Integrating Aesthetics Into Professional Development for Teachers of English Learners

Feature Articles

IntegratingAesthetics IntoProfessional Development forTeachers of English Learners

AUDREY FIGUEROA MURPHYSt. John’s University

The emphasis on testing in curricular content areas has left littleroom in most U.S. schools for education in the arts. Yet researchsupports the pedagogical value of aesthetic education, particu-larly for English learners (ELs), whose representation in schoolscontinues to increase. This article presents a qualitative actionresearch study intended to contribute to the understanding ofthe impact of incorporating aesthetic education into the trainingprotocol for teachers of ELs. Twenty-three graduate educationstudents at a private university in Queens, New York, partici-pated in an artist-led workshop rooted in the aesthetic educa-tion theories of Maxine Greene (1995, 2001, 2007) and structuredaround the four-stage knowledge acquisition schemas of Torbert(2006) and Heron and Reason (2006). Thereafter, the traineesexperimented with using arts-based lessons in their own class-rooms, which included ELs. Interviews conducted after theworkshop and again after the practice attempts showed thatparticipants gained confidence and facility in integrating artsand aesthetics into their teaching. Participants’ reflections alsosupport research that suggests that arts-based education is anexcellent means to develop the cognitive, linguistic, and culturalabilities of ELs. These findings are supplemented with recom-mendations for implementation and with a sample rubric for anEL-friendly aesthetic education unit.doi: 10.1002/tesj.78

Cultural diversity is widely considered to be one of thegreatest strengths of the United States. Yet many U.S. schoolsstruggle to meet the challenge of serving students from a varietyof cultural and linguistic backgrounds while incorporating

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elements of culture—that is, educational experiences that allowstudents to engage with the arts—into the curriculum. In recentyears, moreover, this twofold cultural challenge has become evenmore daunting than in the past. First, the number of Englishlearners (ELs) in U.S. schools has never been greater, and it islikely to continue to increase (Goldenberg, 2008; NationalClearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2011). Second,the high-stakes testing movement has brought about a relentlessfocus on achievement scores in core academic areas. Most notably,the mandates of the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001(2002) dictate that many schools must show performance increasesin curricular areas such as English language arts and mathematicsor suffer consequences. The resulting emphasis on testing inso-called curricular content areas has left little room in mostschools for education in the arts. The underemphasis on aestheticeducation in U.S. curricula is not a new or unrecognizedphenomenon (see, e.g., Richmond, 1998). However, three crucialfacts associated with the twofold cultural challenge need to bemore widely understood than at present among educators,legislators, and the general public: (1) the arts are supposed to betreated as a core academic subject under NCLB (see Title IX, PartA, Section 9101 (1)(D)(11)); (2) teachers in all curricular areas canincorporate arts and aesthetic education into classroom activitiesin ways that align with the goals of schools, districts, and state andnational standards; and (3) efforts to do so may be particularlyfruitful in supporting the academic development and success ofELs.

Research suggests that keeping ELs engaged requiresproviding them with work that is continually motivating andchallenging without forcing them to depend on language alone toconstruct meaning (Cummins, 1981; Eubanks, 2002; Spina, 2006;Zwiers, 2004). As McGuire (1984) has asserted, an approach thatmakes use of the arts can allow students to form new associationsand meanings based on innovative experiences. Indeed,experiences with the arts lend themselves to creative andimaginative responses while promoting engagement anddiscussion, thus motivating students to develop their vocabulariesand rhetorical skills. Such experiences can provide a foundation

Integrating Aesthetics 83

upon which to build academic language and overall academicsuccess.

