As a former classroom teacher, I was really passionate about connecting subjects together. I never liked the "Time for history, close your science book" philosophy. I would begin Language Arts time by saying, "Wow! We're on page 115! Let's figure out what percentage of the book we've read!" Or I'd come up with vocabulary words that connected to history lessons. At that time, my students had American Sign Language as a "special." I loved that we classroom teachers gave the ASL teacher the kids' spelling words to practice their signing alphabets. I think the more teachers show the interconnections between subjects and concepts, the more kids will find on their own. My students found and made many more connections than I could plan for - as long as you're looking, you'll find them. Seeing this application of knowledge is, for me, the most rewarding part of teaching. This is especially important today, as some question why we teach long division (there are calculators!), cursive (who doesn't type everything?), or have spelling tests (um, spell check?). Teaching is about teaching kids how to learn. And, I think, about how to make connections.
How does this apply to art? Art is everywhere we look! Maybe it's as simple as asking, "What does this remind you of?" or coming home from a museum and having your child draw his favorite object. Maybe it's looking in a picture book and talking about the colors - the same ones you saw in the sunset the day before. So many possibilities here...
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