STEAMed Magazine January 2017 | Page 28

INTEGRATING THE ARTS WITH

SPECIAL POPULATIONS

STUDENT POPULATION STRATEGIES FOR SUCCESS

SPECIAL EDUCATION

Special needs learners often use the arts to share their feelings and ideas when their limitations wouldn ’ t typically provide that opportunity .
USE TEXTURES .
Use textures to support any arts integrated lesson , but particularly with visual art . Try using sand , rice , puffy paint , etc .
INCORPORATE PATTERNS AND REPETITION . Highlight the patterns and repetition in a piece of music , dance or other art . Isolate these items and provide students with an opportunity to explore it in more detail .
DEVELOP SEQUENCING .
Chunk the listening / viewing experience and the lesson into a sequence where learners each have a specific role or task . This eliminates overwhelm !

ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS

ELL students thrive in arts integrated classrooms because the emphasis is taken off the language barrier and placed on a different way to communicate : through the arts !
TRY SHADOW PUPPETS .
These can be used to create and enact scenes in both the native & English language . The performance behind the scene makes the show about the puppet and not the individual student .
USE SOUND RECORDINGS OF JAZZ CHANTS . Carolyn Graham suggests helping students distinguish phonemes and practice with rhyme and sound patterns through poems , songs and jazz chants .
DANCE THE DIRECTIONS .
Students respond with their bodies to spoken directions ( similar to Total Body Response ). Use the elements of dance to explore energy levels , body positions and tempo while working on stage or classroom directions .

GIFTED AND TALENTED

G / T students ( or advanced level learners ) have specific needs not typically met during regular class instruction . Integrating the arts is another way for these students to take on new challenges .
PROVIDE CHOICE .
Whenever possible , offer G / T students with choice boards , project maps , and the ability to choose how they will explore a lesson in and through the arts .
UTILIZE VISIBLE THINKING STRATEGIES .
Using strategies like “ See , Think , Wonder ” provide G / T learners with a way to slow down their thinking process and dig deeper into more challenging content .
INSIST ON RISK .
Advanced level learners are often afraid to fail . Provide opportunities for students to take risks that support success . If they fail , they can learn to transform their failure into a new composition or artistic work .
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