PART 2: Activities to Promote Inclusivity

Title

“Batik: painting on silk”

Cycle of classes: “Whispers of silence on silk”.

Topic of the class: Abstractionism

Goal of the activity

Aim: to involve into the creative process the student with special needs when working in a team of four students on the grounds of the principle of mutual assistance and cooperation. The criterion of success is the positive spirit of work in a very small group when adhering to the perfectly clear course of work and the subtleties of the employed technique. 14 students attend one class of technologies; they are invited to split into groups, and three groups are thus made. The student with special needs is usually extremely reserved in the classroom; he has issues with communication - yet he works in one of the groups. The topic of the class is discussed, the sketch is prepared, the ways of pouring and laying paint on silk are elaborated and tried out on small-scale works (sketches). The student with special needs is involved in the creation of a collective picture, and he works under supervision of more skilled students of the group.  

When applying the technique of painting on silk, the student with special needs calms down as the technique itself serves as a pacifying therapeutic means which helps self-expression and develops behavioural and social skills.

Challenge(s) to inclusion addressed

Behavioural and social challenges

Art domain

Painting on silk

Duration

45 minutes

Instruction step by step

Step 1. The non-traditional method ‘You can create’ is employed. This unique highly involving method not only allows but also promotes inventive management of the process of one’s colour and space-based self-expression. The key principle when starting creative work is by highlighting the slogan ‘I CAN’ and the response to the questions Who? What kind of? When? Where?

Step 2. Analysis of the theoretical part.

Step 3. Application of the technique of painting on silk; selecting of either of the two techniques of laying the paint; a minor trial of the use of silk for painting.

Step 4. Fixing silk onto the frames, preparation of the paint and the frame, mixing of colours. The student with special needs was a boy, and he could assist the girls of the group to stretch and draw silk onto the frames, which is a way to feel better.

Step 5. Design of the outlines of the picture.

Step 6. Development of colour solutions when applying the already tested methods of painting on silk. Paint is poured and laid on the surface.

Step 7. Discussion on the process of work.

Materials and additional resources

3 wooden supports sized 1 metre*1 metre; pins for fixing silk firmly.

3 metres of natural silk.

Silk paint, 6 contours, 14 brushes, 3 small vessels for water. An ironing board, an iron, tissues.

Evaluation

The objectives of the activity were achieved:

1. In the process of creative work, a relatively rare technique was being employed, and methods of spreading the paint which are common only in this particular technique were being used.

2. Work in small groups was successful, and this choice was justified. 3. A student with special needs whose pace of work is slower than average was involved. cooperation was established, and this student received assistance.

3. Skills of mutual trust, independence, cooperation and involvement were being practised.

This form of art helps to experience inclusiveness. Painting on silk works as a therapy as this is painting on a natural material which is totally soundless and devoid of resistance. It trains concentration and focus and helps to pursue one’s objectives by following clearly outlined landmarks.

Attention was focused on the skills and the positivity of the process of creative work.

Sources

Materials of seminars
Aušra Lavickienė

ausralavickiene8@gmail.com

TITLE

House of my imaginary hero

GOAL

It is aimed that the students will learn that the act of architectural design is the process of creating a space that starts with the need for shelter and to raise awareness about the different functional structures around it.

ART DOMAIN

Design

DURATION

40 minutes + 40 minutes

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

1-They are asked to imagine a peaceful place with their eyes closed for the hero or the character based on a novel, fairy tale, play or a poem that is determined by the students .

2-Motivational questions are asked; such as   where or  in what place do you want your hero to live etc. hero  live. This helps students to develop their imagination and creativity while helping to increase their communication skills in the mother tongue.

3- Guidance can be given to follow a certain sequence for the working stages. Topics to be encouraged by students are:

• Determination of physical characteristics for the character

• Determination of basic needs

• Designing a place or structure in line with the expectations of the hero, based on the scenario to be created for the relationship of the user, place, weather conditions, environment (inner city, outside the city, forest, mountainous, desert, polar, etc.), colour, emotion.

