Overview of the Lesson Plans: The Meaning of Culture-Based Arts Curriculum

Culturally relevant art-based curriculum is a classroom approach and teaching philosophy meant to fuse educational approaches with interactions among people and artistic forms of representation.

The lessons in this resource guide exhibit only a few ways art, culture, and Ojibwe ideas can be integrated into K-8 classrooms. The lessons have been written, taught, and critiqued by elementary teachers of many cultures, including American Indians. They offer a starting point for teachers of any community to begin the important work of art and culture integration.

This curriculum offers educators a variety of techniques and strategies to integrate community arts and culture knowledge within required content areas. This work is not easy. It takes more time and planning, and often requires teachers to move outside their comfort zones. Despite these challenges, Project Intersect teachers created lesson plans that serve as models for those just beginning this work as well as those already committed to teaching through art and culture in their classrooms.

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