6/11/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Kym O'Sullivan
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There was an autistic student in my class last year who needed accommodations for his test taking on the history of theater. I always allowed him as much time as he needed to take the test, which was usually two class periods. Since I always allow students to take open note tests on theater history, I had to first give him extra time to take the notes from the provided student-created power point presentations. I let him take time on my computer to do this during class. With the extra time for both note taking and test taking, he always did fairly well, but certainly would not have if he had to take notes only during the presentations or take the test within one class period like the rest of his classmates. |
6/11/2019
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
Kym O'Sullivan
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Last year, I had a student on the lower end of the autism spectrum who paradoxically loved acting and was scared to be on stage. As we worked on monologues for their final exam assessment, I paired each person up with another to work on their delivery, emotions, gestures, levels, and whatever else was needed to create a successful scene. Pairing this student with an advanced student worked wonders. The advanced student first showed his monologue to the ESE student, and the ESE student was able to give some solid critiques, perhaps more honest than the advanced student would have received from a more socially conscious peer. Then the advanced student gently guided the ESE student to portray more emotion, use hand gestures and movement, and to change levels. In fact, these techniques helped the ESE to memorize the piece, which was a problem for him, but by remembering what emotion or gesture went with which line, it made it easier to memorize. Ultimately, both students benefited from being placed together and both performed splendid monologues.
Another activity that we do occasionally is based off of discovery learning. I place an item in the middle of the group, perhaps a towel or stuffed animal, and each person has to use it in his or her own way to create a short scene. The towel became such items as a super hero cape, a turban, a flying carpet, a whip, and a baby. This is a fun open-ended improvisation that everyone can do in their own way. The ESE student never wanted to go first, but after seeing so many of his peers enjoying themselves with the item, he would jump in and perform. Sometimes, he would do the same thing that another student did, but nobody minded because he was expressing it in his own way, which was always different from the other student. Other times, he would come up with his own idea, which always received the highest volume of applause from the others. This truly is a great warm up exercise for all the students and works well for ESE students to explore acting in a safe, simple, and exploratory manner. |
6/11/2019
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
Kym O'Sullivan
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I had a student on the autistic spectrum last year, which sometimes made it difficult for him to participate. He was beloved by the other students, but often felt left out if they didn't enthusiastically invite him to participate. Fortunately, the group was so cohesive that they soon figured this out and made sure to encourage him to join improvisation scenes, teams, and groups. In fact, it go to the point where they would lovingly fight over who got to have him on their team or in their group. All of this encouraged this student and really helped his self-esteem, but still there were some days when he just didn't want to participate, and the other students understood this, too, so after some cajoling, they would allow him to sit on the sidelines and watch. It certainly wasn't perfect, but the cohesiveness of the class is what really helped him the most. |