• Creation of an original architectural design for the hero of dreams that matches his personality.

4- It is explained that the works can be designed in two or three dimensions, and after the basic features and expectations for the character are determined, the design can be started with the sketching stage.

 5-Students are encouraged to consider factors such as texture, colour, lighting, material, proportion and form in design.

6-After completing her work, the student can ask his/her teacher to check it.

7-The works are exhibited in the classroom.

8-Students are asked to express their thoughts about their work. During these exchanges, it is emphasised how the values ​​of responsibility and honesty affect their work.

9- They are asked to explain which work they like and why, apart from their own work.

MATERIALS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

.White drawing paper,

•Scissors,

• Cardboard,

•Glue,

• Felt pens,

• All kinds of waste materials and colored cardboard

EVALUATION

1.What is the venue?

2.What is the structure?

3.What is the furniture?

SOURCE

The book of Technology Design

TITLE

All-inclusive music ateliers

GOAL

Improved inclusion and socio-academic performance of students experiencing various challenges through activities based on music.

ART DOMAIN

Performance art

DURATION

A regular weekly after-class activity with sessions of 40 to 60 minutes, depending on the exercises/tasks planned for each session, the available time-slots and the profile of the group.

The suggested duration does not include the time necessary for preparations.

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Phase I: Preparations

Forming the groups and evaluating the members’ needs/requirements

The music atelier facilitator should review the applications of interested students and form groups of 8 upto 12 children. It would be great if the composition of the groups can remain relatively unchanged throughout the period of implementation, so that the children can build bonds within this micro network and the teacher can organise the activity schedules with a certain level of certainty as far as the profile and the needs/requirements of the group members are concerned.

Evaluation of the profile of the participants needs to take place simultaneously with the formation of the groups, because, when the number of applicants is quite high and the groups will be more than one, the teacher should assign students to one group or another based on their special needs, existing relations, skill levels, etc. The group needs, requirements and abilities will be a collective representation of the needs, requirements and abilities of each individual member.

Preparing the sessions plan & logistics

Depending on the group profile the teacher can now proceed with organising the sessions plan for the music exercises/games/activities to be implemented over the school term or year and the list of necessary materials and equipment for each session that will need to be secured. Involving a co-facilitator might be extremely beneficial for the purpose of monitoring the process better, assisting children that may require some help and following up on evaluation.

When shaping up school-term or the annual sessions plan, the teacher may wish to consider the following:

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing social and socio-economical exclusion. Most music focused topic-sensitive workshops, providing all the materials, instruments, venue and professional facilitation, as is the InCrea+ good practice “Music ateliers”, respond to and cater for the inclusion of students experiencing the exclusion in question. When all the materials necessary for the activity, which is planned, structured, and delivered by a professional facilitator, are secured by and are provided for use within the school – the “what” and the “where” are covered. The “when” does not require additional efforts or investments from the parents, on the contrary, it provides them with extra time for work or family related activities, as the child stays occupied at school. There is no limitation to the “who”, especially if the children involved are not in or at risk of being in any other exclusive situations, because the language of music is a universal one and lifts boundaries to communication. The “how” for this group is not as complicated as it can be with other groups, where cognitive, physical or behavioural challenges may impose different requirements.

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing cultural exclusion. These can be children from minorities, children who do not speak the local language, children from different countries and/or religions. When such students are included in the group, the teacher will need to step beyond the comfort of her/his own cultural bubble and expand her/his knowledge and skills to include an understanding and appreciation of students’ cultures. Some of the music workshop sessions should be used for transferring this understanding and appreciation to the other members of the group, thus facilitating the inclusion of these “culturally different children” and even their “culturally different” families.

