Melissa Wilde

Arts for Children

September 3
rd
, 2014
This I Believe Paper
I feel as though my beliefs are shaped by how the arts-- theatre, singing,
dance, music, and even visual art-- supported and influenced my academic
career. To say my beliefs as a teacher are rooted in the significance of arts in
education would be a massive understatement. I believe that my background and
my most memorable teachers have definitely shaped my thoughts concerning
arts in education.
Its important to note before I go into my beliefs that my definition of
what falls under the umbrella of the arts changed significantly during my high
school years. I now define art as any expressive, original medium that can foster
growth and change perspectives. As I gained more experience working with
children (particularly in theatre), I noticed that broadening my definition of art
allowed for kids to create meaning for themselves in ways neither of us thought
they could.
My background was quite an international one, attending schools in
Virginia, Swaziland, Japan, South Africa and South Korea. I was very fortunate to
attend schools where the arts flourished and was never in danger of being cut.
The school I graduated from (A K-12 school) had 6 performance spaces,
soundproofed practice rooms and recording rooms, as well as several arts
studios, each dedicated to a different age group. I acknowledge that not every
school would have the seemingly endless resources, but I have come to believe
that the smallest budget can still have infinite capacity for creativity, and that a
good educator can make the most of having the least. One really good example of
this I participated in was at summer camp this summer, where we put on three
productions over six weeks. It was amazing to see how much passion,
Melissa Wilde
Arts for Children
September 3
rd
, 2014
exploration and growth occurred in such a low budget setting. I think people
often see the arts as costly excess, but I believe the quality of the experience for
the students can still be high with less spending.
I believe the arts are massively important; my educational experience
would not have been as remotely engaging without artistic influences. To put it
most simply, the arts have been my lifeblood for as long as I can remember. They
have consistently been the highlights of every year Ive been at school. There was
never a question of a place for the arts in education; it was always intertwined
with whatever I was doing in the classroom. I believe that every child needs to be
exposed to a variety of creative, artistic activities, and be given opportunities to
use these mediums in application to traditional coursework. I always understood
classes like math and history when some artistic expression was involved, and
there were several teachers throughout elementary and high school who were
exemplary models of artistic teaching, even when they werent necessarily arts
education teachers.
For example, in the 5
th
grade, the two teachers assigned the whole grade
individual people to portray in a live reenactment of a town hall meeting right
before the break of the Civil War. They assigned some readings, but many of us
wanted to dig further and do our own research so we could be the most realistic
and well prepared debater. In the same way, an opportunity to write a short song
or sketch out my notes in doodles helps me retain information better in a
classroom setting. I believe that teachers have a responsibility to appeal to all
learning styles, and I believe that the arts are a great way to approach many of
those styles.
Melissa Wilde
Arts for Children
September 3
rd
, 2014
In conclusion, I believe very strongly in the capability of the arts to
transform a childs learning experience. I believe that by applying artistic
frameworks to traditional learning, subject content can take on a third
dimension. While I can concede that some learning may not mesh with artistic
endeavors as naturally, teachers should be making a consistent effort to allow for
creative expression in the classroom related to any topic.