PART 2: Activities to Promote Inclusivity

Title

Depiction of Sky in works of professional artists

Goal of the activity

In the process of studies, students are encountering a plethora of challenges. In the classroom, they are expected to communicate with their classmates who are denoted by differences in characters or different levels in terms of cultural education, social (interaction) and cognitive skills and socioeconomic characteristics. Their peers may be highly gifted or deprived of special gifts in some particular artistic or other type of activity.

Classmates denoted by different emotions and characters as well as students with special needs when conducting a long-term project work spanning over a cycle of classes and drafting presentations get an opportunity to interact, discuss, share functions of teamwork according to their abilities and are thus given opportunities to perform the theoretical and practical parts of the assignment in the selected branch of arts. This not only strengthens the feeling of positivity but also broadens the level of cultural-artistic perception. Students get rid of their negative emotions by creating while simultaneously developing their cognitive, behavioural and social skills.

Challenge(s) to inclusion addressed

Cognitive, gifted, socioeconomic, behavioural, social, and cultural challenges.

Art domain

 Visual arts: drawing, painting, graphics, sculpture.

Duration

8 classes

Instruction step by step

Art research task: based on a PowerPoint presentation, the visualisation of the sky in the works of renowned painters, such as Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Mikalojus K. Čiurlionis is explored in terms of the content and rendering of the mood in the selected works of visual arts in the fields of painting, graphics and sculpture. The techniques of performance and the characteristic traits, etc. are discussed.

Expression task: having reviewed the examples and investigated the variety of techniques of the visualisation of the sky in the works of artists representing different periods of art history, students are asked to collect a sample of such works on their own. Then, three works of sky depiction are performed: by employing the techniques of painting, graphics and creating a spatial object - a sculpture - without any restrictions regarding the selection of artistic means. The amassed information along with photos of the creative process and the completed works shall be used for the discussion in the presentation delivered in the PowerPoint or Prezi formats.

The following requirements are imposed: teams are created, and students are distributed among the teams; functions are shared.

The results of teamwork are assessed: this is the presentation in the PowerPoint or Prezi format. The presentation features and discusses examples and contains no less than three works of art depicting the sky by employing different branches of visual arts: painting, graphics and sculpture. The works are commented upon by briefly discussing the technique, the emotion along with the ways of rendering and the names of renowned artists whose artworks were being interpreted. The authors of creative works describe their emotions, experiences, positive aspects of such activity, etc.

The informativeness of the parts of the task is assessed; also, assessment may be given for the visual aspects of the presentation, the fluency of delivering the presentation, etc. Teammates are expected to share their experiences and emotions.

Materials and additional resources

Computers

Tools and materials required for practising arts

Evaluation

When performing this project, the objective was to help students reveal their abilities and skills in the activity which is most acceptable to them while working in a team, discussing and otherwise communicating thereby also sharing the responsibility. Thus social communication) and socioeconomic skills get developed.

When collecting information and performing creative tasks, some students (without even understanding that) happened to select examples of artwork which reflected their emotional state. Thus, when discussing and interpreting, they released their emotions and revealed their character, which served as the presentation of their personality to the class and improvement and enhancement of their communication skills.

● When working in a team, students had an opportunity to show their skills and creativity in their favourite activities to the other members of the team. Thus, the barriers among students were overcome.

● While taking into consideration the different needs of the students and the differences in their psycho-physical development as well as the different levels of knowledge and abilities, the tasks are expected to broaden the horizons. Students felt they were able to express themselves when depicting the sky in its different manifestations while collecting and delivering information. This form of art helps to experience inclusion as attention is focused not only on skills and competences but also on positivity.

Sources

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Title

Didactic games

Aim

To outline the challenge which the student is facing in the course of studying and to identify the achievement of the aim when applying this method of inclusive learning. The list of challenges includes but is not limited to cultural, social/communication, physical (disability), cognitive, socioeconomic, talent and giftedness-related and behavioural challenges.

Challenge(s) to inclusion addressed

Cultural, social/communication, physical, cognitive, socioeconomic, talent and giftedness-related and behavioural challenges

Type of art

Painting

Duration

45 minutes, i.e. 1 class

Instruction step by step

In arts, the content of real life may only be manifested through emotions, and only emotions can help us perceive the secrets dwelling in a work of art.

Work in pairs.

Painting/drawing by following the instructions of a peer.

The student giving instructions may use a plan given by the teacher.

The teacher actively cooperates with the students.

Materials and additional resources

Materials for painting: gouache, artist brushes

Evaluation

(3 questions are related to the aim. The answers specify whether and to what extent the aim was achieved)

● Question 1

● Question 2

● Question 3

Which of the skills were being developed/supported while running this activity?

Listening and focusing is promoted, imagination and linguistic skills are trained, communication culture is practised, and purposeful activity is pursued.

Have the objectives of the activity been achieved? If not, explain why.

Yes, the student was active and was painting/drawing what he was being told to paint/draw.

Was attention focused on skills and positivity?

Attention was directed towards positivity; the key task of this method is to make the student unafraid to start creating.

