LITERACY THROUGH THE ARTS for Special Needs Students

1
Literacy Through The Arts
Gateways toLearning Students
with Special Needs

• 
  Claudia Carroll

2

• Introduction
• The Curriculum is easily adjusted to different
  grades through selecting materials appropriate to
  the grade levels ie books, videos, music,
  art-animation, etc. Since my experience has
  either been with adults or with 7-12 year olds,
  this Unit is developed for 5th grade).
• However, during observations of Special Ed
  courses in the County I expect to be teaching, I
  was shown boxes of material, appropriate for ELL
  learners, the teachers were (with much
  frustration) now expected to use. So, How much
  freedom I will have to create my own curriculum,
  and particular one that leans heavily on the
  several arts, will yet to be seen.
• Following several slides giving CCSS information
  is a general, weekly approach to Special Ed
  through the use of the several arts.

3
.

• The following is a response received Oct, 18,
  2012 from the NM PED re my question as to further
  information re CCSS for students with special
  needs.
• Ms. Carroll The CCSS addresses Reading and Math
  for K-12. The following information concerning
  children with special needs is found in the
  introductory statements of the CCSS.
• "It is also beyond the scope of the Standards to
  define the full range of supports appropriate for
  English language learners and for students with
  special needs. At the same time, all students
  must have the opportunity to learn and meet the
  same high standards if they are to access the
  knowledge and skills necessary in their posthigh
  school lives. The Standards should also be read
  as allowing for the widest possible range of
  students to participate fully from the outset and
  as permitting appropriate accommodations to
  ensure maximum participation of students with
  special education needs.
• For example, for students with disabilities
  reading should allow for the use of Braille,
  screen-reader technology, or other assistive
  devices, while writing should include the use of
  a scribe, computer, or speech-to text technology.
  In a similar vein, speaking and listening should
  be interpreted broadly to include sign
  language."Thank you for your interest in the
  CCSS and we hope this information is
  helpful.NMPED Team. http//www.ped.state.nm.us/S
  EB/law/

4
2.

• .
• This, from the CA PED site, is indication of
  positive move forward, nationally
• From TOM TORLAKSON, State Superintendent of
  Public Instruction
• Aligned Assessments Multi-state consortia are
  currently developing CCSS aligned assessments to
  be implemented in the 20142015 school year
• The Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium
  (SBAC) is developing a computer adaptive test
  that will contain built in accommodations. This
  assessment will be used with general education
  students including special education students who
  currently take the CMA (grades 38, and
• 11). The National Center and State
  Collaborative (NCSC) is developing the alternate
  assessment to be used with our most cognitively
  impaired students. This assessment may eventually
  replace the currently used CAPA assessment
  (grades 38, and 11).
• http//www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/cc/documents/impctonsp
  ed.pdf

5
Resources

• The resources are many, and listed throughout
  this Unit plan, but the project would begin with
  an assessment of the students interests,
  tendencies, talents, or multi-level
  intelligences through offering the following,
  fun and easy to take test Howard Gardners
  Multi-Level Intelligences http//howardgardner.co
  m/multiple-intelligences/
• While such a test has nothing to do with the
  official, team-generated IEPs as a teacher it
  would give me a road-map on which to travel, with
  the student, an in-class resource project to
  inform the student more about him or herself,
  potential, and interests that might not have been
  recognized..
• It may be possible that I would have students who
  were unable to comprehend such a quiz.
• During observations, I discovered that the
  Special Ed instructors are now being given
  materials, in reading and math, that are part of
  the ELL program requirements, and they reported
  to me that there is strong pressure to use these
  materials.
• Opinion Having reviewed some of these materials,
  I see them (as did the teachers I interviewed,
  somewhat as obstacles to allowing a Special Ed
  create both materials and programs tailored to
  individual students.

