ABSTRACT
The opening chapter of the text presents the power of the teacher to support, engage, and inspire students to learn. An in-depth look at the potential of learning with the arts, learning through the arts, learning about the arts, and how the arts are texts in and of themselves is central to this introductory chapter. Access to arts education and arts integrated education is shown as a social justice issue with real-life examples from school districts, and in communities. Featured are examples from schools in southern California on and near the border, as well as art installations including Madeleine Albright’s Read my Pins and Tom Keifer’s “El Sueño Americano/The American Dream.” The chapter is grounded in research, illustrating the capacity of growth in all the areas in which the arts are integrated to make a difference in children’s lives and learning.