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to physical challenges: inclusion happens when a child, regardless of any deviations from certain norms, is equally involved in the activities taking place, contributes to the common product, is seen as a valuable human being and is appreciated by its peers and other members of society. For most children and youth though, especially those who are mentally preserved, this inclusion needs to be earned, not granted. For the feeling of self-fulfilment to be guaranteed, the teacher may make the effort to understand what musical instrument a child with a certain physical disability is best at, support them with some lessons for skills improvement and give them the leading position for certain occasions or certain parts of a performance. When the child is not in a leading position or is just practising, it can be given the chance to experiment with other accessible instruments. For students with various musculoskeletal disorders, percussion is indeed one of the best music instruments to use. Students with visual disabilities have no limitations as to what instruments they can play.  

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to cognitive challenges: music-based activities do create good conditions for inclusion of cognitively challenged children, considering that the language of music (and visual arts for that matter) is universal and can be particularly beneficial for facilitating expression. If the activities planned for the day require any reading or writing or speaking, for student/s with learning difficulties or various speech impediments, this can be replaced with drawing, playing, singing or dancing or doing the task in collaboration together with another student, who can act as a peer-supporter.  

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to behavioural challenges: children with behavioural challenges need to be offered activities that do not lead to extremities, where the behaviour is known to flip to non-socially acceptable manifestations, which may require:

- rescheduling the activities for periods when there is a student’s window period for best success and least frustration - a nervous outburst would present the child unfavourably and will force the teacher to invest time and energy in handling exceptional situations (so the answer to the “when” question here may require some more consideration on the part of the teacher and good level of information on any medications, the time of taking them and the effects they may have on the student’s performance and/or behaviour during the different times of the day).

- do not take for granted that the information is remembered, repeat expectations and make as many rehearsals as necessary for the purpose of encouraging short-term memory;

- make a plan, share this plan with the students in advance and follow it strictly, making sure that it includes FIRST, NEXT, THEN, FINAL (particularly important for students with AD/HD);

- begin with and revisit as many times necessary the topic of appropriateness and inappropriateness (directly related to not taking for granted that information is remembered and to pursuing the achievement of socially acceptable behaviour);

- state and repeat connections and the logic behind the activities proposed (children experiencing such challenges need to be provided constant referencing to “what” we are doing and “why” we doing it);

- define benefits of completing a task.

The hereby listed suggestions would be beneficial for any general group of participants, but they are particularly important when children with special needs are included.

If the group includes one or more children with behavioural challenges, the activities need to be adapted to their needs, which differ from case to case. However, the list of pros for using music for and with children experiencing behavioural, as well as other challenges (learning difficulties, speech disorders, etc.), is certainly much longer than:

- music is known to develop emotional understanding as well as encourage empathy and communication;

- it helps children to develop feelings of connectedness and empowerment;

- it helps students with special needs learn to and actively participate in ways that go far beyond the auditory and visual ones used in traditional classroom settings;

- related to the above, music-facilitated or music-accompanied learning is as effective as it is because music is a multi-sensory experience – it is kinesthetic, it uses the child’s hearing and vision and thus provides a whole-body experience;

- for many children for whom speech represents an enormous challenge, music plays a key role in eliminating the barriers to verbal expression;

- unlike other inputs, children with disorders from the autism spectrum process music in the same ways as children without such disorders, which improves language and social abilities in the first group (Sharda et al, 2018).

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to giftedness or talent challenges: extracurricular activities of this type can provide students experiencing giftedness or talent exclusion challenges a chance to express themselves without judgement, mockery or bullying. Entering into a safe and accepting environment that includes peers and educators can help a gifted/talented child to work with greater confidence and expand its potential. Such students can be given additional tasks or roles that challenge them to think and act further than the rest of the group.

Teachers undertaking the task to organise inclusive music ateliers should be aware that it is very rare that a child experiences only one of the listed challenges. Such cases are exceptions. It is frequent that families with children with disabilities for example experience dire straits financially (socio-economic challenges on top of the physical challenges), due to the high costs of different therapies and/or the impossibility for income to be generated by both parents and/or the fact that often families with challenged children are single-parent ones and so on and so forth. It is not a simple task to respond to all needs and requirements, but the closer one gets - the greater the satisfaction. 

