Dyslexia is a learning disability that can cause difficulty in reading, writing, spelling, and speaking. It affects a person’s ability to read at a normal pace and causes the brain to have trouble processing letters and sounds. There are different kinds of dyslexia including, but not limited to, the following: phonological, surface, rapid naming deficit, and double deficit. Phonological dyslexia is where students have trouble breaking words into sounds and decoding words. Surface dyslexia is where students struggle with sight words and words with tricky spellings. It is common for students to have a combination of both surface and phonological dyslexia. Rapid naming deficit is where students cannot name numbers and letters quickly when they see them and affects a person’s processing and reading speeds, while double deficit is where students struggle with phonological awareness as well as naming letters quickly when seeing them. This is considered a more severe form of dyslexia.

How Can You Spot Signs of Dyslexia in the Classroom?

According to Understood.org, signs of dyslexia are a bit different in various grade levels. In preschool, signs of dyslexia can include students using “baby talk” often, struggling to tell stories in a logical order, saying words like “beddy tear” instead of “teddy bear”, inability to understand basic rhyming patterns with words such as bat and cat, difficulty in recognizing the letters in their own name and learning/remembering the letters of the alphabet, and trouble with basic nursery rhymes.

In grades K-2, students struggle with letter names and the sounds they make, sight words unless there is a visual along with it, substituting words when reading out loud, confusion of letters that look or sound similar, and remembering how words are spelled, especially when they need to be applied to writing.

In grades 3-5, students struggle with remembering key details from a story, letter reversals, sounding out new words, skipping over small words such as “for” and “of” when reading out loud, spelling including writing the same word correctly and incorrectly in the same piece of writing, and avoidance. Avoidance is when students will avoid reading whenever possible and can get overwhelmed, frustrated, and upset when reading.

In grades 6-12 and in adults, struggles include remembering common abbreviations, spending long amounts of time completing reading assignments, understanding jokes or puns, and searching for words or using substitutes (such as using “gate” instead of “fence”). It is generally easier to answer questions about text when it is read out loud.

How Does Dyslexia Impact Student Learning Long Term?

First and foremost, students that suffer from dyslexia oftentimes have low self-esteem, anxiety, depression, and behavior problems. These students won’t want to try again and fear making mistakes. It can affect their ability to “interact with peers in a typical way”. Frustration at the inability to read is common, and students don’t always feel good about themselves when they compare themselves to others.

Many of these impacts are seen at the middle school level and beyond. This is age where students can recognize that it is taking them longer to learn than the others around them. They can see the deficits within themselves and it can be extremely difficult to cope with. This is how behavior problems and anxiety issues can arise.

As students continue to get older, it can cause them to withdraw from friends and adults and can create many issues as adults including the inability to reach one’s full potential. The social and emotional issues created from dyslexia can be just as hindering as the dyslexia itself.

Students that do not receive support earlier on tend to struggle academically and be unable to “catch up”. The older students are when dyslexia is identified and interventions are put in place may continue to struggle and have more difficulty learning the skills needed to read well.

Different Supports/Help to Provide these Students

There is no “treatment” for dyslexia, but there are many different ways to provide educational support. According to the Mayo Clinic, many factors are considered in the diagnosis of dyslexia including a child’s development, educational issues, and medical history, home life, questionnaires answered by the child, parent, and teacher, vision, hearing, and neurological tests, psychological testing, and academic testing.

The earlier that the interventions begin, the better! Individualized education plans (IEPs) can be put in place and will provide a plan that is structured and focuses on the specific child’s need and how the school will help this child to succeed. This is a legal document and must be followed by the school district. Supports that are often used focus on learning to recognize and use the sounds that make up words (phonetic awareness), understanding the letters that make up the words, reading comprehension, reading fluency, and building up vocabulary.

Parental support and involvement are also important. The Mayo Clinic website gives many ways for parents to support students with dyslexia to succeed including addressing the problem early, reading out loud at home with their child, working hand in hand with their child’s school and teachers, and simply encouraging reading. Parents and schools working together will help the child to receive the support necessary to overcome the difficulties of dyslexia.

Wrap-Up

As much as dyslexia affects the academic performance of children, it can have many social-emotional and psychological effects as well. Early intervention is always best, but it is never too late to put supports in place. There are many successful people that have dyslexia including Whoopi Goldberg, Tim Tebow, Anderson Cooper, and Steven Spielberg. Although dyslexia can present many challenges throughout life, people can lead successful lives.