6
Personal Perspective Experience working in the
community with youth-at-risk, adults with memory
challenges ESL in Taiwan, Mexico, Guatemala
with two long-term sub assignments with
elementary level Special Ed students, and as a
writer, artist, with much community experience in
theater and music, having a relatively recent
masters in Arts in Education and as a parent
with adult children who had major learning
disabilities, I am committed to working with
students that are designated as Special Ed,
and/or lower level learners. However, my
experience has convinced me, at least at this
point, that the challenges presented to both the
Special Ed teacher and to the students with their
multi-faceted learning and / behavioral
challenges (often complicated by their personal
environments) are immense and immensely varied.
While some students are lower level learners due
to either/or both physical, mental or emotional
challenges, others are so designated who have,
due to various reasons, missed out on
foundational learning in reading, and basic
maths, and as a result of being at the bottom
of the learning/ accomplishing ladder in
successive classroom, confidence in the ability
to learn is stifled. (Continued
7
These students can, I believe, be best reached by
individual and/or small group tutoring that
would, in a stress-free, non-competitive
situation present three important ways of
learning to them one, the opportunity to
literally go back and start over learning the
building blocks of reading (and, thus, writing)
and math two, the opportunity to expand their
concepts of the world to one that is larger, more
diverse, exciting, than perhaps that of their
immediate (home, community, school) environments,
while helping them connect with the cultures of
their deep ancestry, the goal of this being to
instill a sense of belonging three presenting
learning opportunities is such ways as to
encourage a love of learning by focusing on the
relevance of learning to their own lives. All of
these reasons can also be applied to Special Ed
students, so designated by the teams who create
their IEPs. However, even here, two major
problems surface. (Note this conclusion is based
on my own limited experience working in a small
NM school district, and may not be true of other
districts). The IEP evaluation teams focus on one
student at a time, and the same teams may not,
and it is unlikely they will be, the same teams
that create all the districts Special Ed
students IEP.
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Curriculum Cycle
9

• UNIT 5th Grade Special Ed
• Literacy through the arts Gateways to Learning
• TEACHER Claudia Carroll
• TIME FRAME One semester of one to five lessons
  per week, with consideration of the fact that
  student IEPs determine the amount of time,
  weekly or monthly that a student may need with a
  special ed teacher plus the fact that (in my
  experience) pull-outs by special services
  personnel (occupational and speech therapists,
  for example) take precedence over the Sped
  program, as did also (in my experience)
  activities such as music, art, pe, and visiting
  community programs such as GRIP, Rivers and
  Birds, and a variety of grade-level field trips
  and school activities.
• Backward Goals
• The students will move closer to their grade
  level CCSS learning opportunities, and will
  increase abilities and skills in reading,
  writing, comprehension, critical thinking,
  organizational and problem solving skills through
  the gateways of the various arts.
• Increased self-confidence and self-advocacy.
• Production of various arts projects that
  illustrate 1 and 2.

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Unit Summary and Rationale Goal To encourage
reading, writing, speaking and math
comprehension to overcome the fear of reading,
while meeting the needs of Special Ed students
with both learning disabilities and lack of
foundational reading to further skills in
literacy, through using one or more of the
several arts story-telling, singing,
play-acting, movement to music, book-making. At
least one, or more of these arts will be
accessible by students with individual
disabilities and/or literacy levels to engage in
working with the written word. This unit is
designed to be flexible enough to be presented to
one student, or a small group, but ideally with
regular attendance of at least three days per
week for four weeks, in order to complete each
arts segment of the unit.
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CCSS Goals Adapted from NM PED response letter
of Oct. 18, 2013. (Parenthesis mine) The
students (will) have the opportunity to learn and
meet the same high standards (CCSS) if they are
to access the knowledge and skills necessary in
their posthigh school lives allowing for the
widest possible range of students to participate
fully from the outset and as permitting
appropriate accommodations to ensure maximum
participation of students with special education
needs.
12

• Unit Goals
• To measurably increase reading/writing/math
  abilities/skills according to the individual
  students IEP goal, and tested with appropriately
  prepared quizzes, both verbal and written devised
  by the resource instructor in coordination with
  students homeroom teacher.
• To invite participation by the students
  parent-caretaker(s) in reading/writing projects
  that can be undertaken at home, and/or as
  visiting parent-caretaker in the resource room.
• To identify a particular, or more than one, life
  interest, as suggested in Howard Gardners
  Multiple Intelligences, and introduce the several
  arts (with an s) in order to encourage
  participating, exploration, discovery, engagement
  in the learning process, with focus on project
  evidences.