The study reported here represents an effort to translate theaforementioned observations into action research that cancontribute to the understanding of ways in which the creativeside of children’s education can be enhanced, with particularattention to the impact of these teaching modalities on ELs. Thepurpose of action research is to improve the scope, pertinence,and quality of instruction by augmenting teachers’ understandingof their own practice and of its relationship to the environment inwhich they live (Torbert, 2006). Heron and Reason (2006) statethat in action research “the primary procedure to use is inquirycycles, moving several times between reflection and action” (p.145). In the study reported here, a group of graduate educationstudents who were already practitioners with ELs in theirclassrooms moved from participation in an aesthetic educationworkshop to reflection on that participation, to applying elementsfrom the workshop in their own classrooms, to further reflectionon the lessons learned from these initial practice attempts.Qualitative results are provided based on a two-stage interviewprocedure, and these results are discussed in light of literature onELs and aesthetic education and in relation to the four-stepknowledge acquisition protocols articulated by Torbert and byHeron and Reason.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Aesthetic Education: Its Meaning and PlaceAesthetic education is the encouragement of the formation of newconnections, patterns, and perceptions through the appreciation ofand reflection on meaningful experiences with the arts (Greene,2001). Such education encompasses

the entire field of art in which lines, colors, forms, and theirstructures, motions and interrelations are used to create visu-ally, auditorily and/or kinesthetically perceptible works. Theseinclude painting, drawing, sculpture, printmaking, pottery,architecture, industrial design, photography, cinematography,textile arts, basketry, typographical arts, multimedia arts, vocal

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and instrumental music, dance and indigenous forms of visualartistic expression. (Spina, 2006, p. 99)

As noted, the subject matter of aesthetic education has oftenbeen treated as, at best, an adjunct to curricular content areas inU.S. schools (Richmond, 1998), a state of affairs that is not onlyregrettable but, to some extent at least, permissible only via amisinterpretation of existing curricular standards. In additionto NCLB, New York State, for example, recently adoptedthe Common Core State Standards, a set of internationallybenchmarked principles that take account of students’ eventualworkplace and postsecondary educational expectations. TheCommon Core State Standards for English language arts, forexample, specify rigorous grade-level expectations in the strandsof speaking, listening, reading, and writing in order to prepare allstudents, including ELs, to be college and career ready (New YorkState Education Department, 2011). However, David Coleman(2011), architect and coauthor of these standards, has made it clearthat the arts should be given a prominent place in dailyinstruction. According to Coleman, students should engage insustained study of works of art from a variety of media in order to“cultivate [their] observation abilities”:

The arts reward sustained inquiry and provide a perfect oppor-tunity for students to practice the discipline of close observationwhether looking at a painting or lithograph, watching a dramaor a dance, or attending to a piece of music. New York State istherefore requesting a sequence of materials that cultivatesstudents’ observation abilities in the context of the sustainedexamination of magnificent works of art that are worthy of pro-longed focus. Classroom work would be spent on in depthstudy; several days or longer might be spent on a specific work.What is requested are a set of arts modules that bring to bearobserving, listening to and appreciating expansive works of artacross disciplines and grades. (p. 1)

Although one might wonder what works of art will qualify as“magnificent” enough for inclusion—and, indeed, one mightdebate whether such works alone are of pedagogical utility inaesthetic education—it is refreshing to learn from Coleman thatthere are plans to include such “arts modules” in the curriculum


of schools in a state that is not only extremely populous andinfluential but that is also home to a great many ELs (NationalClearinghouse for English Language Acquisition, 2011).

The Role of Aesthetics and the Arts in Teaching EnglishLearnersStudents appear to be able to engage mental abilities thatencourage higher order thought processes while internalizinginput that may not be visual, such as sound or mood (Saxe, 1990).Moreover, practices such as writing based on the arts (Grauer,2005) have substantiated the effectiveness of arts education inproviding input, context, and background for learning that is notdependent on native-like linguistic comprehension. This is due tothe nature of the study of works of art, which requires students toparticipate in multiple levels of scaffolding while engagingactively in the arts experience. An education encompassing thearts may thus be key to developing the cognitive, linguistic, andcultural abilities of ELs (Gardner, 1988).