As Richard Branson stated, “Being dyslexic can actually help in the outside world. I see some things clearer than other people do because I have to simplify things to help me and that has helped others.” Sometimes disabilities can present opportunities to be embraced by those who experience them, and, in turn, those people can help others around them in different kinds of ways. People with dyslexia need to remember that they are not alone, and although it can impact learning at various stages of their life, there is nothing that they cannot achieve.

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What Subjects Can Use Animals for Learning?

You can use animals in any subject to help support student learning! Using animals for learning can tie many of the subjects together creating cross-curricular learning opportunities. For example, you can be using animals in a Biology lesson, but you can easily extend the learning to ELA, Math, and Social Studies. You can even incorporate animals into character education blocks and into social-emotional learning.

Science lessons are oftentimes involving animals. Even when you are learning about topics such as environment and conservation/pollution, the effects of this on animals can be a topic of discussion. Mathematics story problems can revolve around animals. If you are learning about conversions, you can convert the weight of an elephant from tons to pounds. Social studies can incorporate animals when you talk about various regions of the world and what animals have habitats there and why. ELA can involve animal research and various other writings and readings about animals.

In character education and social-emotional development, animals can be a point of discussion as something that brings comfort to the students. Animals can teach students about sensitivity and how to be caring. This can help students to develop into more well-rounded people.

Ways to Incorporate Animals into Learning

Class Pet

What better way to learn about animals than to have to take care of one! This provides a hands-on, real life experience for the students giving them a sense of responsibility to care for the pet. It provides a social-emotional learning piece as students can see how their actions can directly benefit or hurt another living thing. The pets become a part of the students’ lives, and provide them comfort while showing them how to be more sensitive. Class pets often stimulate learning in all subject areas. It can be a simple ELA question such as, “How would you describe our class hedgehog?”, or by incorporating the pet into math word problems. Another great part about having a class pet is being able to invite other classes in to teach them about how to take care of it and how cool it is to have a class pet!

Field Trip

If you are able to take the students on a field trip, the zoo is a great place to go! This experience gives students the opportunity to see many different animals that they may not encounter otherwise. A great idea to enhance the experience is to make a “Field Trip Scavenger Hunt” for the groups to work on throughout the trip. You can create this by going on the website for the zoo, and looking up the different exhibits and various information on the animals they provide a habitat for. This will give purpose to the trip rather than just having students run around without a purpose. As teachers have become the ultimate pivoters in education, meaning we change things in the blink of an eye, a virtual field trip can also be created if the means are not there to take an actual trip.

Dissections

Another great way to incorporate animals into learning is through dissections. This is not everyone’s cup of tea, but it is a great way to understand animals and their internal structures. This is a hands-on approach to understanding how complex animals are which can directly relate to how complex humans are. Dissections provide learning opportunities and practice with fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination. Dissections can also grab the attention of students and put them on the path of a career in Science.

Projects

A project including animals is a fun way to learn about them! One teacher that I work with does an amazing Amazon Rainforest Project with the students each year. The students create a three-dimensional model of the Amazon animal of their choice along with a five-paragraph essay that includes research about the animal. There are so many different ways to complete a project such as this. You can give digital options for students at higher grade levels that are interested in animation and computer design. You can adjust the writing piece for different grade levels. For younger students, you can require a paragraph, and for older students, you can require a research paper.

Show and Tell

For many elementary students, a show and tell with pets creates a lot of excitement! There are so many ways to complete this without having to bring the pet into the classroom. Photographs in a Google Slideshow, a YouTube Video, and actual pictures coming into school are just some ways that pets can get shown off! If students have cell phones, you could even make a special “Pet Facetime” where students could Facetime someone at home and show off their pet.

The Wrap-Up

Animals can help to support and enhance learning in many different ways. As we know, learning is not always academic, and animals can provide an important social-emotional component. Incorporating animals into learning can provide academic opportunities for students in all subject areas. As Anthony Douglas Williams stated, “We have more to learn from animals than animals have to learn from us.” Animals are out there, we just need to decide how to best incorporate them into our classrooms to help promote student achievement and academic success!

