My students need to have a container of art supplies in the art classroom to help them with motor skills, cognitive skills, and emotional growth that isn't otherwise available to them with the art budget.
I am a second year teacher who teaches a Functional low-incidence classroom at a Title 1 school in Kansas City Missouri. The classroom is made of 10 students with a range of different disabilities. The disabilities can range from Intellectual disability, Autism, Epilepsy, and Down Syndrome. These students come from different backgrounds and a lot of them qualify for free and reduced lunch.
Our goal is to teach the students life skills that will prepare them to be as independent and successful as possible after high school.
Some students are working to get a job in the high competitive setting (for example, a grocery store) while others will be working at workshops with more supervision. All these students have different goals in mind and could benefit from materials that can help them achieve their goals.
My Project
Our students are in an inclusion art setting that follows a block schedule. 90 minutes is a long time to keep students focused. In response to a visit from a special education expert, it was communicated to us that having a set of materials to use as free exploration would help. Students would complete their initial assignment, but as fast workers, they would then have access to the box of materials to further help with gross motor skills, in addition to cognitive development and emotional growth.
We have included materials that allow for students to explore a variety of mediums; including drawing, printmaking, sculpture and painting.
We need materials that are inaccessible in the art room because of high cost for the art teacher. Those include tempera cakes, print blocks, broad tip markers, tracing templates and mask forms. Thank you for supporting the SPED students at Oak Park High School.
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