Sources

https://www.vilniausppt.lt/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Tinkamiausi%C5%B3-metod%C5%B3-taikymas.pdf

TITLE

Ceramics workshop

GOAL

Improved inclusion of students experiencing various challenges through activities based on work with clay and elaboration of ceramic pieces of art.

ART DOMAIN

Visual arts

CHALLENGES TO INCLUSION

GIFTEDNESS

DURATION

A regular monthly after-classes activity for approximately 120 minutes. This duration does not include the time necessary for preparations or for the baking of the works.  

STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS

Phase I: Preparations

Forming the groups and evaluating the members’ needs/requirements

The ceramics facilitator should review the applications of interested students and form a group of 6 upto 12 children. It is not necessary for the group to remain the same month after month, however, the facilitator should be aware of the necessity to explain the basics of working with clay every time when there are new group members or he/she can assign this task to students who are already experienced with working with clay and producing ceramics pieces of art. The inclusivity of this type of activity can be considered at two levels: creating conditions that make the workshop accessible for youth of all abilities and creating works of art, which tackle topics related to inclusion, set by the facilitator and discussed during the process of work of the participants.

Forming the group for the next monthly session should happen well in advance in order for the facilitator to understand the challenges he/she is going to create accommodations for and to select the topic, which will be central for the work of the students during this session. The facilitator, in collaboration with other teachers from the school, can propose involvement to specific students, facing certain challenges and these challenges can be placed at the centre of the forthcoming activity and then the works – publicly displayed and discussed within the school community. The group’s 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 ceramic workshops to be implemented 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. Where there are students, including and especially those facing various challenges, which demonstrate affinity towards this type of artistic activity, those should be involved in other monthly sessions in the role of co-facilitators, peer-educators of new-comers.

To ensure socio-economic inclusivity, the school needs to provide all the materials, the facilitator and the conditions, which would be necessary so that the work of the group runs pleasantly, successfully and remains uninterrupted. In case of exceptional interest towards this type of activity, in order to guarantee socio-economic inclusion, the school should place no barriers for access to students experiencing this particular challenge, who for some reason might be refused access to other out-of-school activities of a similar kind for example. Forming more than 1 group might be among the solutions. Another solution is selecting the groups to include in the monthly sessions on the basis of careful discussion with the head-teachers, who know their children and the problems they face.

Art is a universal language and as a tool for expression it can be particularly useful in the process of helping students experiencing or at risk of experiencing cultural exclusion (children form 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 perceptions and expand her/his knowledge and skills to include an understanding and appreciation of students’ cultures. If there are linguistic issues, the facilitator may need to include a more experienced or older student to help with translation of some guiding notes about the workshop and the exact activities/processes, which will be taking place, even involve this student as an interpreter during the first session. The facilitator may need to research the culture of this/these student/s and introduce a task that could be relevant to their culture – traditions, landmarks, religious elements, etc. If this is properly communicated to and arranged together with this particular student, he/she can be invited to speak and explain to the others what they will be working on together.

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to physical challenges should be guaranteed via accessible venues for the activities and support and additional guidance if necessary, during the process of creation of ceramic artworks, observing though the rules of the system of least prompts, which would guarantee the learning and artistic experience as well as the building of confidence and self-appreciation. The support needed and the system of least prompts are individually defined based on the needs and abilities of each specific participant and the group as a whole.

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to cognitive challenges: kinesthetic activities do create good conditions for inclusion of cognitively challenged children, considering that the language of arts can be particularly beneficial for facilitating expression. In addition to that, kinesthetic learning improves critical thinking and analytical skills through experimentation and contributes to healthy brain function. “There is a growing body of neuroscientific evidence of the benefits that movement and physical activity have for cognition...The neurological impact of movement on the brain can be understood at three levels: increased vascularization—oxygen and glucose to the brain—augmenting brain activity; the release of neurotransmitters and Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF), which favour neurogenesis, memory, attention and motivation; and the development of complex movement-related neural circuits and their interconnection with the executive brain functions.” (2019, Doherty & Miravalles).

If there is a need for explaining the meaning behind the work created and if the person, who is not verbally confident or refuses to speak for whatever reason, the remaining participants may be asked to give their understanding/s of what is depicted/expressed in the work either verbally or play it out. The student who created the piece of ceramic art may agree or react emotionally to what the others are explaining/presenting and this may insert the trust and comfort necessary for the respective participant to start speaking/presenting him/herself.  

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to behavioural challenges require special attention and preparation on the part of the facilitator, which can be checked in the provided guidelines for this particular challenge. The facilitator should be prepared with a co-facilitator and a different space, which a person with behavioural problems may go to, if they feel emotional and they need to detach themselves from the rest of the group. The co-facilitator would be absolutely obligatory.