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Use of Technology for Instruction

Prior to the pandemic, teachers were just beginning to utilize online platforms for instruction and assessment. As schools closed their facility doors for safety reasons, teachers soon realized there was a need to use such virtual learning systems as Google Classroom, Canvas, and Blackboard Learn to provide instruction and assignments virtually. As students returned to the brick and mortar facility, teachers continued to rely on such learning systems which allows the teacher to differentiate instruction, quickly grade assignments turned in virtually, and manage online tasks for student participation. When asked if they would continue to utilize these learning systems after the restraints of the pandemic were gone, the majority of teachers at one school agreed that such platforms would continue to be used daily.

Engaging Students Through Technology

Technology was not just used for instruction. While teaching virtually, technology was a means of engaging students and teachers quickly became familiar with many ways to involve students. Virtual field trips were used to motivate students and activities could easily be tied to standards, so learning was still rigorous. Virtual games such as Kahoot, Quizlet, Classcraft, and Padlet allowed teachers to gamify their classroom and boost participation online. In addition, many teachers found short video clips to help teach skills during asynchronous learning. Even after students returned to class, teachers have continued to use these engaging practices to enhance instruction.

Social Distancing

While many will agree that social distancing has been a struggle within a school, there are aspects that have proven to be beneficial. Prior to the pandemic, students all gathered in one or two central locations before and after school on “bus duty.” Due to social distancing, some schools had to find means of separating students from other grades during these times of the day to limit contact tracing. With this separation, teachers began to realize that students were quieter when spread out in various locations. Many teachers didn’t mind a few extra days of early or late duties because the noise level and activity were minimized.

Building Relationships

The majority of teachers have always been great at building relationships with the students within their class. However, due to the pandemic, teachers realized the need to make special connections in order to ease fears concerning the pandemic, to boost social and emotional needs, and to encourage virtual participation. For many educators, students’ well-beings became just as important as their learning. Teachers became advocates to make sure students were fed and they became nurses watching out for signs of illness. They realized that students were missing the opportunity to see their grandparents or other family who had been quarantined, and students were anxious about the unknowns. Many teachers stepped up to fill the needs, and in doing so developed an understanding for the importance of building these special relationships with students and families.

Focus on Classroom Cleaning

In the pre-pandemic classroom, teachers would often wait for the janitor to come and clean the classroom once a day. The pandemic, however, changed the way many teachers looked at sanitizing and sharing materials. No longer are students sharing supplies, as materials are now distributed on an as-needed basis. Not only has this slowed the spread of COVID-19, but many schools have reported fewer instances of strep, flu, and even colds as the use of community supplies has been eliminated. In a similar manner, teachers have become accustomed to sanitizing desks throughout the day and encouraging hand washing more frequently due to CDC guidelines. The effect of such frequent cleaning is a positive one, so the practice of keeping a clean classroom is bound to stay after the pandemic has dissipated.

Virtual Meetings

One thing with which many educators have become very familiar is the virtual meeting. Whether for classroom instruction, a faculty meeting, an Individual Educational Plan (IEP), or a parent conference, teachers have utilized Zoom, Google Meets, Teams, and other platforms for hosting meetings. While most teachers will tell you they prefer to teach in a real classroom, many have discovered that this is an effective means of communication with parents and other educators.

While there is no denying that people are ready to return to normal, there are still many practices teachers and administrators plan to continue implementing long after COVID is conquered. Educators have always been eager to adapt to the challenges set before them, and in doing so, many have discovered creative solutions to connect with students and boost instruction. They have found many pandemic changes are beneficial and here to stay.

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What is Space Day?

Space Day (sometimes referred to as International Space Day or National Space Day) was created in 1997 by the global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin. The purpose of having a day dedicated to space is to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields among young people. It is a day meant for youth to learn about space and space exploration and the fields they could go into that relate to space. Below are other reasons why incorporating Space Day into student learning may be really valuable.

Reasons to Incorporate It into Student Learning

While the concept of space is introduced to students as early as Kindergarten, it is often condensed into one unit during the school year. Yet space has so many components that the idea could really carry on throughout the course of the school year.

That’s what makes Space Day valuable for students; they get another look at space and an opportunity to extend their space learning outside of the standard they were taught. Space Day is a chance for students to see the different types of jobs they could grow up to do; astronaut, engineer telecommunications, navigation satellites, or scientific investigations. Their curiosity for a world further than their eyes can see and a global perspective of the universe as a whole will help students think outside of the four walls they spend most of their days inside.