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While this instructor prefers close coordination
with the students homeroom teachers in order to
coordinate the activities of the resource room
with the CCSS academic expectations, a resource
teacher needs to go beyond the tutoring
experience to create a unique environment for
learning to love learning about reading, writing,
and math, via the use of arts activities and
projects.
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MATH CHALLENGED STUDENTS Dyscalculia is not
a single type of math disability, but a wide
range of lifelong learning disabilities involving
math. People with dyscalculia may struggle with
number sense, such as counting, estimation and
comparison of quantities and basic arithmetic.
Quick retrieval of number facts and calculation
fluency seem to be key characteristics of people
with dyscalculia.
Learning strategies for students who struggle
with math depend in large part on the type of
difficulty the student is experiencing. Whether
the child has reading difficulties should also be
taken into account. In general, programs for
students with math LD should include attention to
basic skills, explicit instruction and lots of
opportunities for practice and mastery. Programs
should make sure that students revisit and master
earlier concepts and skills before moving
forward. http//www.ncld.org/types-learning-disab
ilities/dyscalculia/six-facts-to-know-about-math-l
earning-disabilities-dyscalculia
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Vocabulary All lessons will include the
introduction of related vocabulary and follow-up
word recognition, spelling, sentence and
paragraph construction as well as reading about
the topic. It is expected vocabulary use and
recognition will increase, both verbally and in
reading recognition, writing and math
comprehension, exponentially.
Oral vocabulary, or knowledge of word meanings,
plays a key role in reading comprehension. If
children are unfamiliar with the meanings of
words in a text, their comprehension will suffer,
even if they can decode the words.
For example, if a child can sound out the
printed word scarlet in a sentence but does not
know that scarlet means red, some comprehension
will be lost if this experience is repeated with
a number of important words in the text, then
comprehension will be seriously impaired.
http//www.ldonline.org/spearswerling/Vocabulary_A
ssessment_and_Instruction
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MUSIC Singing multi-cultural nature
listening to CDs, accessing a favorite music
group on the computer, creating and playing a
music instrument, learning a song accompanied by
an auto-harp are just some of the ways that music
awareness can help develop a love of
learning. Activities may include a visit to the
school music class where the teacher has been
asked to explain the importance of reading in
music introduction to one or more cultural music
experiences, such as the Hawaiian children
depicted dancing here games exploring the
relationship between math and music, and
recognition of musical related objects, themes,
etc ie instruments Further examples dances
that tell stories listening to CDs, accessing
a favorite music group on the computer, creating
and playing a music instrument, learning a song
accompanied by an auto-harp, a visit to the
school music class where the teacher has been
asked to explain the importance of reading in
music introduction to one or more cultural music
experiences. Movement/dance also serves well
behaviorally, but can be used as an exploration
of math patterns in rhythm and movement, as well
as story-telling video of one or more groups of
story-teller dancers NM Native Americans,
Hawaiians, Irish, etc.


This Hawaiian Children dancing is also a lesson
about nature the environment http//www.youtube.
com/watch?vTNsMRprvPrw http//www.youtube.com/wat
ch?vKAxbOwmA5zclistPLeI4XGHGzvxivClGQk1OQXHVBi1
4Oahrd
17
Dancing with Native American
children http//www.youtube.com/watch?v-hzmEt1Zj
gg http//www.youtube.com/watch?vMz6mdrxnvFQ
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Drama Story-telling, acting out skits, reading
and possibly writing short playlets, watching a
short video of a familiar story ex Peter and
the Wolf combines reading, music, drama,
animation Charlottes Web, about
determination and friendship Anne Franks
diary courage and independence of thought.
Each of these stories is rich with questions
about the dilemmas special needs students often
face.
http//www.dailymotion.com/video/x2py83_charlottes
-web-full-movie_shortfilms
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When I write, all my sadness disappears.
Anne Frank in her diary. http//www.pbs.org/wgbh
/masterpiece/annefrank/
/
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MUSIC 1946 Disney Music Version of Peter and
the Wolf http//www.youtube.com/watch?vzr25umYkxe
4
LITERATURE Early Disney version Legend of
Sleepy Hollow (narrated by Bing
Crosby) http//www.youtube.com/watch?vdxX66vLSZoQ

MATH http//www.youtube.com/watch?vtT9A2jlL1s8
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• Visual Art
• While Visual art studies today also include
  multi-media
• exploration, this Special Ed unit will focus on
  developing
• both manual-visual dexterity and decision making
  through
• Collage and Assemblage These two-handed
  art-forms can also be used to teach math and
  geometry concepts, shapes, forms, and has been
  shown to be useful in helping a student develop a
  sense of individuality and independence. See
  http//www.pinterest.com/ahinpgh/art-by-the-mental
  ly-disabled/

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• Book-making
• develop an appreciation of the written and
  pictorial word, increase vocabulary and word
  recognition.
• learning to transfer the ability to talk to
  the written word
• exploring a book, topic, theme of students
  choice
• end goal create a pictorial journal of the
  students progress through the course.
• his aspect of the course may also include diary
  writing and the importance of doodling as idea
  generation. doodle, doodle!