Andrzejczak, Trainin, and Poldberg (2005) report on a projectthat made use of art creation in the prewriting process, in whichstudents were given time to elaborate on their ideas, constructdescriptive passages, and develop their skill in using relevantvocabulary. Participants began by observing their world, afterwhich they created works of art and subsequently responded inwriting to their own finished products. The results, according tothe researchers, suggest that visual arts instruction can buildcognitive connections to language and enhance students’ ability tocapture ideas. The typical sequence in language arts instructioninvolves writing first, followed by an art project based on thewriting. Reversing the order allowed students to engage with theirthoughts, feelings, and images through art with paint or crayonbefore writing a single word, and this process resulted in a richplay of sensory details. Creating the artwork before engaging inthe writing task arguably helped all students develop a deeperperception of their sensory awareness, and the approach can besaid to be particularly advantageous for ELs, because it allowsthem to create without being hampered by the search for wordsthat they do not yet know how to use.

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Different forms of art making can assist ELs to makecomprehension more meaningful (Eubanks, 2002). For example,students can learn to visualize the connections between art andreality by creating drawings to interpret their understanding(Arnheim, 1990; Platt, 1997). Drawing the meaning of a wordyields a result that visual learners may find easier to retain thanstandard memorized definitions, and Sleicher and Reed (2004)suggest that the arts can support comprehension for students whohave other learning styles as well. Thus, a student who learnskinesthetically will be more likely to retain the significance of aword if it is portrayed through drama or using some form ofbodily movement. Similarly, logical or mathematically orientedthinkers might be engaged in replacing or adding words to apoem in order to learn how to use new words. In these scenarios,the students do not simply memorize definitions, they engageactively with the language and use it to produce their own work.

Walters (2006) studied the impact of arts education on theacademic achievement of ELs. Participants were divided into threegroups: those who received no art instruction, those who receivedart instruction from a specialist, and those who attended classes inwhich art was integrated into the core curriculum. The ELs whoreceived art instruction as part of an integrated curriculumachieved higher performance scores on standardized assessmentsthan those in the other two groups.

In Spina (2006), two groups of fifth-grade ELs took part in astudy focusing on the impact of an arts-based curriculum.Participants were divided into two groups: those who were taughtusing an arts-based curriculum and those who were taught usingtraditional English as a second language (ESL) methods. Studentswere assessed using pretest and posttest measures to track theirreading skills in Spanish and English. The findings suggest thatthe use of an arts-based curriculum may be pivotal in developingthe cognitive, linguistic, and cultural skills of ELs.

In a study led by Project Zero at the Harvard Graduate Schoolof Education (Seidel, Tishman, Winner, Hetland, & Palmer, 2009),researchers interviewed arts practitioners and visited exemplaryprograms in the arts in order to evaluate what constitutes qualityin arts education. An important finding that emerged from this


effort was the observation that the fact of students’ experiencingthe arts firsthand was a more important indicator of success thanthe quality of the artworks produced. Overall, this study and theweight of the research reviewed above point to the importance ofproviding educators with professional development opportunitiesin which they explore ways to use the arts in the classroom. Theaction research study reported in this article is an example of aguided pedagogical exploration of this kind.

METHODTo study the impact of incorporating aesthetic education into atraining protocol for teachers of ELs, and of these trainees’ initialefforts to use elements from this training with their own students,a group of graduate students in the Department of Education atthe Queens, New York, campus of St. John’s University—aprivate, coeducational Roman Catholic university (VincentianCommunity)—participated in a workshop led by a teaching artistfrom the Lincoln Center Institute (LCI) who had experienceconducting programs in partnership with educators fromprekindergarten through 12th grade. LCI bases its aestheticeducation principles on the teachings of Maxine Greene, thenoted educational philosopher and Professor Emeritus atTeachers College, Columbia University (LCI, 2005). Greenemaintains that the complete range of human experience can beincorporated into the classroom through literature and the arts.She encourages educators to imagine alternative ways of beingand to teach students to embrace ambiguity and to view works ofart as storehouses of possible meanings, some of which may beyet to be discovered (Shaw & Rozycki, 2007; see also Greene,2007, and other materials available through the website of theMaxine Greene Center, www.maxinegreene.org).

The framework for the workshop—which also structures thisarticle’s discussion of the participants’ feedback regarding theirlearning experience and their efforts to incorporate aspects of theworkshop into their own classroom teaching—was derived fromTorbert (2006) and from Heron and Reason (2006). The four-stageknowledge acquisition schemas provided in these two sources aresummarized in Table 1. Thereafter, the application of the

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composite version of these schemas that was used in the workshopconducted for the present study is explained.

