What I Learned at Arts Express

Student Ambassadors
2 hours ago
4 min read

Mikaela Campbell

McKay Student Ambassador

Early Childhood Education

What is Arts Express?

Arts Express is a conference that helps elementary school teachers integrate art into their classrooms. This includes dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts. During the conference there are different break out sessions that highlight different areas where art can be used to help students learn and engage.

When you sign up you can see information about the sessions along with what grades they will focus on to help you decide which ones you will choose. There is also a keynote speaker before the sessions begin along with vendor and artist tables to explore while at the conference. I will talk more in depth about two of the breakout sessions but there were more than fifty to choose from! The first session I attended focused on music and performance, while the second focused on drama, using either voice or movement.

Teaching Beyond the Script: Music That Unlocks Learning

Isn't music incredible? Hymns can bring peace and invite the Spirit, and many types of music can motivate, relax, and energize us. For teachers, music can also be impactful for helping students refocus, release energy, and engage in learning. During this first breakout session we learned ways to use music and performance in a K-3 classroom. The presenter was a Kindergarten teacher who shared ways that she engages her students through music. I will share three key takeaways I had from this experience:

Performance: I learned some helpful tips preparing for end of year performances! Young students need months of practice before a performance, you can slow down the tempo to make it easier for students to sing the words, and you can adjust to a higher pitch to fit the students vocal range.
Song Activities: We participated in multiple learning activities that students will love! One activity that will blow your students minds is sharing how the ABC's is the same as Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Explain and then let them discover this through experience by dividing the class into two groups. Have one group sing the ABC's while the other sings Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star at the same time. Songs can also be a powerful tool for transitions or breaks. You can play a jungle song and then have students pretend to be an animal in the forest, the farm, a favorite animal, etc. This is an effective way to refocus students.
Materials & Curricula: Music can be incorporated into multiple subjects! You can incorporate all sorts of materials to help students engage as well. One activity we did for third grade is to fill out a multiplication chart with different colored markers. This activity can be adjusted with grades and can be helpful for measuring where your students are at while also making it fun.

Voices on and Voices Off: Increasing Engagement with ELA Curriculum using Drama Strategies

Stories are powerful! Even in a gospel sense much of what we learn from the scriptures and about Jesus Christ comes from stories. And much of what we learn about our world comes from all sorts of stories. Favorite books of ours capture our attention, help us to imagine, and teach us more about life. Stories are a valuable tool for helping students learn. During this breakout session we learned ways to incorporate Drama and Language Arts curriculum through stories. I will share two activities we did, one with younger and one with older grades.

Younger Grades: We took a story and brought it to life through our voices. We started by creating a soundscape. One we created was sounds in a spooky forest. We split into groups and thought of one word. We had owl, ghost, crunching leaves, and a wolf howling. We then put all those sounds together. This was then used in the story later on. Then we again split into groups being different characters in the story. Whenever the character was said in the story we made the sound. Most characters in this story were an animal but there were others like a farmer, who would say "howdy". During the story we would pause to talk about vocabulary words. After we finished the story we stood in a circle and went around sharing the characters, the setting, and the events that happened in the story.

Older Grades: During this activity we divided into groups and took a part of a story. We read our part together and discussed it. We then came up with a tableau (or freeze frame) for the beginning, middle, and end of the story. Each group then practiced and presented moving and freezing into each part of the story. Students can then be tapped to share why they are in a specific position. Oftentimes their will be more students then characters so they need to get creative. Someone would be something like a table or part of a ship. This activity can help students engage and learn through becoming part of the story.

I gained many meaningful insights from Arts Express. I enjoyed participating in activities that students will enjoy and discovered new ways that art could be integrated into the core standards. And just talking to the other teachers helped me to look more forward to teaching and boosted my confidence in being able to collaborate with other teachers. Arts Express is a great opportunity to discover ways to make your lessons more impactful to your students. If you would like to learn more about Arts Express click here.

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