Book-making
Book-making appreciation of the written word,
how to transfer the ability to talk to the
written word and will include an exploration of
book, topic, theme of students choice
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Journalism and Photography Even with the use of
a single digital camera, students can combine
several aspects of both the arts (with an s),
writing skills, and community awareness, such as
taking photos (with permission) of classmates,
teachers, playground, special events. The
Scholastic site http//www.scholastic.com/browse/c
ollection.jsp?id258 offers five lesson plans
with pintables and activities and is standards
based, to reinforce students' observation and
deduction skills. As with the other arts as
gateways to literacy projects, I would also
invite visiting artists, writers, bookmakers,
photographers, etc., to the resource room.
Example of reporters interview technique using
who, what, why, where, when http//www.scholasti
c.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/americang
irl/ag_repro2.pdf (One big objection to this
site,based on the film, American Girl, she is,
once again a blond, blue-eyed girl).
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Copying is sometimes a good idea! The 5th grade
media class at the Taiwan school where I taught
ESL for a year, had students interview teachers.
This cartoon was then created by the girl who
interviewed me. The project involved reading,
writing, reporting, animation, and finally,
production of an on-line newspaper for the
school). Its an idea I often use in Special
Ed.
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Book making (a specialty for me, but there are
several useful sites for both teachers and
children http//www.fascinate-educate.com/2008/10
/25/books-to-make-with-children/
How to Make Pop-up Books http//teacher.schola
stic.com/lessonrepro/lessonplans/abcpopup.htm How
to Make a Character Book (to further
understanding of stories read)
http//www.scholastic.com/teachers/activity/char
acter-scrapbook
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• If students have seen Hugo the film, theyll
  like this game, which both retells the story, but
  lets them invent their own mechanical
  thinga-ma-bobs. http//www.scholastic.com/hugocab
  ret/
• This site offers all sorts of games related to
  books http//www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/game
  s/?lnkidstacks/nav/games/main
• Ex Write Your Own Dumb Diary has a sort of FB
  entry box, with choices for cover page, and
  ability to print out the finished product. I
  believe diary writing is a major open seame to
  developing writing skills and the ability to
  express ones feelings without fear of censure.

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Unit Connection College and Career Ready
Descriptions x Students will demonstrate
independence . x Students will value
evidence.
x Students will build strong content knowledge.
x Students
will respond to the varying demands of audience,
task, and discipline. x Students will critique
as well as comprehend.
x Students will use technology and
digital media strategically and capably. x
Students will develop an understanding of other
perspectives and cultures.
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• Essential Questions
• FOR STUDENTS
• Why is literacy (reading, writing, communicating)
  your gateway to the world?
• 2. How are three of the ways you can become a
  better reader, writer, communicator?
• 3. How will you know when you are literate (able
  to read, write, communicate as well as you, and/
  or better than when you started this year?
• 4. Do you think learning can be fun? Why? How
  can learning be fun?

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• Assessments
• Assessments with Special Ed students is basically
  one of teamwork the imput of the resource
  teacher, the homeroom teacher, the IEP team
  (during evaluations), and the students primary
  home-givers. For this curriculum, the resource
  teacher will
•  
• Generally (using a portfolio collection of work
  done in class) is progress shown in three areas
  academic behavior and social skills attitude
  toward learning.
• Specifically Is the student progressing weekly
  in one or all of the academic areas worked on in
  the resource room (primarily, reading, writing,
  math reading and writing may also make use of
  science, social studies, or guided reading
  assignments of homeroom teacher).
•  
• If a child is ELL, is he or she making progress
  in word recognition, spelling, sentence reading
  and comprehension and writing with the use of
  assigned vocabulary?
• Note While students with special needs are also
  required to take the mandatory computer tests, it
  is generally thought these are not a good way to
  assess SPED students.