 Making sure that the music workshop room is accessible and orderly

When a group includes students with special education needs, the teacher needs to make sure that the music workshop room is accessible and orderly, so that safety and optimal performance are secured. Considering that accessibility is not only physical, the teacher needs to organise the sessions in a way including:

- clues and repetitions to facilitate the memory and understanding reinforcement with students with various learning disabilities

- use short sequences, rotate exercises

- present materials in a multi-sensory mode

- have an array of activities, which can be used for helping students with various neurological deficiencies to manage impulsive responses, stay goal oriented as well as resist distractions

Summing it all up, the teacher needs to make sure that the student’s physical and psychological needs to belong, to make choices, to have fun and to express themselves are catered for in the music workshop room.

Phase II: The actual music ateliers

1. Kick-off with the sessions, maintaining regularity concerning group size and composition (8 to 12 children, unchanged members), duration of the meetings, day of the week. Start each session with a sharing circle in order to understand how everyone is feeling as well as whether certain disruptive events have taken place and might be affecting someone’s attention or performance during the session.

2. Before the start of each session consult with the list of materials and equipment necessary, make sure the music equipment is ready and functioning (do your microphone and music system function, do you have all the tunes and videos you have planned to use during the session, if you will be using music instruments - keyboard, percussions, etc. – are they available and functioning; if you or the students need to dress up or make up – do you have what is needed; if you will be drawing or making collages, do you have the clippings, the drawing tools, the paper, the cutting and glueing items necessary; etc.)

 3. Depending on the topic of the day and/or the ateliers schedule you have predefined, carry out the planned exercises/games/activities.

Ideas for activities/games:

“Drawing music” - the teacher prepares a music performance that will be listened to. The children will be asked to paint while listening. They should have  a block of paper, colored pencils, crayons or water colours.

“Music and musical instruments of the world” – the teacher prepares with musical pieces and traditional dances from a selected country or region of the world, securing also a typical local instrument, which the students can try out. If for example the topic is music and musical instruments from Peru, the teacher can try to find an actual charango to demonstrate in addition to recordings of indigenous people playing it. If there is a student from Bulgaria, experiencing cultural difficulties in a foreign country, the teacher may provide a bagpipe or a fiddle-type instrument called gadulka.  

“Season- and event-focused activity” - the teacher organises ateliers focused on topics selected in correspondence with the seasonal specifics, the educational programme and important events, characteristic for the region and the country (for example before Christmas the students illustrate, sing or perform Christmas songs and melodies, dance specific dances and prepare Christmas concerts).

“Culture calendar” - in a culturally varied class, the teacher can create a motley culture calendar with celebrations and festive occasions from all the native regions / home countries or ethnicities or religions students belong to. According to this calendar, the teacher can assign the task of preparing a small demonstration to the students, whose day is “celebrated” at the school – this can work for students at 4^th or 5^th grade and above. Requesting parents’ support would further the inclusion through the involvement of another generation in the school community activities.

“Stories and masterpieces of famous musicians, experiencing various challenges” – the teacher can prepare with materials – curious facts, stories from the lives of and examples of the musical genius of different famous musicians, who experience some kind of challenge (behavioural, physical, cognitive). Some examples, which can be used:

Role models with physical disabilities: Itzhak Perlman, violinist; Thomas Quastoff, bass-baritone; Ronan Tynan, tenor; Leon Fleisher, pianist.

Role models with sensory disabilities: Dame Evelyn Glennie, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Andrea Bocelli, Brian Wilson.

Role models with autism: composers Donna Williams, Hikari Oe and performers Thristan “Tum-Tum” Mendoza and Glenn Gould.

Role models with emotional behavioural disorders: John Ogdon, award winning pianist, who was the subject of the BBC 1981 movie virtuoso based on his biography and his losing fight with mental illness and manic depression; Charles “Buddy” Bolden, Thelonious Monk and Jaco Pastorius, the late great pianist and pedagogue Vladimir Horowitz, who experienced a psychosomatic illness.

