4/11/2019
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
Courtney Smith
|
I had a student who had fairly severe dyslexia. Although she struggled in many of her other classes, she excelled in dance where she was very gifted. Her disability affected minor areas such as directional changes or body side movements dealing with lefts and rights. However, when we dug into research, reading and writing within the subject of dance, her disability made more of an impact. It was clear she also struggled with her ability to speak her mind, answer questions and participate in discussions because she didn’t trust her own ability to learn, gain and retain knowledge. She excelled in non verbal areas of the class even though the challenges arose in other areas. |
4/11/2019
Topic:
Assessment Of Learning
Courtney Smith
|
Utilizing graphic organizers can students with a disability to focus their ideas and choreographic choices when creating a new work. This can help to break up the overall assignment, organize their thoughts and focus their attention to choices made in the choreographic process. Another idea would be to utilize the strategy of cubing to help with writing critiques and reviews when we learn and practice analyzing dances. Using the six sided strategy also helps to break up the assignment into parts, organize thoughts and use specific prompts to promote authentic responses to a piece of dance without overwhelming a student. Then they will be able to use the information pulled from the cubing structure to guide their written final product. |
4/11/2019
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
Courtney Smith
|
In dance we have movement driven skill based tests to assess the physicality learned of each dancer. For students who have a physical disability, we utilize two different forms of adapted assessments - research paper and a modified skills test. For those who may not be able to perform the skills being tested at all, we utilize a research based written assignment that guides them toward a professional dancer, choreographer or company that has a disability or includes people with disabilities in their work. An example of this is Axis Dance Company. In the paper, students are asked to research the company and be reflective with both the impacts the company has on the broader world of dance as well as how understanding the integration of disabilities impacts their own view of dance. The other option would be a modified skills test where we look at the general ideas of the skills being tested and create an alternative phrase of movement that addresses those ideas with a movement that the student is capable of completing. |