Directions:Be sure to make an electronic copy of your answer before submitting itto Ashworth College for grading. Unless otherwise stated, answer incomplete sentences, and be sure to use correct English spelling andgrammar. Sources must be cited in APA format. Your response should befour (4) pages in length; refer to the “Assignment Format” page forspecific format requirements.

Many children with special needs spend at least part of the schoolday in special education classrooms, where they receive specialinstruction, sometimes quite didactic, adapted to their unique needs(Hendrick & and Weissman, 2007). The open-endedness and processorientation of art can serve as a reprieve from the highly focused tasksoften used in special education. Imagine that you are in an earlychildhood education setting, and you are the lead art teacher. Usingthis information and support and guidance from Lesson 3, determine howyou would create a curriculum in art that accommodates diverse learners.

Part 1: Explain why it is important to have a curriculum in art that accommodates diverse learners.

Part 2: Provide an example of an activity for children with each of the following:

1. Emotional and intellectual challenges
2. Visual impairments
3. Hearing impairments
4. Orthopedic impairments

You may use the ideas in the textbook as springboards, but do notcopy them. Come up with ideas of your own that show you understand theneeds of the child with that particular challenge or impairment.

Welcome to Lesson 4. In this lesson, we willexplore the basics of introducing music, movement, dance, and creativedramatics in the classroom. These subjects play an important part inteaching young children. Often, they provide the vehicle through whichother subject areas can be introduced in the classroom. In addition,research has illuminated the crucial way in which these subjects canstimulate cognitive development.

Many areas of intelligence are stimulated through music, movement,and drama. Some of these areas include verbal, mathematical,kinesthetic, musical, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligence.Enjoying and taking part in musical, movement, and dramatic activitiesprovides stimulation for young minds.

A careful reading of this lesson will provide you with many creativeand practical examples of enriching musical activities. You will learnabout a variety of musical instruments that are appropriate and usefulin an early childhood classroom. You will also discover that there aremany ways to make simple rhythm instruments yourself.

In a similar manner, you will be able to provide many opportunitiesfor enriching activities in creative drama in your classroom, even ifyou are not an actor or actress. The authors of the textbook provideextensive information on the importance of dramatic play for youngchildren. It also gives you many practical suggestions and ideas forintroducing drama and integrating it with various subjects.

The textbook authors describe three types of dramatic activities:dramatic play, story drama, and scripted drama. As you will discover,the most informal type of activity is dramatic play. Watch theseexamples of dramatic play:

At the other extreme, scripted drama is the most formal type ofactivity. Story drama falls somewhere in between. The text explains thatonly dramatic play and story drama are appropriate for the earlychildhood curriculum. While it is correct that meaningful, scripteddrama is not appropriate for young children, I have found that there is athird appropriate alternative in addition to dramatic play and storydrama.

When I taught preschool, I developed a technique for dramatic playthat was very successful in the classroom. I wrote plays, using originalstories, adaptations of fairy tales or children’s poems, and songs. Icopyrighted the plays along with an explanation of how to use them andcompiled this material in a book for use with young children. Theexample and explanation you will read in these notes is drawn from thatcompilation.

You can use poems and songs that are not copyrighted to developsimple plays, just as I did. First, choose a short children’s song andmake it into a play by writing an easy script like the one used in theexample that follows. After singing the song several times with thechildren, explain that you will act the story out and assign roles. Somechildren should be given speaking parts. Other children should takepart in group recitations, songs, or dances.

The teacher does two things during the play. First, the teacher isthe narrator. Second, the teacher sits near the children and whispersthe lines to those who have speaking parts. The children then repeat outloud what the teacher has whispered.

For example, using the song, “Three Blind Mice,” the teacher could play-act with the children in the following way:

Teacher (narrating aloud)—”Once there were three blind mice who liked to run. The first mouse said,”
Teacher (whispering)—”I like to run.”
Child # 1 (aloud)—”I like to run.”
Teacher (narrating aloud)—”The second mouse said,”
Teacher (whispering)—”I like to run too.”
Child # 2 (aloud)—”I like to run too.”
Teacher (narrating aloud)—”The third mouse said,”
Teacher (whispering)—”Me three.”
Student # 3 (aloud)—”Me three.”
Teacher (narrating aloud)—“The mice also liked to sing. They sangthis song with their friends” (teacher sings with children 1, 2, and 3,and a group of other children).
“Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer’s wife.
She cut off their tails with a carving knife.
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
as three blind mice?”
Teacher (narrating aloud)—”Class, let’s all sing with the mice now.”

The teacher would then sing the song again with all the children. Theteacher can also write more dialogue, add dances, and expand and changethe song in any way he or she wishes to.

In this way, simple, enjoyable plays can be performed in theclassroom or for parents. Children can construct hats for costumes. Theycan even paint pictures for background scenery.

It does not take long to write, practice, and present this type ofplay. Children enjoy this activity very much. They learn to workcooperatively with their peers and develop self-confidence as theyparticipate. I have found this type of dramatic activity very useful inthe classroom. I have also presented this type of play to parents at theend of the school year with great success. You can do this, too.

References

Werzberger, B. (1980). Plays and Activities for Children’s Drama