Abstract
Arts integration, an instructional strategy to engage students to communicate or express their understanding of subject content through the arts, has been overlooked as an innovative approach to improve student learning and encourage multiliteracy or the ability to effectively and creatively communicate in any form. Intermediate students who are still struggling with reading comprehension need alternative ways to access, process and comprehend the academic content in multiple subjects. Segregating and ranking the teaching of subjects has led to discounting the arts and the potential for arts integration to improve student achievement. A project to create a handbook of arts integration lessons about jobs and careers was developed to illustrate the creative process and provide educators with a useful model of how multiliteracy can be supported in the classroom. The handbook was also designed to be relevant to the economic crisis and future concerns of students in an evolving society. The creative processes in designing the handbook reflected the experience, training, and education through the California State University, Sacramento teacher education program. Additional sources of expertise came from the researcher’s art education and professional experience as a graphic artist. Combining these creative resources led to exploring arts integration as an innovative and interdisciplinary way to improve student learning and comprehension in multiple subjects. The handbook of arts integration lessons about jobs and careers demonstrated that the lesson planning theme, topic or process could be chosen and tailored to any student and teacher needs or preferences. The ideal arts integration implementation would be achieved through collaboration and coordination of diverse educators to establish multiliteracy throughout education, no matter what age the students or educators happen to be.