1. Intermedia and Literary Arts
For Early Childhood Education
Intermedia and Literary Arts for Early Childhood Education is an interdisciplinary
major that integrates studies in Intermedia (film, music, poetry, creative writing) and
Early Childhood Education. This major examines art as a means to educate children in a
variety of topics and contexts. My intention with this major was to combine these two
disciplines in order to develop curricula, tools, and programs that make education more
accessible to children of varying abilities, learning styles, interests, and resources. Both
aspects of this major works independently and together providing me with the
background necessary to contribute to the field of early childhood education through the
multifaceted medium of artistic expression. The information gained from the early
education component of the major provided me with the context to set developmentally
appropriate learning goals and to provide an extensive array of educational tools for three
to six year olds. These learning tools integrated with performing/visual arts techniques
and play, give students the ability to reach their highest learning potential based on
individual needs, abilities, and interests.
According to the U.S Department of Education, the integration of arts into the
standard curriculum is a necessary change; the intended goal for the future of education is
for “America to reinvigorate the kind of creativity and innovation that has made this
country great. To nourish our children’s creative skills and encourage the ability to think
creatively through a meaningful arts education” (President’s Committee on the Arts and
the Humanities). Incorporating arts into a child's learning experience provides early
childhood professionals with effective and easily adaptable teaching approaches,
allowing education to reach those that are often left behind due to developmental,
intellectual, or socioeconomic differences. With the theoretical foundations obtained
through my studies, I hope to examine and design creative learning interventions, which
motivate children to set and achieve educational goals through an arts based curriculum.
The integration of arts into the regular curriculum goes far beyond meeting a
child's educational needs; it promotes cognitive development, wellness, stress
management, self-expression, communication skills, and improvement in many other
areas of a child's development. The arts also offer great benefits to the many children
who struggle with special needs and learning disabilities, whose teachers are seeking out
alternative teaching methods in order to accommodate a very broad range of learning
challenges. Because special needs can affect various aspects of development, including
but not limited to sensor motor, cognitive, physical, social, and emotional abilities, the
education of such children should integrate disciplines which draw upon their strengths
rather than point out their weaknesses. The use of music, visual arts, movement, and
dramatic play have all been found to stimulate various areas of cognitive development;
all areas of creative arts can incorporate learner diversity and differentiation in the
educational process (Arts Education Partnership, 2000).
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Even in the earliest years of our development, we make connections to the world
through the many forms of art. Children master writing through scribbling on paper,
develop fine motor skills through sculpting with clay, learn to interact with their peers
through dramatic play, and rely on rhyme, music, and rhythm to find variation and
patterns in speech. All of this spontaneous experimentation, trial and error, and intuitive
learning suggest a predisposition toward learning through the arts being hardwired in the
brain (Levitin, 2008). The use of art to facilitate learning is beneficial at every age for
every student. It is also why this interdisciplinary approach can be instrumental in
providing a multitude of opportunities for success for every type of learner.
In creating this major, I have researched and personally worked with several
successful educational programs that relied on the arts to facilitate learning in other areas.
Despite the frequent criticism of electronic media and television and their impact on child
development, recent research in the field of education actually points to the cognitive and
academic benefits of age and developmentally appropriate programming that is designed
around an art-integrated curriculum (Stevens, Harper, Boggan 2011). As a professional
actress and singer in the MD PBS Emmy Award-winning children’s show "Bob the Vid
Tech,” I had first-hand experience with the the creative aspects of this business. The
show focused on teaching young children math, history, science, and language through a
variety of topics and the use of musical and comedic skits. The authors of Media and
Young Children’s Learning emphasize the importance of content with respect to
mediating the effect of television on cognitive skills and academic achievement for
children over the age of two. The popular children’s show “Sesame Street,” for example,
was found to improve its watcher’s (children aged 3-5) performance in content areas of
arithmetic and language significantly over the course of a season (Liebert & Sprafkin,
1988). Using this major, I hope to be at the forefront of providing children with
alternative educational opportunities through the use of television programming, media,
etc.
While emergent literacy skills such as phonemic awareness, decoding, listening,
comprehension, vocabulary, critical thinking, sequencing and recall are all major
components of educating through the arts, negative developmental trends can also be
perpetuated through inappropriately selected or created media channels. One of my main
goals in this major is to create and advocate for educational programming that will
provide the necessary foundation in this field which can be beneficial rather than
damaging. This college major also brings together the fields of art and child development
in light of new research on brain development in young children. New findings in the
field indicate that participation in art, music, movement, and storytelling activities not
only develop language, mathematics, science, and social skills, but also strengthen the
synapses between brain cells, speeding mental processing and boosting cognitive
abilities. These activities can actually create new neural pathways and fortify those that
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are already present in the child’s developing brain (Dana Spelke, 2008).
This college major builds on many of my previous professional experiences and
allows me to develop and expand upon my knowledge as a professional educator by
creating curricula and training programs to educate through the arts. Much of my passion
for this major stems from the unique opportunities this type of education can offer me in
my professional development which, as I will outline below, has been a work in progress
for many years.
As a visiting performing artist, I have participated in the acclaimed Baltimore
Symphony Orchestra’s Arts Excel program. Within the parameters of this program, I
designed an arts-integrated educational workshop entitled "Negro Spirituals -
Communications Through Song,” for at-risk school-aged children. The workshop
introduced the many uses of language and means of communication through music. It
also drew from the classroom curriculum, focusing on history and literature. Despite their
difficult backgrounds, the students wholeheartedly participated in this workshop. The
success of this program demonstrated not only a need for this type of educational
intervention but also a strong desire for it, serving as firsthand evidence of the arts’
effectiveness when used as a teaching tool.
I have also had the opportunity to work as a teaching artist in residence with the
Wolftrap Early Learning Education Program (WELE). In early 2000, The Wolf Trap
Institute for early learning through the arts introduced the Smith Center for the
Performing Arts Southern Nevada WELE Program in Las Vegas, founded through a
grant from the Head Start Bureau, Administration for Children Youth and Families, and
the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program was grounded in the
theory that the arts provide "a strong foundation in social-emotional development and
language.” This idea stemmed from research which indicated “teachers who use
performing arts experiences in the classroom, often notice growth not only in language
acquisition, but also in improved self-esteem, social awareness, creativity, and fine/gross
motor development," (Wolftrap.org). Among my many responsibilities within the
program, I had the privilege of designing an artist lesson plan that partnered with the
teacher’s residency objectives and provided multi-sensory enrichment workshops. These
workshops served as tools for developing the many skills necessary for school readiness.
With each program concentrating on the specific needs of the teachers and their
classroom objectives, I was able to incorporate and use the best practices in creating
developmentally appropriate lesson plans for the participating children.
Intermedia and Literary Arts for Early Childhood Education is distinct from other
majors offered because it integrates multiple disciplines that are not frequently associated
with one another. Within this major, each course requires collaboration with the others in
the program in order to fully utilize the arts as means of education. A more complete
understanding of each art form will allow me to move toward a more effective arts-
integrated curriculum development as both an artist and an educator. Even though a child
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development major would have covered some of these categories, it did not provide me
with the necessary foundation for my purposes. Having an interdisciplinary major has
equipped me with the necessary tools for developing age-appropriate material such as
film, books, toys, or music for the early childhood education curriculum. This major also
provided me with the flexibility needed to have a career with a company that can develop
materials and products with the early learning and/or an educational goals in mind.
