The body biography, a visual and written life-size composition to study characterization, makes use of a variety of materials such as markers, crayons, and found material from wrapping paper to remnants of string and yarn. In this study, three teachers were invited to implement the body biography practice as part of their delivery of the English…

This study explores artmaking as a therapeutic arts- and trauma-informed practice in critical inquiry with others during the collective activity of a happening. Happenings are nonhierarchical environments that offer the exciting, nontraditional promise of taking art off the walls and into a larger context. In the space of mutual respect and…

This article explores the contribution that a teaching strategy, such as metaphoric body-mapping, can make towards the discourse on the development of professional teacher identity. Second-year students in a Life Orientation methodology module in a B.Ed programme were offered the opportunity to validate their local knowledge and make new meaning…

Recognizing Maria and Mario Montessori's reverence for the hand, Pat Ludick takes the reader into the wonder of the human body, mind, and spirit and across the planes of education, into the making of a whole personality and grounded intelligence that is ready for the adult world. Putting the hand front and center, she lyrically evolves an overview…

This article explores the arts' potential to transform the relationships between students and teachers, so that education becomes an "as if" world, where education is an act of social justice. Interweaving themes from the children's book "Click Clack Moo, Cows that Type" with theories of transformative pedagogy and their own…

Australia holds some of the most unique, diverse and vulnerable ecosystems in the world, ranging from marine, coral reefs, to the arid and semi-arid outback, to tropical rainforests. Young children's perceptions of, and attitudes to their environment carry with them into adulthood, determining their capacity to learn about and interact with their…

As a result of the activities described here, that of making silhouettes, the students seem to come to know themselves a little more and teacher and students better understand the individual human needs and diversity within the class. (Author/CB)

A list of 50 teachers and their techniques selected by "Grade Teacher magazine as being the best in the field. (AP)

This teacher believes that art has the power to heal, or at least aid in the healing process. After the terrorist attacks on 9/11, her students needed some way to express the injustice they felt. They discussed the attacks, and had some free drawing to release it from their system. They even did some patriotic-themed projects to boost their…

Based on the ethnography conducted by Magrini in three midwestern United Methodist congregations, this article examines the development of "ethnographic intertextual voicing," which describes multiple contexts and the ways in which these contexts influence representation of the participants and in turn, create in a community of learning.…

Describes an artists workshop, parallel to a writers workshop, that integrated student choice of topic and media, reading, art, and writing. Outlines the workshop routine, discusses the artists' notebooks kept by the students, and explains how writing as an essential element of the workshop reveals the thinking, planning, and discovering that…

Uses student created collages, instead of written compositions, to motivate students to introduce themselves during the first class meetings. (SW)

Play teaches children about themselves and the world they live in, engaging them socially, physically, intellectually, and creatively. Parents must allow their children time to play; they must participate in the play to help their children learn and to foster a sense of intimacy. (SM)

Offers practical advice for teaching art in early childhood classrooms. Encourages respect for children's individual artistic style. Discusses paints and markers, blocks, fingerpaints, bubbles, collages, and other art materials. Includes recipes for fingerpaint. (GH)

Describes The Lab School's (in Washington D.C.) use of the arts to provide nontraditional learners with new routes to learning. States that the arts give these special children a chance to express their creativity, feel good about themselves, and learn skills they cannot learn traditionally. Looks at art as salvation, diagnostic tool, and teacher.…