#66 – The “Art” of Teaching: Infusing Artistic Creation Into Your Classroom

Unpacking Education November 17, 2021 32 min

Art isn’t just about drawing. It encompasses so many media, including technology. This week we meet with Nic Hahn, a K–5 Elementary Art Specialist in Minnesota, who shares her experience engaging students in a creative process to promote student agency. The team learns from Nic easy-to-implement strategies for infusing artistic creation into the core curriculum.

Nic Hahn has been a visual arts teacher for 20+ years and has taught preschool students through adult learners. Nic was awarded the Minnesota Art Educator of the Year Award in 2018. She currently teaches at Hassan Elementary, a K–5 school in Rogers, Minnesota, and connects with other educators and art enthusiasts on her blog, Mini Matisse, and as the host of the Everyday Art Room podcast for the Art of Education University.

Paul Beckermann
PreK–12 Digital Learning Specialist
Rena Clark
STEM Facilitator and Digital Learning Specialist
Dr. Winston Benjamin
Social Studies and English Language Arts Facilitator

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.

Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter

Resources

The following resources are available on AVID Open Access to explore this topic in more depth:

Explore Art Integration for Core Curriculum

Art is a place where students who typically struggle in school can often find success. Conversely, students who typically excel in school learn perseverance and productive struggle in art.

In this episode, Nic shares practical strategies for implementing artistic creation—digital and analog—across content areas. We touch upon the following topics in our conversation:

  • How to use technology in your classroom
  • Advantages technology can bring to art education
  • Easy-to-implement strategies for integrating art across the curriculum to promote student agency
  • Digital and analog resources to use in the classroom to inspire student creativity and choice

Extend Your Learning

Explore the following tech tools mentioned in this episode to use technology-enhanced learning strategies to integrate artistic creation in your classroom: