The teacher emphasizes use of art vocabulary in discussing paintings and integrates art terms with spelling and language arts. The teacher refers to van Gogh's need to express feelings in his work as a transition from formal analysis to discussion of feeling and meaning in his paintings. The children are eager to respond to the topic of feeling in their own work and in van Gogh's. As the discussion progresses, children are asked to relate emotional qualities to specific characteristics of paintings and seem to be able to make reasonable interpretations appropriate for their age. This suggests that one possible benefit of art in school programs is therapeutic or at least cathartic.
Children often enjoy making art and readily participate, especially in the primary grades.
The opportunity to be creative and expressive, at levels consistent with their young ages, might be more readily provided in art than in most other school subjects. As the video camera scans the display of many van Gogh paintings, the topic of color reproductions is raised. The teacher purchased art prints of van Gogh's paintings from commercial distributors and, when particular works were not available, she had color copies made from books about the artist. From a variety of sources she provided this rich array for instructional purposes in her classroom. As an elementary classroom teacher responsible for all subjects in the school curriculum, this teacher is able to relate and integrate art learning with language skills, science, literature, history and other subjects.