Role models with learning disabilities and attention deficit: the twice exceptional Albert Einstein, the scientist who changed the world through the theory of relativity, was also a passionate musician and an accomplished violinist.

“Particular skills development” sessions, beneficial for various cases, could include practising (playing, singing, dancing) songs, which support the children in learning specific skills or notions/concepts and/or have an uplifting effect on the group, getting them in the mood to work and have fun. This would require the teacher to do a selection of such works, based on both the individual educational plans of the children with special education needs, but also the needs of the rest of the group, which also requires them to be challenged with new skills and experiences. 

Regardless of the session focus on developing certain skills, which might be problematic for special education children, musical/rhythmic intelligence is organically basic and appealing to all, so the sessions will be attractive and inspiring for all the other participants.

4. Each session should end with a closing feedback activity, in which each student can say how they feel at that point, compared to how they were feeling at the start of the session. The teacher should record or write down the students’ comments and ask them further questions as to what they liked the most, what they would love to repeat and what they could skip.

MATERIALS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Music – technical means and the musical performances/masterpieces (audio and video files), which are to be used for listening, dancing to and singing/playing;

Microphones and Music System; Keyboard; Children Percussion Musical Instruments;

Drawing blocks of paper, colored pencils, crayons or water colours.

Suitable shoes or clothes for dancing;

Costumes or special types of instruments for multi-culti activities.

EVALUATION

To what extent are students with various challenges included in the music workshops?

What attitude and relations changes are observed among students with various challenges?

What performance, education advancement changes are observed among students with various challenges?

SOURCE

InCrea+ good practice, entitled “Music atelier”, presented by Galina Karadzhova, music teacher at the National secondary school “Sofia”: galina.m.karadjova@gmail.com

Sharda, M., Tuerk, C., Chowdhury, R. et al. Music improves social communication and auditory–motor connectivity in children with autism. Transl Psychiatry 8, 231 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-018-0287-3

Sobol, Elise S. (2001) An Attitude and an Approach for Teaching Music to Special Learners, MENC and Rowman & Littlefield Education

Title

 Element of interior construction materials.

 Topic of the class: souvenir Christmas decoration.

Aim

In the class of spatial expression, 13 students take part. The topic of the class is discussed, the sequence of work is determined, technical performance and the combination (compatibility) of decorative elements is overviewed.

Aim: into the process of purposeful creative artistic manifestation denoted by correct technical implementation, to involve a student with special needs who shall be assisted by his classmate sitting at the same desk as their relationship is fairly good.

The student is extremely withdrawn and sensitive, his interaction with classmates is extremely limited.

The principle of mutual assistance and cooperation was used. Behavioural and social skills were developed.

Criterion of success: positive work when being aware of the sequence of work and the nuances of technical performance.

Challenge(s) to inclusion addressed

Behavioural and social challenges.

Type of art

Spatial expression

Handicrafts

Duration

45 minutes

Instruction step-by-step

Step 1. To create two sketches of a Christmas decoration;

Step 2. To select the sketch which is more interesting and more appropriate (in terms of technical implementation);

Step 3. Technical implementation of the task (with the assistance and advice of a classmate);

Step 4. To apply a decorative element (by attuning the emphasis of glitter);

Step 5. Discussion of the work (whether success was achieved or not, and what could be altered next time.

Materials and additional resources

Materials – cardboard and flax rope (or another type of fairly strong rope).

Additional resources – a ruler, a pencil, an artist brush, glue, scissors.

Evaluation

The objectives of the activity were achieved:

1. Work with the assistance of the classmate sharing the desk was deemed successful. The student with special needs was more confident in himself and in his skills because of the possibility of seeking advice.

2.Skills of cooperation, mutual assistance and independence were developed.

3.The attitudes ‘I can’ and ‘I shall succeed’ were being formed.

Attention was focused on the positivity of performance of creative and technical work.