Participants and ProceduresThe 23 study participants were all public school teachers whowere seeking ESL certification. All were teachers of ELs and werefemale; 16 had masters’ degrees, 2 were international students,and 7 were registered in the school’s master’s degree program. Inpreparation for the workshop, which the teaching artistconducted in my classroom at St. John’s University, participantswere assigned to read Greene’s (1995) “Art and Imagination:Reclaiming the Sense of Possibility.” The article addresses theprocess involved in viewing a work of art and stresses theimportance of considering one’s observations carefully beforemaking judgments. It was chosen as a useful introduction toGreene’s approach to aesthetic education and because I felt thatthrough this discourse Greene guides educators to examineworks of art reflectively and to respond to them with authenticfeelings.

TABLE 1. The 4-Stage Knowledge Acquisition Schemas of Torbert (2006)and of Heron and Reason (2006)

Stage Torbert (2006) Heron and Reason (2006)

1 Experiential Knowing: Achievedthrough face-to-face encountersusing empathy, significance, andcharacter as relevant markers

Visioning: Attention to the inquiry,purpose, and mission throughoutthe aesthetic experience

2 Propositional Knowing: Learningabout something by way of ideas—expressed through explanatorydeclarations

Strategizing: An area where dreamsand passion predominate and theguiding question is what if?

3 Presentational Knowing: Attainedthrough the use of expressiveforms of aesthetics, such as drama,movement, story, and dance

Performance: Combining theaesthetic, sensual, and practicalaspects into a visual reenactment

4 Practical Knowing: Understandinghow to accomplish something andmake it meaningful through anability or skill

Assessment: The measurement of theperformance and its effects andrelation to the outside world


A series of photographs by Mary Whalen (2011) titledHousehold Artifacts was selected as the material to be used for theexercises in the workshop. Household Artifacts consists of aportfolio of black-and-white images of family possessions from thepast three generations, including such items as a set of pearls, aturn-of-the-century telephone, and a doll. Some of the artifactsshow obvious signs of use or neglect, whereas others are clearlytreasured possessions. All of the objects, however, are subjected tothe artist’s and the camera’s gaze in particular ways, and theresulting images lend themselves to a variety of interpretations.

The workshop unfolded in the four stages described next,which can be mapped against the schemas of Torbert (2006) and ofHeron and Reason (2006).

Stage 1. The workshop began with an exercise in visioning/experiential knowing. In this phase, the teaching artist placed thephotographs from the collection around the room. The participantswere divided into five groups, and each group was asked to selectfive photographs, one to match each of the following criteria:

• makes you want to talk about it

• is controversial

• invokes memory

• suggests ambiguity

• promotes conversation about the world of photography

The purpose of this activity was to stimulate conversationabout controversy, memories, and the sense of ambiguity inpreparation for the stages to follow.

Stage 2. During the next phase, strategizing or propositionalknowing, five of the photographic images that had been selectedwere given out, one to each group:

• a white winding staircase in a dark house

• a face, half of which was blurred and seemed to be running off the page

• sparkling white pearls, laid in an oval shape against a black velvet back-ground

• a porcelain mask of a face without eyes against a black background

• the face of a small doll, broken on one side, white against a dark backdrop

The participants were asked to describe everything that theynoticed about their group’s assigned photograph, with the caution

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that they were to refrain from interpreting what they saw. Next,they were to free-associate using the image provided and to createa web to show these associations. They were encouraged to thinkof different curricular areas, personal memories, books read, andsongs heard, and then to expand as far as possible on thesesuggestions. Each participant then chose one of the associations onher web as the topic for a brief narrative, which she then sharedwith the other members of her group.

Stage 3. In this phase, performance and presentational knowing,each group chose one member’s narrative and together presentedit to the whole class in the form of a song, dance, or theatricalperformance. By doing this, the teacher participants were able totransform what was written on paper into a performance-basedwork that remained centered on an idea generated from thephotograph. This phase corresponded to the performancecomponent of the framework whereby all aspects of the aesthetics,sensual, and practical associations were combined together in anovel creation.

