The focus of this paper is the preparation of alternative route to certification candidates (ARC) for the elementary school classroom. One of the important dispositions of an ARC teacher in the urban elementary classroom is the ability to understand the culture of the family, school and community surrounding the children. This article demonstrates one approach that may be designed for integration into the teacher preparation sequence to address this need. The method used in this article integrated aesthetic education into teacher preparation through a collaboration between Lehman College, CUNY and the Lincoln Center Institute. This paper details one unit designed for use in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom that integrates aesthetic education to nurture literacy development.