Visual Art and the Rural Elementary School

Principal Ilene Floyd's participation in the 1994 Teacher Institute greatly assisted her in supporting and encouraging a strong arts program in her elementary school of 775 students. Located in a remote area of Mississippi, the community does not offer the students much in the way of cultural enrichment. The arts are helping to bring about school reform in every area of the curriculum. For the past three years, the school has received grants from the Mississippi Arts Commission to implement a number of arts projects. First, teachers were trained in the Galef Institute's Different Ways of Knowing, an interdisciplinary social studies-based program that incorporates the arts into the curriculum through literature, music, creative writing, movement, and drama. Now the school is involved in the second year of a five-year program to integrate art across the curriculum. Professional development plans will further the integration of the arts in every facet of the curriculum. Additional art specialists will be added to carry out the whole school project.

January is "Art Appreciation Month." Each grade studies the work of three or four artists from the National Gallery of Art using reproductions and videodiscs. Bulletin boards throughout the school feature art reproductions along with the work of students. Art study for students in grades K-2 is incorporated in all subject areas, while students in grades 3-5 have regularly scheduled studio art classes at least once a week in addition to their arts-integrated curriculum.

Students use the reproductions and videodiscs to learn about landscapes, still lifes, portraits, sculpture, and abstract art. By comparing and contrasting the images, students analyze differences and similarities of style. Third graders learn about art museums and take an imaginary trip to the National Gallery's American collections via videodisc. Students are asked to speculate on why they would like to visit an art museum. Drawings augment their writing. Some students choose to write about what it would be like to be an artist and have their works shown in a museum. Field trips include a visit to a nearby town to see art exhibitions. This museum experience is often the only one students have.

Interdisciplinary classroom activities make use of the reproductions and videodisc in the fifth-grade study units "Native Americans" and "Pioneers." The works of George Catlin provide students with additional views of American Indian rituals, living patterns, and dress. Study of the buffalo-skin pictographs from the videodisc results in student-designed pictographs about important events in their own lives.

As leader of an active learning community, Ms. Floyd takes every available opportunity to inform the wider community about the value of the arts in general education. Some aspect of the arts is incorporated into every monthly PTA meeting. Her presentations to local clubs and organizations, along with frequent student art displays held at local businesses, are all a part of the arts advocacy strategy.

Ilene Floyd is Principal of Mendenhall Elementary School, Mendenhall, Mississippi 39114-3598

Free Loan Materials

Reproductions, videodiscs, videos, slides, CD-ROMs, DVDs, and other teaching materials may be borrowed free of charge from the National Gallery of Art's Division of Education Resources.