Stage 4. To facilitate the students’ learning and to make itrelevant to their own teaching practices, we then participated inthe assessment/practical knowing phase, in which we reviewed thearticle that had been read in preparation for participation in theworkshop and reflected on one part of the reading that eachgroup selected as particularly meaningful. We related the readingselection to the photo that each group had studied or to theperformance enacted, making connections to our work as teachersof ELs. For example, some teachers made connections betweenthe article’s focus on looking more deeply into everydayexperiences and their unit of study on writing small moments.Other teachers examined the reading selection’s theme of hearingmore of what is normally not audible and used this concept as astarting point for an essay on what is noticeable when listening tosilence. We also discussed how this protocol could be followed toenliven the ESL curriculum for students and to contribute to thestudents’ development of cognitive proficiency and academicEnglish skills.

As a culminating activity, the five groups planned thematicunits for different language proficiencies and age levels. Because


ELs enter the school system with different abilities andbackgrounds, the task had to be differentiated to meet the needsof this diverse student population. Each group had a specific ESLlens through which to focus their project and guide the purposeof their instruction: beginning-level ELs, intermediate-level ELs,advanced-level ELs, and students with interrupted formaleducation (SIFE).

Each team of teacher participants tackled the challenge in adifferent way. The teacher participants preparing a lesson forbeginning-level ELs had been assigned the picture of a face, half ofwhich was unfocused, with the image appearing to spill from thecenter. After studying the picture, they planned to design a uniton change and transformation. This theme would be carried acrossthe different curriculum areas of science, social studies, and math.Students new to the country or unable to write English would beencouraged to respond by means of drawing or of writing in theirnative languages.

The group assigned to focus on intermediate-level ELs wrotelessons in which students would brainstorm characteristics thatthey saw in their photograph. Following this, the students woulddevelop synonyms to incorporate into their writing.

The teacher participants planning work for advanced-level ELshad been given the picture of a mask without eyes. After reflectingon this photograph, they developed a social studies unit in whichstudents would research ceremonies that used masks. Thestudents would then reflect on the functions of masks and writeabout the feelings that might be evoked.

The teacher participants designing material for SIFE wereaware that their lessons must be differentiated due to the variedEnglish proficiency levels within this group of students. Theybelieved that their group’s picture of a doll with a broken facemight lead to conversations about what to do with broken orunwanted household items, resulting in lessons on recycling for ascience unit.

Data Collection and AnalysisIn order to understand the participants’ experiences in the study,data were collected by means of an interview conducted within

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5 days following the workshop, with a second round of interviewsconducted 1 month after the initial interview. Both interviewswere audio-recorded and later transcribed for coding. Theinterviews consisted of a set of predetermined questions alongwith ad hoc or follow-up questions as needed to clarify or deepenthe conversation. Discussion with each participant lasted 20 to30 minutes in each interview. The following questions were askedduring the first interview:

• How has your understanding of aesthetic education changed as a result ofthis experience?

• How can English learners benefit from exposure to aesthetic education?

• What are your plans to incorporate aesthetic education into your lessonplanning?

The second interview focused on the use of aesthetic educationin the teachers’ instruction. The following questions were asked:

• Which aspects of the workshop were you able to incorporate into your dailyinstruction?

• What subject areas did you focus on when incorporating aspects of aestheticeducation?

• How relevant was this project in relation to the instruction in your class-room?

The recorded interviews were transcribed by two studentworkers who were not familiar with the purpose of the study.I read the transcripts and listened to the audio multiple times inorder to analyze the data. Coding labels were assigned to eachrecurrent theme emerging from the data. The major themes thatemerged from this process, to which we will return in theDiscussion after exploring the study’s results in terms of theexplorations carried out and the feedback provided by individualparticipants, were as follows:

1. Aesthetic education can and should be used to engage students, includingELs, in high-level cognitive activity.

2. An arts curriculum and individual arts education units can and should beadapted to suit the abilities of students with differing levels of English profi-ciency.

3. An arts curriculum and individual arts education units can and should beadapted to meet the needs of students with diverse learning styles.


