Jonathan Walker is Assistant Principal at Binford Middle School. Prior to his current position, he was an English teacher at Binford and attended Partners in the Arts’ Joan Oates Institute during his early years of teaching. Jonathan has experienced arts integrated learning both in the classroom and from an administrator’s perspective.

The Arts-Integrated School Model

Binford Middle School is located in the Fan District of Richmond and is an arts integrated school. Binford transitioned to arts integration in 2014 when principal Melissa Rickey joined the school. Creating a curriculum focused on arts integrated learning was a challenge, however it has paid off tremendously. All teachers at Binford have experienced a form of arts integrated professional development, and many of them have participated in the Joan Oates Institute through Partners in the Arts.

To Jonathan, what makes Binford unique is that every class utilizes arts integration, which enables lots of cross-subject collaboration. Teachers from different subject areas come together to compare curriculum to ensure that students are seeing the holistic view of arts integrated learning between their classes. Jonathan attributes some of the collaboration between teachers to arts integrated teaching and arts integrated professional development.

Increased Teacher Engagement

Jonathan’s greatest takeaway was the impact arts integration had on teacher engagement. Jonathan expressed how teachers who go through arts integrated training, like the Joan Oates Institute, come out with a new excitement to teach. It inspires teachers to refine and reflect on their pedagogy. He expressed how the energy created by arts integration PD lasts more than a few weeks of art projects in the classroom. Rather, it creates long-term improvement in teachers’ approaches, which in turn helps the students succeed.