Strategies and Activities to Bring Space Day into your Class

Mapping Through Earth’s Clouds

In this activity, students will explore how clouds often hide large areas of the Earth’s surface. Radar is used to make detailed maps of Earth without having to “see” everything that is covered by clouds or darkness.

Gather a box with no lid and place a piece of paper over the top so no one can see inside. The teacher (or a parent if you are distance learning) will place a concealed object inside the box. Your goal is to figure out what the object is. You may poke holes in the box, examining how far your stick goes straight down before it touches something. As you pull your stick out, measure how far it went in. Mark this hole by using a color system: blue is 5 inches deep, purple is 6 inches deep, etc. This marking will create a topographical map of the object inside.  After creating your topographical map, use other tools to start uncovering the paper and figuring out what precisely the object is, or keep it up to your imagination (NASA Closed Box Activity).

Star Lab

Imagine being able to sit with your entire class under the stars and view what the sky looks like today, what it looked like on the day you were born, or even 100s of years ago. You could watch constellations appear that you had never seen before, or let their shapes be filled in so you can truly picture what they look and how they go with the stories they hold.

With Star Lab, you can do just that. This teaching aid, geared toward astronomy, is composed of a dome made out of opaque vinyl. The projector displays images on the inside of the dome that are highly accurate astronomical simulations. Having gotten the opportunity to attend a star lab many years in elementary school, I can testify that it was an experience like no other. Contact Star Lab for a pricing quote today, or reach out to your PTSA for a grant opportunity. This in-house field trip is sure to be a memorable experience for grades K on up.

Comet on a Stick

A comet is a chunk of ice, rock, or gas flying through outer space. When they get close to the sun they heat up, and we can see the glow and their long tails. This activity involves making your own comet!

Gather popsicle sticks, different colors of ribbon, scissors, and tin foil. The different colors of ribbon will look like the nucleus, coma, and the dust tail. Tie these 3 ribbon pieces to the popsicle stick. Scrunch up the tin foil around the tip of the stick, creating a ball. Repeat 2 more times with more tin foil. Then, hold onto the popsicle stick and let your comet fly around the classroom! This activity is perfect for lower elementary students, and helps give them an understanding of these amazing cosmic snowballs (NASA Comet on a Stick).

Space Day and Children’s Literature

Looking for more ways to incorporate space into your classroom? Literature can be a simple and easy place to start. National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of Space is filled with intriguing facts about the solar system and would be a great piece of text for an end-of-the-day read-aloud.

Is there a meteor shower coming up? Use the book Sky Gazing: A Guide to the Moon, Sun, Planets, Stars, Eclipses, and Constellations to explain the why behind phenomena such as meteor showers, northern lights, or eclipses. Or, use the board book 8 Little Planets: A Solar System Book for Kids with Unique Planet Cutouts in the lower elementary students library for a great read-to-self text.

The more exposure students have with space, the more their curiosity will grow. Space Day is another way to promote science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields among young people and extend their understanding past the stars they can see and into the vast universe above.

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Benefits of Art

Art provides numerous benefits to students. It is actually quite astonishing to see the huge variety of skills that students can develop and gain from simply participating in art. These skills are not only beneficial during childhood, but they are also equally as important on into adulthood and useful in the real world. Let’s focus our attention on some of the important skills that students gain through participation in the arts.

Focus and Problem Solving

Students who participate in art strengthen their focus skills. Students must focus on the “problem” at hand. For visual art, that problem may be determining which art tools or materials will effectively create the picture that they have in their minds. For performance art, students may need accurate timing to come in on cue. Regardless of the art medium, students must stay in tune with what is happening in order to successfully complete their work.

Intrinsic Motivation

Intrinsic motivation is defined as doing something without expecting any external reward. Students will take part in art without any care as to whether or not they will be given recognition for their work. Additionally, art is not considered a chore or “work” for most students. Art creates a sense of enjoyment in students, and they naturally want to share in the fun. Students simply enjoy the process of creating art.

Self Expression and Creativity

In continuing with student enjoyment of art, students find art as an outlet for self-expression and creativity. There are no limits with art. Students can create whatever they so desire within the realms of their imagination. If they can see it, they can create it. Even the most timid of students can express themselves through art. It is a truly beautiful process to witness!