RESULTSAt the conclusion of the workshop, the teacher participants wereanimated, energized, and buzzing with excitement. Their study ofa work of art, which had begun with a brainstorming session, hadbeen transformed into a writing piece and finally into aperformance. In the initial interviews, teachers commented thatthey found the activities stimulating and worthwhile. Specificresponses included the following:

I feel that if I had done the word web and writing alone, Iwould not have had the range of ideas and thought processesthat were developed as [they were] when I had gone throughthem in a small-group session.

Any time that you bring a form of art into the classroom, itallows for open communication and interaction. The photo-graphs . . . are perfect for this activity as they bring out conceptsof ambiguity and vagueness—great techniques for buildingvocabulary and strengthening comprehension for [ELs].

I realized that it is not the photograph that carries the meaning,but it is the viewer that makes it come alive. A picture can havemany meanings and portray many different stories.

These comments show that the photographs and activitiessparked the participants’ imaginations and enlightened theirthinking about art and aesthetic instruction.

When interviewed about integrating these activities into theirSL curriculum, most teacher participants felt that such activitieswere an excellent way to stimulate conversation, build vocabulary,and encourage students to share stories with each other. Oneteacher made a connection between group work and ELconfidence levels, saying that “going through a thought process asa group will make ELs feel less self-conscious about their languageskills.” Another said that, due to students’ different backgroundsand cultures, each had a different perception of the picture theywere viewing. Yet another teacher commented that “these picturesmade me think deeply about integrating art in my work.” All inall, in listening to the participants’ comments, it was apparent thatthe enthusiasm and energy that they experienced would bebrought back into their own classrooms.

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The second round of interviews focused on the extent to whichteachers had been able to incorporate features of aestheticeducation into their daily EL curricula subsequent to participatingin the workshop. One of the participants, Maria M., said that thestudents in her first-grade classroom had been discussing how totalk about character, setting, and action in their English languagearts curriculum. To complement this exploration, she used workby Romare Bearden, an artist who displayed aspects of his lifethrough collages. She showed the class one of Bearden’s collages,which portrayed two boys swimming. Together they generated alist of action verbs based on their observations of what thecharacters were doing, along with a list of words that coincidedwith the setting. The students acted out the action words,describing some of the concepts that they had studied. As aculminating activity, the students thought of one event that hadhappened to them and created a collage of their own. They readeach collage as a story, again with particular attention to character,setting, and action.

Elena C. asked students in her class to research different typesof art from their cultures and to print out a sample image to bringto class. Then the students were asked to brainstorm ideas thattheir pictures brought to mind. Following this, each student wrotea paragraph about his or her feelings using the vocabularygenerated by the brainstorming, which included words that werenew to some of the students.

Elizabeth F. brought postcards of paintings by well-knownartists into her class of beginning-level ELs. Working in pairs, onechild in each pair selected a postcard/image, observed it, and tooknotes on it for 3 minutes. This student then described the pictureto his or her partner, who had not seen the picture, using as manydescriptive words as possible. After listening carefully, the partnerattempted to draw the picture, with the first child givingdirections. The partners then switched roles, with each describingan image for the other to draw. After comparing and admiringeach other’s work, the students wrote detailed descriptions of thescene in one of the pictures, which they then enacted as aperformance for their classmates.


In addition to providing such examples of arts-based classroomactivities that they implemented after participating in theworkshop, many of the teacher participants gave feedback on theirimpressions of the success and/or relevance of these efforts inconnection with their teaching of ELs. Typical comments in thisregard included the following:

Art making in my class has leveled the playing field, especiallyfor my students, who are second language learners and whofind it challenging to learn English.

Implementing this [arts-based lesson] in my class has permittedmany of my students, who normally do not excel in academics,to show pride in their abilities.

Other similar comments expressed the view that the teacherparticipants’ forays into using art media creatively in theirclassrooms enabled the ELs in their classes to demonstrate theirunderstanding of ideas and concepts in different andnontraditional ways, thus boosting student confidence, buildingvocabulary, and helping to develop critical thinking andcommunications skills.

