is there’s a method to the madness. These helpful tips are proven to help you develop your own method for successful fundraising on the DonorsChoose platform. With the right timing, story, and strategy, your DonorsChoose project won’t just get funded—it will inspire a wave of generosity that transforms your classroom dreams into reality.
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Arts Chat: Weaving the Threads of Arts in Education is a monthly blog that features insights on arts education from educators from across South Carolina! Interested in contributing a blog on your area of expertise? Check out the link below!
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