Why are art, music, and media components of the units?
Some standards in the CCSS include the arts, and literature is of course a vital component of the standards as well. Common Core also promotes the importance of all students studying the arts. For these reasons and more, we have highlighted places where the arts could be well integrated into instruction by connecting a work of literature or an objective of the unit to art, music, or film. For example, students might compare a novel, story, or play to its film or musical rendition. Where a particular period of literature, or the literature of a particular region or country is addressed, works of art from that period or country may be examined. In some cases, connections are made to the skills or standards themselves, as in the ninth grade, when self-portraits could be studied in conjunction with the study of memoirs. This aspect of the maps is still under development, but will be included in all units in the next iteration. Currently a few dozen units have fully developed Art, Music, an
