Creating Meaning Through Literature And The Arts

After reading, “Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts” and “Creative Drama in the Classroom and Beyond,” I have learned that there are several reasons why schools today should appreciate the arts and the effect that it has on our children. For instance, in “Creating Meaning Through Literature and the Arts,” it mentions, under the section titled: Building Block III, that when it comes to comparing and contrasting “Big Ideas versus Topics,” that teachers have a tendency to write a long list of activities under the one objective. The problem with that is the fact that, while the activities may tie in with the objective/ unit the actually relatedness that the activity has with the other activities is not there. Which was my initial idea of a lesson plan, that involves a unit with activities related to that unit, instead of activities having that connection with the other activities. I can assume that, having activities related to each other allows sort of a better in depth understanding of the unit for the child. It 's kind of like solving a math problem, once you know how to add then you can subtract or multiply then divide.

With that, kids were able to draw upon their cultures or places that they’ve visited in the past and their observation on the destination 's culture. The more we talked/ performed different activities about different cultures, the more the kids started to understand that most of our cultures are derived from other cultures and are presented similarly. Which then, presents the big idea that every culture is similar in a way to someone else’s