Van+Ausdall,+Catherine+Inclusion+Strategies+in+the+Arts

Hello my name is Catherine Van Ausdall. I live in Ashland with my husband and three of our four children. Our oldest son lives in Portland attending PSU in the engineering program. Our youngest son is a wildland firefighter. Our daughters are 12 and 10 attending Ashland Middle School and Helman Elementary School. All our children attended Ashland schools. Throughout the years I have had the priviledge to volunteer in the Ashland school system with some fantastic teachers. I saw the influence that teachers can have on children, this experience led in part to my desire to become a teacher. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology from the University of Oregon. I moved from Utah to Oreon to attend college, not intending to make Oregon my home. I missed the desert and the vast sweeping landscapes of redrock country. After college I worked as a geologist for several years traveling around the west, finally returning to Oregon and Ashland. The company I worked for bought the Ashland Mine. After completing our investigation of the mine the company wanted me to go to North Carolina to explore a mine there. I have never lived anywhere except in the west and I wasn't really sure I wanted to leave Ashland, so I decided to stay. I've had several work experiences here in southern Oregon from owning my own business to making maps, working for engineering companies and working for the Medford Water Commission.

I have always known in my heart that I wanted to be a teacher. My decision to become a teacher has been a gradual one. Volunteering in classrooms I have enjoyed sharing my love for science and math. Watching the spark of understanding grow in a child's eye is one of the most incredible experiences I have had the priviledge to share. I hope to take this love of learning into the classroom.

What brings me joy? The simple things in life bring me the greatest joy, having my daughter reach for my hand while we are walking. Sharing a sunrise with my husband, floating in a cool lake on a hot day or feeling the wind on my face as we sail on our Hobie Cat sailboat. I love the outdoors and experience great joy when I can share being outside with my family and friends.

My greatest fear about being a teacher is that I won't be fully prepared for all the unusual experiences that are likely to come up on a daily basis and that I will not be able to address all of the concerns of my students.

I have always had a hard time with the English language. I had some really terrible experiences in school with really BAD English teachers starting out in Elementary School going all through High School. It made me feel like I was missing out on a huge part of the educational process. I think these experiences have made me acutely aware of trying to overcome a learning hardship, I will be able to better understand the frustrations of my students with disabilities and create strategies for them to help themselves

I would like to understand all the aspects of teaching students with disabilities and come away from this class with a huge amount of resources that I can rely on and be able to help my colleagues.

Inclusion Strategies for the Arts One of the reasons I chose to create my Wiki page on inclusion strategies in the arts is because I feel that art is one of the most important areas of education. With expectations on excelling in math, science and literacy, art has fallen by the wayside. Art keeps the ability to think laterally which is systematically be erased in how we teach children today. There are a miriad ways to solve problems. Learning the importance of divergent thinking students can make connections and solve problems in unique and creative ways. One of the key things art can instill in a student is to allow that student to think about a situation or concern from someone elses perspective. For a student with a disability this is an area were they can contribute and excell in without the judgement by their peers that would occur in other subjects. Things I learned while researching this topic
 * The arts can benefit all students by letting students express their ideas and feeling.
 * Everyone can be included no matter what your ability level is
 * Creating art can spark an interest in learning in a variety of areas
 * Helps develop fine motor skills and reduces stress
 * Encourages respect for different cultures and diversity
 * Art can improve self-esteem by building on a persons strengths
 * Promotes empathy as students share their ideas and contribute to the class
 * Provides equity as all students can participate equally with their creativity and not be judged by their disabilities
 * Students are willing to take greater risks because the opportunity for success is almost guaranteed

[|www.deepspacesparkle.com] This is a great website with lesson plans for art classes. There is a very complete section on inclusion strategies for art classes in a variety of mediums, with very good videos and complete lists of materials. You do have to register on the site to download lesson plans but I feel that it is well worth it. Rating """""

[] Great educational websites with clear concise strategies for implementing students with disabilities into the general classroom. I thought this site had several important points regarding families with children with disabilities. Rating """""

[] Website for sharing inclusion strategies through videos, events, blogs, posts and more. Rating """""

[] This video is part one of two videos by Sir Ken Robinson. The crisis in our natural resources mirrors the crisis in the human resources. Schools need to undergo a paradime shift. Education needs to be transformed to meet the needs that are arising in our society, no longer can our schools be a linear model for education but they need to foster the creative intelligence inside every student. The center peice of education should be to reconnect creativity with intelligence. The challenge is how to cultivate an individuals creativity Rating """""

[] This is part two of the video by Sir Ken Robinson. Rating """""

[] Great resource with an incredible amount of information and teaching tools. Strategies for adapting curriculum are presented for numerous subjects as well as ideas for classroom management, lesson plans, graphic organizers, work sheets and links to other valuable sites Rating """""

[] This website has quite a lot of resources on transformational strategies thru training workshops, videos and programs that address inclusive strategies and strategies to prevent bullying. Rating """"

[] This site has an enormous amount of information for educators and the general public on understanding complex human behavior and the causes and consequenses of neuropsychiatric disorders Rating """ [] This is a research paper entitled __Inclusion Strategies in the Visual Arts Classroom__ and was a partial fullfillment toward a Masters Degree in Education. This is a good resource that highlights general strategies for students with auditory and visual processing disorders and improving their organizational and behavioral skills. The paper touches on teacher training and organization, collaboration, paraprofessions, classroom management, behavior and communication and language. The paper identifies different stratigies to use with different disabilities. Accomadations and methods are identified, with suggestions of alternate equipment to be used and the environmental conditions of the classroom to take into consideration. Rating """

Community Based Learning Project My community based learning project was to observe a Special Education Teacher during his sessions with his students and then interview him. The Spaecial Education teacher at Helman Elementary School, Josh Brown, was kind enough to let me "shadow" him for two sessions.

