all messages by user

Think of a student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability. Describe the way in which their disability affected their learning. Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student. Share your response in the threaded discussion.


Years ago I had a student who was visually impaired and over the years in his elementary career his vision got declined and got worse. This never stopped his love of art and he told me he wanted to be an artist when he grew up.
Around 4th grade was when we had to modify all his art lessons to help his visual disability.
He was learning how to use a braille machine to type his writing. I thought that was a great opportunity to create a new type of art with the class. Our lesson was to write and tell about yourself using I am Statements in a visual self-portrait way.
My student and I decided to have him use his braille typewriter and write the words so they would add texture. He could read it to the class and share it with his peers. Also to add color we painted on watercolor over the braille writing. His artwork was so unique and amazing he was featured in an art show for the district.


He helped me learn about unique ways to incorporate his visual impairment and make it a new creative art form.

Sarah Larson wrote:

I have one absolutely precious autistic 4th grade student I've watched over the years grow and progress academically. He can tell you EVERYTHING there is to know about dinosaurs. I remember when he was in 1st grade, how difficult it was to keep him engaged unless if you related the project to dinosaurs. Sometimes he can get easily distracted when working on an art project. However, I have him sit close to the front with fellow peers who I know will encourage him and motivate him to stay on track. There are days where all he wants to do is share information on dinosaurs, and I'll remind him that I would love to hear about that information once he has accomplished his work. I'll give him cues to let him know the appropriate time to talk and listen, but also when to focus and pay attention. And when I see how much a child enjoys a certain topic, I like to find ways to include that topic within the lessons that I teach to keep them engaged. For example, I taught my students about Canada last month. And one cool, fun fact about Canada is that some of the oldest dinosaur fossils have been found there. My 4th grade student who I just mentioned was quite ready to take a trip to Canada after I mentioned that fun fact.

• Describe at least one way you have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in your classroom. Be sure to describe the specific technology and how it assisted the student with a disability.
• In the past, I had a student who was gifted, visually impaired and autistic. I taught this student how to create with Kid Pix, 3 - Paint, and Scratch on the computer. Using the computer she was able to zoom in and out to help with her vision. The student was talented in drawing and after she was done with class project, she would go on the computer for enrichment activities in art. Using the computer challenged her to learn and be creative and then share with other art students. I had this student from Pre-K to 5th grade and had the opportunity to watch her grow artistically thru the years using technology. The student really excelled in creating her own interactive stories, games, and animations in Scratch. This student was very motivated to learn and create. She was successful and gain the confidence to share and teacher other students. She taught her peers how to code and create in the Scratch program. This student created art games and shared them, when she volunteered in the art room to help younger artists. This was an amazing talented child. This student was accepted at a middle school for the Visual Arts.

Two of the strategies discussed that could potentially be implemented in the classroom are cooperative learning and chaining. As students head towards the 21st century each student must have a clear understanding of how to think critically and be able to provide a response to a question in a clear and literate way. I believe that the grouping practice that allows for cooperative learning teaches the student not only how to reach a common goal, but it teaches the student how to work effectively with others. In addition to the cooperative learning piece i have selected chaining. Chaining involving breaking a task down and that can be beneficial to not only a student with a disability but to class as a whole. When assignments are chunked many students produce better results because the student is not overwhelmed with the amount of material, therefore producing work that reflects the content taught and the process steps.

• One strategy I have used was peer grouping. I think that this benefits both involved. Students who need more assistance gain clarity and support and the student at mastery concretes their learning through teaching. I also enjoy the bond it creates. If a student or students need(s) additional instruction, I will put them at one table (small group) while everyone else is on another task and go over the lesson using different material. I have also used differentiated instruction in several ways. I try to give the student the opportunity to choose from different materials they may express themselves through more comfortably. I also use two methods to help students who lack trust in themselves and without intervention will become angry and act out. I create stencils and find that tracing requires some skill building for some of my students or I play follow my finger and I will lead with my finger while the student follows behind with the pencil. These are just instruments to gain confidence until they are ready to try on their own.
  
  

• Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities.
• In the past, had a student who was physically handicapped, had very limited mobility of hands/arms, in a wheel chair, and speech impaired and had a full time teacher assistant. The assessment was about primary and secondary colors. He was to create secondary colors using paint like the rest of the art students. I prepared 3 small bowls of water with liquid soap mixture and added primary colors. The teacher assistant held a straw to his mouth and he blew bubbles into first bowl. I placed a paper over the bowl and the bubbles popped creating a print of the colored bubbles. We repeated for each primary color. Then I asked student questions about how to create the secondary colors and he was able to tell me what color to add to primary colors to make secondary colors. Once we created the secondary colors he repeated the process of blowing bubbles with the straw to create those colors. Using his device he was able to speak to it and tell it sentences he wanted to print and label the bubble prints. Example...primary colors red and yellow make the secondary color orange.He repeated for all the primary and secondary papers. The labels were printed and the teacher assistant followed the students directions for the correct placement of the labels.The student was successful in taking the adapted assessment. I am not required to do formal assessments.

I have several students that require extended time on assessments and classwork. I always assign a due date to art projects (large projects usually count as an assessment, paired with a rubric the students answer) but allow students to turn in the project late if they need more time. At the end of the grading period I schedule a "ketchup and pickles" day. Students can catch up on any unfinished work and any students that have completed all of their work can pick between a few different enrichment activities. This allows me extra time to sit down with students that need my attention and students don't feel uncomfortable about turning in work after the due date.