Schools in Mississippi take pride in the fact that they incorporate arts in their daily curriculum. The state takes this program seriously that aside from including it into their daily class activities, they also have visiting artists that will encourage students to pursue arts.
In an article published by WRAL, it all started in 1991 when the Mississippi Arts Commission first introduced this idea of incorporating arts to six elementary schools. It has been embraced since then and now 34 schools statewide are applying arts, as part of their everyday instruction.
The cool thing about it is that the subject of arts was not separately taught like what other schools are doing. Instead, they use it as a tool for learning the other subjects. Teachers and other arts instructors work hand in hand to create lesson plans that incorporate arts to whatever subject they are handling.
This means that if you visit one of their classrooms, you will see that their teachers are using music, dance and even acting as a method of their teaching. It could be quite challenging for most teachers, especially if they came from a conventional way of educating children.
The Sun Herald also featured this dedication to arts that the state of Mississippi has for their students. They also reported that Tupelo is specifically the only school district in this state that has all their schools apply this practice. Not all the district schools in Mississippi are doing it, but it is looking like they are about to follow the footsteps of Tupelo.
A photo posted by Tupelo High School (@tupelohigh) on Mar 21, 2016 at 3:12pm PDT
Pierce Street Elementary in Tupelo is among the first six schools from this state that piloted this program involving arts. This is why this district is proud to say that they have taken that leap to be committed to giving their students a more fun and interesting way to learn.