DISCUSSIONAs noted, the workshop exercise and its application or extensionin the teacher participants’ own classrooms was structured andguided by the four-step protocols of Torbert (2006) and of Heronand Reason (2006). The following points summarize theapplication of these guidelines and address how the stagessuggested in the literature were utilized and explored in thisaction research project.

1. Visioning/experiential knowing was explored as the teacher participants brain-stormed and captured essential thoughts about the photos in the workshop.Later, in their classrooms, teacher participants had students generate actionverbs and other vocabulary based on images and reflect on and discuss theideas that the words and images brought to mind.

2. Strategizing/propositional knowing was seen in the study as the teacher partici-pants described what they noticed about the photographs. In this regard,they were encouraged to explore ambiguous elements rather than to limitthemselves to what was obvious or clear. In their classrooms, the teachersprovided the same encouragement to students, which inspired them to think

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more deeply and to come up with more creative, personalized responsesthan they typically expressed in their content classes.

3. Performance/presentational knowing was enacted in the university setting asthe teacher participants wrote narratives based on their brainstorming websand shared them with their groups. The teachers also created performancesbased on their writing, bringing to life the words that were generated fromthe photos. In their classes, a similar process was carried out according toeach teacher’s interpretation of the protocol relevant to instruction. In oneclass, a student drew while listening to another student’s description, creat-ing shapes and figures based on words that were read aloud. In anotherclass, the students acted out the words that they had produced after study-ing a collage, bringing to life words generated from a picture. In all of theseexperiences, however, there was a strong element of engagement for the stu-dents involved.

4. Assessment/practical knowing unfolded as the teacher participants designedunits for their own classrooms based on the workshop exercise and alignedthem with their curriculum. Table 2 shows a sample design for such an aes-thetic education unit for ELs that follows the guidelines for unit design pro-vided in Domain 1e, Designing Coherent Instruction, in Danielson’s (2007)framework for teaching. The use of a clear unit structure, which starts withchoosing suitable materials and producing a grid such as that shown inTable 2, can help teachers of ELs design aesthetic education units that meetthe criteria that emerged as themes from the present action research study:(1) engaging all students in high-level cognitive activities, (2) differentiatingactivities for various proficiency levels, and (3) meeting the needs of diversetypes of learners.

The pedagogical value of units such as that outlined in Table 2is amply supported in the literature on educating ELs. Readingand writing based on the arts serves to build content, improvevisual thinking, and increase access to prior schema, all of whichare essential for ELs to make meaning (Andrzejczak et al., 2005;Grauer, 2005) and to improve overall academic performance(Arnheim, 1990; Eubanks, 2002; Platt, 1977; Sleicher & Reid, 2004).The research carried out by Latta and Chan (2011), moreover,suggests numerous advantages for ELs from lessons in which artis created first, followed by a language arts activity, as opposed tothe customary practice of using art after a reading or writingexperience. In this action research study, the protocol followed inthe workshop and subsequently reproduced in the teachers’ ownclassrooms followed this organizational principle as well as theoverall goal of maintaining an aesthetic focus throughout the


TABLE2.

Aesthetic

EducationUnitforEnglish

Lan

guag

eLearners

TheWork

ofArt

Curriculum

Content

Area

Questions

Contextual

Inform

ation

Lan

guag

e

Focu

s

Activity

Ideas

Vocabulary

Study

Perform

ance

Objective/

Assessm

ent

Black-and-

white

photograph

ofadollby

MaryWhelan

Lan

guag

e

arts

What

questions

occurto

you

aboutthis

work

ofart?

What

does

thepicture

remindyou

of?

What

surrounds

this

work

socially,

historically,

or

culturally?

Relate

picture

of

dollto

studen

ts’

childhood

mem

ories

and/or

countryof

birth.

Descriptive

adjectives

Sim

ple

past

tense

Hav

estuden

ts

share

mem

ories

of

theirearly

childhoodan

d

theirtoys.

