My students need watercolor paper, paints and brushes to participate in an innovative art-based writing program. The watercolor paints are very forgiving and will provide my special education students with an opportunity to express themselves visually.
$276 goal
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Hooray! This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
The students that I work with have a variety of disabilities from autism to specific learning disabilities. They need lots of visual support and benefit from seeing actual sources (photographs, painting, etc.) versus problems or information copied on the board. My students are from a very low income city and many of them are English Language Learners as well as requiring Special education. Our school has been working to create an academically-challenging and nurturing environment where our students can grow into well-rounded scholars and community members.
My Project
I recently attended an amazing professional development class on Picture Writing with Beth Olansky. The program is a nationally recognized, inclusive method for teaching writing. Students participate in a collaborative artists'/writers' workshop "That reaches every member of the classroom-and results in solid literacy gains that are reflected in students' test scores in both writing and reading." (B. Olansky, The Power of Pictures, Jossey-Bass, 2008) Students create a watercolor painting related to a mentor text or of their own imagination and then use the visual as a springboard to find descriptive language to convey their message.
I was amazed by the intensity imbued to writing that begins with such a personal and powerful visual!
I believe my students will find the scaffolding created by her system of word association and organization tremendously supportive as they learn to use language to communicate their thoughts.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Crowley and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
