Stephen F. Austin State University

Is it possible to engage children in the visual arts, the creative arts, the musical arts and the performing arts for six hours a day and help them master the content required by our state and federal governments?

Can children master the basics of reading and writing and mathematics from the context of the arts?

Is it possible that children’s knowledge and skills in the basics can emerge from the context of the arts?

Is it possible that the arts could lead children’s learning — not simply support learning, but actually lead children’s learning through authentic, artful activities presented each day during the entire early childhood education?

Simply stated, yes it can.

Thus begins Dr. Mark Turners book, "The Arts: A Context for Early Childhood Learning."

Turners book is a work in progress that will be influenced by the work he will be doing during the next school year at Houston Independent School District.

Turner is an associate professor in the Stephen F. Austin State University School of Music, who previously worked as a music ducator for HISD. He has continued to work closely with inner city students since he moved from Houston eight years ago. Now, he has been granted a sabbatical to work with early childhood teachers as they begin implementing an innovative learning style that focuses on establishing the arts as the context of childrens early educational experiences.

Most early childhood classrooms use art to support or add to the curriculum, Turner said. What Turner is proposing is immersion in art.

"The purpose of the book (and the work at HISD), is to present a new way of thinking about art," he said. "One of our most pressing challenges to adopting a new way to think about art is to begin to erase our educational history with art in the curriculum."

Historically, early childhood teachers have played music in t e background during other activities, or music has been used to help children transition from one activity to another. Music and chants also have been used to help children learn new materials, he said.

Although this may be effective for classroom management or for supporting other curriculum, Turner believes arts should stand on their own merit.

He has also observed that art often has been featured on campuses purely for entertainment purposes.

"It is an unfortunate reality of most public school music, drama and art programs," he said. "While we would like to believe that we educate children about the arts in order to increase their appreciation for the arts and to allow them the opportunity to express themselves through the arts, in reality is it simply to entertain mom and dad?"

Turners vision is of early childhood education begins with the arts. All other learning emerges from this context.

His ideas were formed "close to home," he said.

Last year Turner served on a dissertation committee for a doctoral candidate by the name of Jeffrey Schultz. Schultz stated that, "Arts are developmental."

"That really resonated with me," Turner said.

One of the other professionals on the dissertation committee, John Leonard said, "We need fewer advocates for the arts, and more pro-advocates for the arts."

"What he was saying, is we need fewer people saying things and more people making waves and taking risks," Turner said.

Finally, Turner said he was influenced last year during extensive training in the Gordon Music Learning Theory, at Michigan State University. During the training Gordon made the comment that context is more important than content, Turner said.

"These three things lead to the realization that from an authentic artful context, children can master all other content, Turner said.

The National Association for the Education of Young Children endorses something called "emergent curriculum," Turner said.

In laymans terms, Turner refers to this type of learning as "letting the child explore and experience his or her world through experiences, both structured and unstructured. When adults and teachers see an opportunity, they pull thing from it."

For example, every time a child skips or dances to a song, creates a piece of visual art, or dresses up for dramatic play an adult has the opportunity to start a conversation and to explore the thoughts that lead the childs actions. It is at this point that the teacher can facilitate academic learning, Turner said.

In Turners reality of an ideal early childhood education, students are not pulled out of class for art. They spend their entire day immersed in art, he said.

The beauty of this idea is that it doesnt require large amounts of money to create this type of learning environment, Turner said.

"Its self-perpetuating," he said. "Its a way of looking at the world artfully."

Turner h s implemented a pilot program at the SFA Early Childhood Lab and the Nacogdoches ISD/SFA Charter School.

Beginning in late August he will take the program to an early childhood center in HISD, where he will work with 4-year-olds who are mostly Spanish-speakers. He will spend the year there creating videos, building a Web site and making a list of suggestions and strategies for educators who are interested in the arts as context for early childhood education.

"My vision is ultimately to train early childhood music educators in a way that teaches them to see things through the arts," he said.

Another benefit of the program is that teachers who have backgrounds in music, art or theatre will be able to bring those passions to the classroom.

"Teachers will have the opportunity to approach standard curriculum in an artful way," he said.

Another important issue addressed in this context of learning, is non-verbal communication, he said.

"Children communicate non-verbally before they communicate verbally," Turner said. "When they learn to create music or art at an early age, it helps with reading and writing later on. Non-verbal skills help to build verbal skills and then written skills, later in life."

Turners work at HISD will begin this summer with an intensive training institute. This will prepare the early childhood teachers and administrators for implementation arts program. Turners daily support will include demonstration lessons, one-on-one mentoring and evaluation, constructing and creating artful activities that support district goals and objectives and collecting qualitative an quantitative data from both children and adults.