Observations The first class I observed was a fith grade reading group. The classroom was freezing cold and I felt it took away several minutes of their educational time. There were three boys and one girl, The boys were jumping around just to get warm, the girl had a big coat on so she wasn't as cold as the boys. After they settled down they started their lesson. Josh put some words that the students would be working on that day on a dry erase board directly behind him. He had the students as a group rereat the words as he tapped the board. The list was revised by adding a "s" to the end of each word. The students repeated the words as a group after his prompt. Josh talked about the meaning of the words and how adding a "s" could make the word plural but it could also change the meaning of the word. Josh repeated the list but added a "d" to the end of the words. The students repeated the list after his prompts. The class moved on to working in their books. Josh reminded the students to talk one at a time and no interruptions. The lists of words they are going to read come from the story in the book they are working in. One at a time the students read a list of words, after he prompts them with a tap. Each student reads a different list. If the student did not respond or got the word wrong they were to repeat the word. The students then say what letter the word in their list start with and then repeat the word one at a time going through the list. He has the student look up from the book and spell the word. Josh repeats the words with the students one at a time, he has the students point to the word they are to repeat. Josh asks the students to see if they can make it through all their lists with only two mistakes. He compliments there good behavior, has students stay on task with books on the table and following along as others read. If a student has a problem with word recognition, he asks them to look at the root word, then the ending. He has them repeat their word list. Now they are going to read a story in the book as a group, each student taking a turn and reading two or three sentences, Josh instructs them when to switch readers. Josh asks the students the title of the story and what strategies the students are going to use to keep track of where they are in the story as they take turns reading. The students offer suggestions such as pointing to the words with there fingers to keep track and reading along, silently, to keep track. After three paragraphs Josh stops the reading and asks the students "what is this story about?". They comment on the meaning of the story and continue reading. Josh corrects missed wordsand talks about the meaning of unusual words. At the end of the session Josh talks about what the will be doing next class, and compliments everyone on their good behavior great work and participation. The next class was a fourth grade reading group with two boys in it. Josh had a list of contractions on the dry erase board behind him, he asks the students what type of words they are and gets a variety of answers. They know they are words that are two words put together but have difficulty comming up with the word contraction. Josh has the students say what the word stand for. Ex. they've = they have, etc. On the board he has a list of three words: lead, beat, seat. Students say each word after aprompt. Josh then erases the "ea" in each word and replaces it with "i". The students repeat the process. Then he replaces the"i" with an "a" and has the students repeat the process. The students turn to their book work. They have lists of words relating to their reading. Josh points out the sounds in the word then prompts the student to say the word, then without looking at the book he has the students spell the word. I f they miss aword he puts the word on the dry erase board and has the student spell the word after each time they spell the word he erases part of the word and has the student spell it again until he has erased the entire word. Josh talks about the root of the word and the meaning of the word. he puts the word in a sentence, then has the student put the word in a sentence of their own. The students then read a story out of the book. He asks them the title, he reminds them to follow along so they know where they are in the story when it is their turn to read. After they read a paragraph they talk about the meaning of certain words, how the characters feel in the story. They reread if mistakes are made or if they don't understand what is going on. Josh compliments a lot for correct pronunciation and intonation. They read another paragraph and talk about what the characters might be thinking or feeling and what might happen next. Josh asks the students if there are any contractions in the story and what they stand for. They talk about the meaning of the story. The students are very well behaved and wait there turn and don't interrupt, Josh is always very complimentary and points out their good behavior. Josh talks briefly about what they will be doing next class. Interview Josh has just taken over this special education program. He was at the middle school before accepting a position at Hekman. He follows a prescriptive program of research based instruction, which is very focused and has a step by step plan. His reading program is phonics based at the beginning then whole word recognition. He feels smaller groups are helpful and that students need to be in a good place for learning to happen. Josh likes to have students by the same age group to lessen any hurt or embarressed feelings. When something is not working he scales back to be able to bridge the gap from what they do know to what they need to learn. For reading he uses different manipulates such as sand cards for letter recognition or sight words. These are flash cards for instantaneous recognition to develop reading fluency. In math he emphasises number sense, linking computations (addition is the opposite of subtraction, multiplication is the opposite of division). Guding his students to come up with their own strategies is a great way for students to "own" their strategies and really understand them. He notices when they are right and asks them why they think they are right. This sets the student up to feel good about themselves and encourages them in their efforts Reflection Josh is a very caring special education teacher, he takes his time with his students, even though his time with them is very limited. He helps them understand what is being taught, what the common goals are and how they are expected to act in class. He lets the fidgety students jump around for a short time at the beginning of class to help them get their wiggles out. At the beginning of class he reminds the students what they have been working on and at the end of class he explains what they will be doing next. Both these acts show the students he cares about them and has their best interest at heart by showing them he is planning already for their next session. In talking with Josh I realized what an intense job a special education teacher has, not only do they have to teach pretty much ever core subject to some degree the amount of paperwork is daunting. Josh took over for a special education teacher who has had to take a leave of absence for health reasons. The previous techer Mel, had been at Helman for years had great repoir with the other teachers and students, so Josh had huge shoes to fill. He seems to be just the person to do that job.