Blog 18: 2-Hour Meeting Answer #3

1. What is the best way to use art as a teaching tool in middle school?
2.  The best way to use art as a teaching tool in middle school is to create activities tailored to each lesson that gain the students' interest, have a good balance of art and content, and help relate what you want to teach the students to other things in the students' lives.
3.  a.)When you hold their interest there is a greater chance that they are paying closer attention to what they are doing or to what you are saying.

b.)Art is fun but if you don't have a good balance of content with the art, what you are doing is just an art activity for fun not a teaching activity.

c.)To be able to relate things to your students' lives can be a great way to help them remember something and understand what you are teaching them.
4.  Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences helped me create this answer because his book talks about how the different intelligences intertwine and work. Mrs. Clauss and Ms. Hodapp also helped me create the answer.
5.  I plan to look into different ways to improve the art integration activities I have created with my mentors and look into creating some more. I also want to see if I can work with some students with some of these activities and see how much they help the students and see where I need to improve them.