​You may have seen my post, Serendipity in Curriculum Design.  You never know what kind of fantastic ideas or possibilities will reveal themselves to you!  This past week, starting with two reminders of upcoming holidays, National Arts in Education Week and International Dot Day, found me with my mind tuned to the arts.  
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In my usual way of thinking in interdisciplinary and integrated curriculum design, I immediately thought of connections to reading, writing, media literacy, visual literacy,aural literacy, social/emotional literacy, and a project could be easily extended to include financial literacy, ecoliteracy, creativity & the arts as literacies, physical fitness and health as literacies, global competencies . . . You can find articles with learning activities for many of these literacies on this page at  21st Century Schools.
 
The various activities below also include opportunities to ensure that students develop the 21st century skills (7 Survival Skills of the 21st Century by Tony Wagner) illustrated in my 3 compasses.  

It seems serendipitous to me that today I happened upon other excellent resources connected to the arts.

National Arts in Education Week is a national celebration recognizing the tranformative power of the arts in education. Designated by Congress in 2010 through House Resolution 275, the celebration is designated to bring attention to this cause for elected officials and educational decision makers across the country and to support equitable access to the arts for all students.
National Arts in Education Week takes place annually during the week beginning with the second Sunday of September. This year it falls on September 11 – 17, 2016. Save the date for future celebrations:

• September 17 – 23, 2017
• September 16 – 22, 2018
• September 8 – 14, 2019
• September 13 – 19, 2020

For inspiration and resources click the Read More link!

You have probably seen the videos of random surveys out in public and particularly on college campuses which reflect a near total lack of knowledge about history or our country. For this reason, a senator created a bill which made it law to teach about the Constitution at least one day per year!

These questions, and many more, can be explored using these resources.  From the arts to history . . . these are wonderful ways to engage students in many courses.  These are great resources for Constitution Day as well as the upcoming Presidential Election 2016! 

​What are the connections between the American Revolution and what is happening in America today?
 
Integrate technology through videography and filmmaking – students can create . . .

• Mini-documentaries like those seen on the History Channel, Biography Channel, Science Channel, Discovery Channel . . .
• A cooking show (I recommend using the format of Good Eats with Alton Brown).   
• Talk shows interviewing characters from the past such as Yankee Doodle or John Adams
• Create live or recorded commentary and analysis on the current presidential election.  This could include analyzing speeches, advertisements and distributed materials.

View the Yankee Doodle resources here, and find more technology integration tools here.
 

1.  Investigating the world beyond their immediate environment.
2.  Using the arts to recognize their own and other's perspectives.
3.  Communicating their ideas effectively with diverse audiences using the arts.
4.  Using the arts to translate their ideas into appropriate actions to improve conditions.

Click on Read More to access Resources and Curriculum Ideas.