I excel with vocabulary and written expression, but when...
"Art projects" in English classrooms do not help students and weaken their writing skills.
I will admit, before any further arguments, that I am inherently biased against artistic and creative projects because of my "non-verbal learning disability" or "hyperlexia". I excel with vocabulary and written expression, but when it comes to context and social interaction, I can struggle. Others, especially those with dyslexia or related learning disabilities, would likely do better with art projects than essays. The fact remains that the amount of writing required with an artistic project is much less than that of a traditional essay. With a diorama or storyboard, there might be about one page of written material provided by the student, usually backed up by the other materials. An essay would usually be five pages. It would be beneficial to encourage more writing at a high school level because in college, students will be expected to write 10+ pages, many more for a dissertation or in a major heavily focused on writing. There is a benefit to art and other creative exercises, but there are already required classes such as "Elements of I excel with vocabulary and written expression, but when it comes to context and social interaction, I can struggle. Others, especially those with dyslexia or related learning disabilities, would likely do better with art projects than essays. The fact remains that the amount of writing required with an artistic project is much less than that of a traditional essay. With a diorama or storyboard, there might be about one page of written material provided by the student, usually backed up by the other materials. An essay would usually be five pages. It would be beneficial to encourage more writing at a high school level because in college, students will be expected to write 10+ pages, many more for a dissertation or in a major heavily focused on writing. There is a benefit to art and other creative exercises, but there are already required classes such as "Elements of Art" that cover such areas.