Inclusion needs of students experiencing or at risk of experiencing exclusion due to giftedness or talent challenges, as is the case of almost all other cases of exclusion, usually go far beyond effects that are sought within the framework of extracurricular activities. What extracurricular activities can offer though is:

- a safe and supportive environment without judgement, mockery or bullying to practice different social scenarios, to build confidence, to make “mistakes” and improve skills

- creating a network of buddies, which a confident and empowered individual, with newly identified or enhanced abilities can further build on and expand. This buddy network can either be the class, or a group of students from the school, not necessarily the same grade, involved in the activities. As stated before, talented/gifted students can be given additional tasks or roles that challenge them to think and act further than the rest of the group. If the facilitator places a special focus on developing learning to learn and self-management skills and intentionally works on encouraging those among her/his talented/gifted participants, she/he can enable them to apply such techniques to all spheres of action they are engaged in, including their mainstream education, where teachers are usually unable to provide adequate nurturing support.

Summing it all up, as in any other artistic environment, the ceramics workshop facilitator needs to make sure that the students’ physical and psychological needs to belong, to make choices, to have fun and to express themselves are catered for in the workshop room.

Phase II: The actual ceramics ateliers

1. Decide on the exact topic of the assignment, which will be given to the participants. As previously mentioned, the ideas and topics can come from the students themselves and through discussions prior to the atelier. Make a list of instructions, which can be shared with participants who need time for preparation, who have learning difficulties for example, or who have sensorial disabilities. There is no limit as to what topics the facilitator can give, as anything can be presented with the expressive instruments of art. It can be “a family”, “where I go / whom I go to see when I am sad”, “where I see myself in 20 years”, “important things in life”, etc.

2. On the day of the session prepare the room – have the clay ready, cover the table, prepare the working spaces, have the tools in the centre of the table, so that everyone can have access to them. Accommodate individual physical needs when necessary.

3. Welcome the participants. Ask them to take their seats around the working table, allowing people with special needs to pick their preferred places.

4. Explain the principles of working with clay to the students. In the case of creating a pane, which can be hung on a wall in composition with the works of all the other participants, tell the participants that the pane should not be thinner than one centimetre in order not to break during the baking process. Explain further that if elements are to be added on the surface of the clay plate, with the help of some extra water, these elements need to be firmly attached to the base, in order not to break and fall off during or after being baked.

5. During the work, move around the room and give support and ideas to the participants, if they express the need for such or if you spot that someone is struggling.

6. While the group works, discuss with those who are talkative (some may prefer to focus on what they are doing and remain silent) questions related to the topic of the sessions. Try to provoke and hear their thoughts and reasoning, rather than direct participants’ work and influence their choices for expression. Allow participants’ to come to valuable conclusions themselves and only intervene in cases when you notice that the process is not leading them toward such conclusions.

7. At the end of the session, allow a couple of minutes for each participant to explain what they have created and why.

8. After the participants leave, the facilitator can place their works in the furnace. While they are baking, the facilitator can clean up the room, either alone or with the help of a student or co-facilitator, make minutes of the workshop, which include all the sharing speeches made by the participants at the end. If possible, film the activity and the speeches and make a short video – demonstrating the process and the outcomes. The video can be uploaded on the school web-site or Facebook page in order to promote the activity and to attract new participants.

MATERIALS & ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Clay – the amount should be defined as per participant and task. E.g. should there be 12 participants having the task of creating A4 sized projects, 30 kg of clay would be sufficient.

String or other device for cutting sections of clay.

Tools – hammers for flattening the clay, knives for carving and shaping images and figures.

Aprons for all participants.

Bowls for water.

Working table/s with enough space for each participant.

A nylon cover for the working table/s.

Furnace for baking the ceramic art-works.

EVALUATION

(3 questions related to the GOAL: Has the goal been achieved or not? To what extent?)

To what extent are students with various challenges included in the ceramic’s workshops?

What attitude and relations changes are observed among students with and without any immediately evident challenges?

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

SOURCE

Doherty, A. and Miravalles, A. F. (2019) Physical Activity and Cognition: Inseparable in the Classroom, MINI REVIEW article, https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2019.00105

Title

“What does it mean to be gifted?”

Aim

The aim of the activity is to look empathetically at the life of a talented person and to convey the collected information creatively.

The members of the group collaborate to gather information and share it.

Challenge(s) to inclusion addressed

Giftedness.

Type of art

Art history, collage

Duration

3  x 45 min.

Instruction step by step

Lesson 1 (45 minutes):

The teacher prepares samples of several talented people (painters, painters, poets, etc.). (Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, Vivaldi, Mozart, Vincent van Gogh, Botticell, Michelangelo). Give a brief introduction about them.

The children are divided into groups of 4-5 students. Negotiate in a group that a talented person will want to introduce to the class. Radeda distributes works and collects information from a variety of sources.

2 Lesson. (45 min.)

Students work in groups. Analyzes the information gathered to create a collage.

Lesson 3. (45 min.)

Presentation of collages. Discussion. Reflection.

Each group presents their collage, briefly introducing a talented person of their choice.

Discussion:

What was the hardest part?

Who was lucky?

Materials and additional resources

Teacher-prepared material PPT

Evaluation

Have gifted people been empathetically understood?

What was difficult about working in a group?

Sources

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