11/17/2021
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
Tony Wood
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I have a student that has a chronic illness that causes them to miss a lot of school and their visual art class. Visual art is a very hands-on class, and a good attendance is needed to gain mastery of the different art skill taught. Her class is a foundation class, so it’s important that a student master each skill set in order so they can master each consecutive skill needed. Even when she was in class, her illness affected her stamina, and she could only practice the skill being taught for a shorter period of time. When in class, I broke the lesson into smaller chunks for her and extended the time she needed to master the skills. When at home, we communicated through Microsoft Teams online. I would send her video demonstrations, Teacher and student examples and MS PowerPoint presentations explaining the assignments and she would sent back her practice pieces and finished assignments for critique. |
1/18/2022
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Tony Wood
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I really like the idea of Cooperative Learning. Especially where it increases student participation, classroom climate and building social skills. I notice some of my students do not interact well with students outside of their circle of friends and like-minded peers. I have students in groups in my Digital Art class, but I’ve learned some new strategies that should improve their enjoyment of reaching the goals of the lesson, together. I’ve always been a fan of Peer Partners, especially for my students with disabilities. I believe they feel more comfortable getting support from a friend or teammate and I’ve also notice that it builds a stronger bond between team members. I did read the pros and cons and could definitely see some of the potential problems with hierarchy and cliques, but I believe with positive reinforcement and gentile guidelines, this problem can be minimized.
I can also see the benefits of the Learning Contract. I’ve never thought about it before but for those self-motivated students that can benefit from the freedom it offers, I believe it would inspire them to excel and offer and independence that should build self-esteem and a sense of accomplishment that they may not get from a traditional, teacher paced lesson. I also see the benefit of using it to help SWD stay focused and allowing them to work at a more self-directed pace, on assignments that are aligned with their readiness. In combination with Peer Partnering, I can see this giving the student much more autonomy and a sense of personal accomplishment.
I create tutorials for Adobe Photoshop, for my Digital Art class, that relate to the current skill being taught and upload them to Microsoft Teams. This way my SWD can use their own computer and access the tutorials anytime, allowing them to not only work at their on pace but they can rewind the tutorial and go over the more challenging aspects of the lessons as many times as needed to learn the skill. Also, Teams allows them to ask questions in real time and I can even start a video chat if they need more explicit instruction or clarification. |
1/19/2022
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Tony Wood
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I found that allowing students with disabilities cognitive or sight/hearing impairment the opportunity to create a digital presentation that show their understanding of the art concept being presented, not only gives them a way to show what they know but allows them to do it in a creative and artistic way, keeping them engaged as well as reinforcing the concept. |