30
Questions to be posed by the resource teacher,
homeroom teacher and the student 1. Did the
student attempt and/or complete the lesson
(whether assigned by SPED teacher, or as a
tutored project from his or her homeroom
teacher)? 2. Do both the SPED teacher and the
homeroom teacher notice changes in attitude that
indicate a willingness to be instructed, and to
learn? 3. Does the student notice, when going
over the portfolio collection of work done in the
resource room, improvement in reading, writing
and/or math? 4. Does the student engage in
special projects and/or creatively propose
projects? 5. Within the students challenges due
to disability, and the IEP recommendations, are
projects and lessons individualized to meet the
students needs and goals?
31

• Resource Room Environment
• Ideally The resource room will have
• An overhead video screen,
• computer (or access to laptops
• for each student when needed),.
• CD player
• Study tables that are easily moved around
• for individual or group work.
• Ample and safe space for accommodations
• for students with disability devises.
• A white board,
• spacious bulletin board.

32
Materials Vocabulary sheets for each activity,
designed to assure student, or several
understands the directions for a
project, increase vocabulary and word
recognition, and writing/ spelling skills.
Further uses of the vocabulary lists (calling
out the words for recognition in the reading,
filling in vowels of word lists missing these,
writing sentences using one or more of the
vocabulary words) is also a form of assessment.
Visual arts Project Journal Book-Making
construction paper, cardboard or mat board, white
glue and hot glue, tempura paints. Ruler for
measuring, scissors. Lined paper for interior
of book. Music and Movement auto-harp, and
large-print page(s) of several easy-to-learn
folk songs. Movement CD of folk songs from
other countries. Plastic water bottles or
cans, with which to make rattles, tissue paper
and string or ribbon, rice or beans.
Play-acting A printed skit for play-acting.
Many additional helps are available via IPODs,
U-Tube, PBS, and the Internet generally.
33

• Unit Standards CONCLUSIONS
• In New Mexico (See introduction) there are no
  specific standards for Special Ed students, other
  than for the instructor to be knowledgeable of
  the students IEP. The accommodations
  requirements should be available to the students
  homeroom teacher, who could then, within the
  students reading/and or math levels (determined
  by pre-testing) encourage achievement and provide
  opportunity to learn and excel.
• The idea of this unit however, is to focus on
  literacy (math, reading, writing, and an
  increased world-view) with 5th grade Special Ed
  students, although reading levels are likely to
  vary through the ranges of K-5. Because lack of
  confidence in reading tends to build up over the
  grade levels for many Special Ed students, this
  curriculum is designed to approach literacy
  through the gates of the several arts,

• Visual (Craft Digital) / Music/Singing/Movement
  ,/
• Reading/Writing/Story-telling Drama, with a
  maths inclusiveness and the additional focus on
  increasing global cultural awareness.
• The latter goal servies two purposes to assist
  the Special Ed student to focus on the world
  beyond his/her diagnosis or disability, and to
  begin to view literacy as the way to best
  function in this larger world.

34
RESOURCES http//www.ped.state.nm.us/SEB/law/ h
ttp//www.cde.ca.gov/sp/se/cc/documents/impctonspe
d.pdf http//howardgardner.com/multiple-intelligen
ces/ http//www.scholastic.com/hugocabret/ http
//www.abilitiesexpo.com/buzz50.html http//www.ldo
nline.org/spearswerling/Vocabulary_Assessment_and_
Instruction http//www.scholastic.com/browse/colle
ction.jsp?id258 http//www.decodingdyslexiatx.org
/early-signs-of-dyslexia-what-texas-parents-need-t
o-know/ http//www.ncld.org/types-learning-disabi
lities/dyscalculia/six-facts-to-know-about-math-le
arning-disabilities-dyscalculia http//www.pbs.org
/parents/education/learning-disabilities/types/mat
hematics/ http//www.ncld.org/types-learning-disab
ilities/dyscalculia/what-is-dyscalculia http//www
.pinterest.com/melissa_taylor2/math-ideas-for-kids
/ http//www.scholastic.com/kids/stacks/games/?lnk
idstacks/nav/games/main http//assistivetechnolog
y.about.com/od/ATCAT3/tp/5-Ipad-Apps-For-Autistic-
And-Developmentally-Disabled-Children.htm http//w
ww.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/annefrank/
http//www.dailymotion.com/video/x2py83_charlotte
s-web-full-movie_shortfilms http//www.youtube.co
m/watch?vTNsMRprvPrw http//www.youtube.com/watch
?vKAxbOwmA5zclistPLeI4XGHGzvxivClGQk1OQXHVBi14O
ahrd http//www.youtube.com/watch?vtT9A2jlL1s8

35
(No Transcript)
36
Some photos of students, and images of my books
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