Confidence

From the fostering of self-expression and creativity comes increased student confidence! As stated before, there are no right or wrong ways to create art. Students develop a greater sense of self by expressing themselves openly and in their own way. It is also quite rewarding for students to share their art with others and see how it is accepted and enjoyed, thereby developing their interpersonal skills as well.

Promotes Engagement

Because art provides intrinsic motivation, students are more likely to be engaged. If a teacher provides an assignment with an art component, students who might normally struggle to participate suddenly find themselves engaged in the learning at hand. It also gives students a sense of excitement! From colors to creativity, art brings forth an increased desire to participate; thus, increasing student motivation.

Determination and Perseverance

Increased engagement and motivation equals increased determination and perseverance. When students start an art project, they are typically more determined to see it completed. Most elementary teachers can attest to the fact that many students are not happy when their work of art is interrupted before it has been completed. Through art, students want to see their ideas fully come to life.

Cooperation and Collaboration

Some art projects require students to work with others to see the project to fruition. Students must listen to the ideas of others and constructively combine ideas to effectively complete the project at hand. Skills of cooperation and collaboration will not only benefit the students during their school years, but they will most certainly be of use when entering their chosen career field as an adult.

Higher Academics

To state it plainly, art can make students smarter. This benefit is huge! Participation in art is highly beneficial to student performance in the classroom. Art requires use of multiple parts of the brain, thus, providing better overall brain usage in students.

How to Utilize Art in Student Learning

Art enhances student learning in the classroom. Teachers should integrate art as often as possible in order to better engage students in learning, increase excitement in the classroom, and keep them focused on the task at hand. Below are some additional ideas for how to utilize art in the classroom:

1. One of the simplest ways to integrate art into the classroom is to allow students to create a book with pictures to tell a story that they have written. Students have to thoughtfully plan out the illustrations to ensure that they match the text on each page.
2. Students can create paintings to represent different countries for a history project. This requires students to gain an in-depth understanding of the country’s culture, traditions, and environment.
3. After completing a novel study or reading a book, students can integrate art by creating a picture to display the emotions produced by the story. Students can either focus on their own emotions experienced at the conclusion of the story or the emotions experienced by a main character.
4. When introducing new vocabulary, an excellent strategy to help students better understand a word’s meaning is to allow them to create a word picture. Students colorfully write out the word. Then, they draw pictures to represent the word. Not only do students get a chance to create during this activity, they get practice with spelling a new word. This also helps students retain the word’s definition more effectively.
5. Another excellent activity for arts integration is the creation of poetry. Students can write a poem from a teacher chosen topic. Then, students may illustrate their poems with pictures.

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How do we help our students come into this new school year feeling prepared, safe, and secure? For starters, we need to understand the differences in last year’s needs and concerns vs. this pending school year. Then, there are several steps educators can take for a smooth transition back to full time, in-person learning.

Differences in Last Year’s Needs and Concerns

Last year, the self proclaimed “Year of the Pandemic,” brought about new concerns and needs from its learners. Students learning online were thrown into the technology fire of needing to know different logins, different learning management systems, and frankly how to go to school like they never had before. It was necessary for these online learners to understand how to ask their teacher questions, how to attend Zoom class, and how and where their teacher would be available for them. Not to mention that online students had to learn how to make friends from behind their iPad screen all-the-while completing their assignments and staying engaged with the distractions that may have been surrounding them at home.

Then enter the in-person or hybrid learning model students. These students had to be ready for change. Any changes in their communities caused by COVID could send them spiralling into a different learning model. Students in this learning model needed to know not only how to go to school in person and online, but how to pivot between these two learning environments at the flip of a hat. Where stability at school may have been taken for granted in the past, these in-person and hybrid learning model students surely gained flexibility, open mindedness, and patience over the course of their last school year. And that is a lot of ask of students ages five on up. Due to the variety of learning situations students will be coming from when the 2021 school year welcomes itself, it is necessary that educators take some steps to ensure a smooth transition back into the traditional learning model.

Steps for a Smooth Transition

Start slow to go fast: establishing a predictable routine.

