| Abstract: | The overarching problems to which this study responds are the inadequacies of a traditional language arts curriculum for underserved middle school students and the ways such curricula fall short in providing these students viable means to succeed both academically and socially. The purpose of this study is to learn what happens when underserved middle school students are simultaneously engaged in literacy studies and visual arts learning based on the perceptions of four students, their teacher and the researcher. The questions that guide this study of an integrated literacy curriculum in a visual arts classroom are: 1) What are the perceptions of four underserved middle school students regarding their participation in an arts and literacy integrated curriculum? 2) What are the perceptions of a middle school teacher about student participation in an arts and literacy integrated curriculum? and, 3) What are the perceptions of the researcher who participated in the arts and literacy integrated curriculum? By using a case study methodology along with elements of autoethnography, the study primarily explores the perceptions of four underserved students in an art class as they engage in literacy activities. This study incorporates ethnographic techniques of observation, interviews, artifact collection, and analysis as a basis for assessing and interpreting evaluations of real world experiences of students and a teacher. Results illustrate the students did not find the writing assignment relevant to the associated art activity. The veteran teacher expressed interest in incorporating language arts into the art class but only did so on a limited basis. It appeared to the researcher that the potential for increasing verbal literacy was likely hampered by inadequate preparation for the lesson. The teacher may not have had a deep belief or motivation to fully utilize this technique. The potential for students to be exposed to deeper literacy integration in the art class may not have been fully realized. |
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