The arts are a natural gateway for social and emotional learning. Participating in the creative and therapeutic experiences provided by the arts, students can feel better by having an outlet for their emotions, as they gain greater resiliency. Some of the arts lessons that have been specifically identified to channel social and emotional learning can be found on RCOE Art's Easy Arts for Everyone page.

Several arts webinars have been developed around the concept of social and emotional learning. They can be viewed on the RCOE Art's Webinars page. They are entitled The Arts: Social and Emotional Learning, Quick and Easy SEL Ideas, Creativity and Wellbeing and Simple Tips and Tricks to Live Your Best Life. Check these out for ideas on how to incorporate fun and engaging arts activities that promote mental health and wellbeing for students and teachers.

Financial Literacy

Participating in the arts at an advanced level during high school can lead to significant grant and scholarship opportunities for students via instrumental and choral music, theatre, dance, visual art and media arts. To that end, RCOE Arts currently supports competitive and showcase arts opportunities for students via the annual Honor Band, Honor Choir, Teen Poet Laureate, Fine Arts Spectacular and Fresh Film Festival. There are many organizations that support young people’s pre-professional arts aspirations. Some examples of arts scholarship opportunities can be found at the link below:

https://www.pixpa.com/blog/art-scholarships

Literacy by 5^th Grade

One of the most important milestones in a child’s education is learning to read. This complex process is not solely the function of language arts instruction. Students can be helped along in this endeavor by learning other strategies and techniques such as learning to read “arts as text.” Several videos that explain how to teach using Visual Thinking Strategies can be found on RCOE Art's Easy Arts for Everyone page.

Also, RCOE Arts has added a new series called “Children’s Literature and Art”, which supports literacy by presenting integrated arts lessons. You can find those lessons at the Children's Literature and Art Series page.

Equity & Inclusive Practices

Exploring diversity is innate through the cultural relevancy that can be found in all of the art forms. While learning about dance, music, theatre, film and art from around the globe, students also learn about and gain greater understanding and respect for those of other backgrounds. RCOE Arts has developed two sets of lessons that support Equity & Inclusive Practices. 

Four to Know

These units are suitable for elementary and middle school students, and feature lessons about 4 different artists: 2 male, 2 female and from a variety of backgrounds. Students will use Visual Thinking Strategies to analyze their artwork and then create a culminating art piece.

Four to Know

Equity Art Study

This collection of lessons is suitable for middle and high school students. These lessons are centered around a particular art form and the artworks were carefully chosen to be vehicles of exploration around social justice.

Equity Art Study

Other resources to promote equity and inclusive practices include the webinar Silent Voices: What Your Students of Color Aren't Telling You which can be found on the RCOE Art's Webinars page. Partnerships like The Social Justice Sewing Academy, a partnership between Riverside County Arts and University of California, Riverside provide arts experiences for high school students as they explore themes of social justice.  A new RCOE Arts series entitled “Spotlight on Cultural Dance” features dances such as West African Lamda and New Zealand Haka.

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