Being aware that the students that make up your upcoming year’s class will have come from a variety of learning settings in their previous year of schooling, it will be as important as ever to start slowly. Classroom expectations will need to be clearly displayed, practiced, and perfected. Basically, for the younger grades (but not to be forgotten with the older students as well), learners will need to be taught again what it means to go to school. What are the expectations in the classroom, in the hallways, at the cafeteria? How are classroom devices meant to be used and treated? What should homework help look like at home? All these questions should be answered and revisited often by the classroom teacher as they reestablish the school learning environment.

Leave extra time for social skill/friendship building.

The awareness of social and emotional development for students has been buzzing around the education world for some time. And now more than ever, this key aspect of education needs to be implemented on a regular, even daily basis. Morning meetings are a great way to build community, give students their individual voice, and come together first thing so students know they are seen, heard, and valued.

Because some students will have gone an entire year or more without interacting with other children outside of their bubble (or outside of their screen), there will need to be extra time spent on learning social skills, cooperation, and kindness. Pausing instruction to address a teachable moment, guide students as they work through a problem, or praising others who are exhibiting expected behavior, will be key to setting your students up for social success.

Continue embracing technology.

One thing educators can be certain about in this upcoming year of uncertain beginnings, is that students will have quite a bit more familiarity with technology than they have in the past. Embrace it! Whether you decide to use technology to further their 21st century skills, to redefine learning, or simply as a security blanket for the format of learning they are most used to, technology is their world today and will be their world tomorrow. Use it – daily, thoughtfully, and purposefully. If you keep those three objectives in mind, it will not only be best practice, but it will engage, excite, and energize your students.

Assess student abilities.

Back, but not necessarily by popular demand, is testing. Maybe your school district found a way to equitably and adequately formally assess students during the pandemic. For many, this was not the case. Expect testing of all shapes and sizes to be rolled out throughout the course of the year. This data will prove to be valuable to you in one way or another. Because students spent their past year learning in a variety of formats, the academic information you may normally have had on your students will not be there. Assessments will help you find their base level and guide your teaching. Remember that “tests” won’t all be standardized. These dip sticks of measurement can be in the form of exit tickets, short quizzes, Kahoots, or even conversations. Find what works best for your students, and utilize the information it provides you in the best way you can.

The academic year 2020-2021 proved to be one of the most unique teaching and learning years that educators and students have ever experienced. This fall, as our students enter their 2021-2022 academic journey, there will need to be some extra thought put into preparation and execution. Understanding the differences in last year’s needs and concerns vs. this pending school year will be a start. Then, taking steps to ensure a smooth transition for students returning to traditional learning, such as embracing technology, making more time for social skill development, and using data to inform instruction, will help students return to their previous sense of school normalcy. And hopefully that normalcy will be a welcome word after more than a year of living and breathing COVID-19.

*Updated July 2021

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What is Arts Integration?

According to the Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM, structuring a school (or classroom) around the arts “is an approach to teaching and learning through which content standards are taught and assessed equitably in and through the arts.” In other words, the process is first to pick a topic that you want to teach, then collaborate with art educators to align the standards. Next, prepare the lesson to ensure that there is truth to both subjects. Finally, assess student work in both areas.

Teaching in and through the arts means to ask yourself, “How can I integrate the arts and the content area that I’m teaching while aligning to the standards?” If you cannot do both, then you do not have arts integration.

Why are the Arts Beneficial for Students?

Arts integration can support student learning in a variety of ways. Research conducted by The Arts Education Partnership found that students who received arts-integrated lessons versus traditional lessons improved their ability to assess their learning, as well as had greater intrinsic motivation and motivated students to continue learning. The Institute for Arts Integration and STEAM found more astounding results, such as a 10 percent rise in student achievement. They also found that when the arts are intentionally integrated, students become more active participants in their learning and can work through problem-solving and innovate new solutions.

Overall, research has found three main points when understanding the benefits of arts integration. They are: improvement of test scores, creating equity, and an increase in parental and community engagement.

Goals of Art Integration

To successfully integrate the arts, there are a few practical approaches that you should keep in mind.

Create a Visible Vision

First, you need a visible vision that supports the arts. You can create a mural in the school entryway or share students’ artwork; the goal is to create an environment that values the arts.

Align with Standards

Ensure that all of the integrated art lessons are aligned with the art standards. Try and embed the arts learning throughout the entire curriculum.

Developed Partnerships

Build community-wide support for the arts. Expand your sources and connect with artists, art educators, and such to cultivate community and art partnerships.