Studen

tscan

compose

phrasesor

draw

pictures

(forbeg

inning-

level

ELLs)

aboutan

early

childhood

mem

ory.

fram

e

composition

photograph

contrast

shad

ow

dep

th

Written

parag

raph

Sen

tencesor

pictures

One-on-one

conference

to

observe

studen

ts’

speaking

skills

and

assess

progress

98 TESOL Journal

TABLE2.

(Continued)

TheWork

ofArt

Curriculum

Content

Area

Questions

Contextual

Inform

ation

Lan

guag

e

Focu

s

Activity

Ideas

Vocabulary

Study

Perform

ance

Objective/

Assessm

ent

Rep

roduction

ofthe

painting

Guernicaby

Pab

loPicasso

Social

studies

What

are

youcu

rious

aboutas

you

view

this

work

ofart?

What

associations

doyoumak

e

betweenthis

paintingan

d

thingsyou

hav

ealread

y

learned

about?

Rev

iew

contextof

Span

ish

CivilWar

and/or

Cubism.

Relate

feelingsthe

painting

evokes.

Mak

e

connections

towars

involving

theUnited

Statesan

d/

orin

studen

ts’

native

countries.

Contractions

Word

sthat

evoke

emotion

Studen

tscan

discu

sstheir

understan

ding

ofthecauses

ofcivilwarsin

different

countries.

Hav

estuden

ts

read

and

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exercise (Heron & Reason, 2006; Latta & Chan, 2011; Torbert,2006). However, it was the students’ firsthand exposure to an artsexperience that enabled the participating teachers to excite,inspire, and challenge ELs in their classes to become enthusedabout their own learning (Seidel et al., 2009).

CONCLUSIONThe value of an integrated arts curriculum in developing students’cognitive abilities while broadening their intellectual and culturalhorizons is widely recognized, and this fact is enshrined in theCommon Core State Standards that many states have adopted (see,e.g., New York State Education Department, 2011). Moreover, withthe numbers of ELs in U.S. schools at an all-time high andcontinuing to increase (Goldenberg, 2008; National Clearinghousefor English Language Acquisition, 2011), it is vital that educators,administrators, and curriculum planners recognize the benefits ofaesthetic education in meeting the learning needs of thispopulation. Teaching through integrated arts units accommodatesELs because comprehension is supported by the context and is notdependent solely on linguistic clues. Integrated arts instructionlevels the playing field for ELs by encouraging all students toutilize various modes of expression in analyzing and respondingto complex and engaging phenomena. Thus, arts education is anexcellent vehicle to develop not only an appreciation of aesthetics,but cognitive abilities as well, even as ELs begin to learn anddeploy academic vocabulary in their second language.

The next step, clearly, is to integrate more aesthetic educationinto school curricula. Naturally, this requires that teachers betrained and prepared to plan and deliver arts-based lessons andto make these lessons relevant both to the curriculum and tostudents’ heritage cultures and everyday lives. Although thisrequires a planned and targeted effort on the part of teachertraining programs and a commitment on the part ofadministrators and educators, evidence suggests that this goalwill not be difficult to achieve. For example, as a result of theirexperience in the action research detailed in this article, theteacher participants reported that they felt they had acquired amuch better grasp of how to integrate arts and aesthetics into

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their curricular units. Moreover, they also found this approach tobe an effective way to engage ELs in positive educationalexperiences while continuing to address their linguistic needs andto ensure language progress.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of educators to challengeyoung people to wonder about the world—to spark the curiositythat will drive students to continue their learning journeys.Through aesthetic education units, teachers can use works of art toprovoke inquiry and wonder, encouraging ELs and nativespeakers alike to make meaning out of a wide variety ofphenomena. Thus, as this action research study suggests, the artscan provide teachers with a powerful ally in their quest tomotivate all students to achieve their full potential.

THE AUTHORAudrey Figueroa Murphy is an assistant professor of TESOL at St.John’s University. After receiving degrees in Spanish, bilingualeducation, and instructional supervision, she became a bilingualteacher for the New York City Board of Education. She has alsoheld the positions of bilingual/ESL district coordinator, assistantprincipal, principal, and network leader in the New York CityDepartment of Education.

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Documents

Integrating Aesthetics Into Professional Development for Teachers of English Learners