And the Moral of the Story is....

What happens next?

For Emily:

Emily loved the partner journal so much that she went out and bought her own journal so she could write down things that she likes, her thoughts, and her feelings.  

She also wants to continue partner journaling with me.

Our journey together will continue until she wishes to stop.

Right now the journal is in Tahoe.

I wonder what will happen there. :)

For Emily and Her Family:

The partner journal allowed her Mom to get to know her daughter a little bit better.  

Her mother has told me that "it has always been hard to figure Emily out; she is so different from Cole."

By looking through our entries, she was able to get a glimpse of how exactly Emily views herself and how she views important things in her life.  

I was able to talk to Emily's Mom about the possibility of dyslexia

(noun: a developmental disorder which can cause learning difficulty in one or more of the areas of reading, writing, and numeracy) which could explain a lot of the struggles Emily had in school this year.  Her mother stated that "Emily is extremely bright for her age and I think because of her spelling and laziness she is put back into a slower paced work group in the classroom."  Based upon the findings in our partner journal, she wants to have Emily tested for dyslexia to ensure that if that is actually the case that Emily can get the help she needs to overcome her struggles.  Emily's mother also wants to start her own partner journal with her daughter as a way for them to communicate ideas, feelings, emotions, and much more with each other around both of their busy schedules.

"Character is not hereditary."

-Michele Robison

For Me:

I am so thankful for this experience!

I was able to find answers to the wonderings I was thinking about:

I wonder...

...if the use of arts integration in the classroom gives students the ability to better process the content?

YES.

I wonder...

...how the arts can be used discover more about the interests of children?

YES.

I wonder...

...if the arts in content areas can help students better understand themselves?

YES.

I wonder...

...how the arts can be used to help students express themselves?

YES.

These wonderings were all answered positively with my experience with Emily.

But that is just one child.  The research demonstrates similar responses through several different sessions with art integration, but does it work for all children?

I now have a positive result to help prove my wonderings about the use of the arts in schools.  However, I know that there is so much more to it than just one experience.  Every child learns differently; now that I know I can use art to help them better process content, discover more about their interests, help them better understand themselves, and to express themselves, how can I make sure that I am meeting the needs of every student?

And thus, new wonderings were born:

I wonder...

would the introduction of multiple mediums of art benefit student learning?

I wonder...

if the teachers were more enthusiastic about art would the students be as well?

I wonder...

how art can be modified for students with Special Needs or English Language Learners?

I wonder...

"All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better."

-Ralph Waldo Emerson