How to Integrate the Arts into Student Learning Experiences

While the arts may have been a part of your daily curriculum when you were in school, some of today’s schools will have to take it upon themselves to integrate the arts into students’ learning experiences again. Here are a few simple ways to incorporate the arts into your classroom.

Visual Arts

Art is a powerful tool for communicating, especially for the students who have a difficult time expressing their feelings through writing or speaking. Drawing can help students clarify their thoughts, ideas, or feelings. Students can use visual art to create images or artifacts to help them dig deeper into the concepts they are learning.

Drama

Role-playing is another way for students to express themselves more deeply. They can create a dance, song, or performance. Music and art go hand-in-hand, so you can use a song for just about any concept that you want students to learn.

Technology

Yes, technology can be used in arts integration. Students can use apps to create a masterpiece, record themselves performing, or create a vlog about a piece of artwork.

Arts integration is another pathway for students to demonstrate what they know. When you incorporate the arts, you are ensuring that all learners’ needs are being met. So, how do you integrate the arts into your classroom?

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“Rigor,” in the academic sense, is referring to that fine line between challenging and frustrating a student. It means that students are challenged to think, perform, and grow to a level that they were not at previously. It means that students must work, like an athlete at a team practice, to build their skills, understanding, and thinking power so that they can achieve at higher and higher levels. It means that the standards of the course are calibrated so that students are compelled to grow but are not frustrated and overwhelmed in the process.

Academic rigor is commonly thought of in three different phases of the educational process. The first is setting the standard for students; the second is equipping students through instructional and supportive methods; the third is student demonstration of achievement. These three phases were popularized by Barbara Blackburn’s 2008 book “Rigorous Schools and Classrooms: Leading the Way.”

Setting the Standard

We all know that there is a certain standard of excellence that we implicitly expect of our students. Sometimes these standards are made clear to students via examples, rubrics, directions, and instruction. Sometimes these standards are less defined. What is essential for establishing the appropriate degree of rigor in your classroom is making sure that you overtly demonstrate to students what the expected outcome is. Here are a few key characteristics of a classroom that communicates the standards.

• Total classroom environment endorses a high-degree of performance from each student.
• Teacher believes in the potential for each student’s success and communicates this belief.
• Lessons and tasks are designed to lead students to expected outcomes.
• Examples of desired outcomes and undesired outcomes are overtly shared with students.
• Students have opportunity to revise their academic attempts.
• Higher-level, thought-provoking questions are asked by teacher.
• High-level, thought-provoking answers are shared by students.
• Teacher does not accept lower-level thinking or answers in discussion or academic tasks.

Supporting Rigorous Achievement

Not only is maintaining a high standard essential for student learning success, but excellent teachers must also make sure that they are supporting each and every student to move progressively toward the desired level of achievement. Teachers must consistently ensure that whatever the content or skill they are covering, they provide the requisite materials and instructional patterns. Here are the signs of a classroom environment supportive for student progress:

• Lessons are systematically scaffolded from one to the next.
• Materials are consistently organized to clearly provide instructions and demonstration of task.
• Intervention tasks or instructions are regularly utilized to ensure no students are left behind.
• Teacher is available for helping students individually at other points throughout the day.
• Parents are communicated with regularly regarding the academic goals of the course.
• Learning tools are color-coded, graphically organized, reinforced, and interactive.
• Content is made relevant and relatable to student background information and interest.

Validation of Achievement

It’s not enough for teachers simply to “teach” and expect students then to “learn.” The final step for true assessment of academic rigor within the classroom is for the teacher to provide students with various opportunities to demonstrate their degree of achievement in relation to the given standard. Here are a variety of methods available for allowing students to exemplify their progress:

• A balance of formative and summative assessments intermittently provided.
• Student demonstration measured using a rubric or other standard-based assessment tool.
• Students allowed the opportunity to conference and revise work.
• Homework and class activities thought of as “practice.”
• Students work independently or collaboratively on a given project.
• Students connect material to real-life examples and situations.
• Students provide a written or spoken summative report.
• Students metacognitively apply a variety of content learned.
• Student performance compared to previous student attempts.
• Students provide high-level answers to high-level questions.
• Students do not give up or feel overwhelmed when faced with challenges.
• Students reflect on their learning progress and efforts.

So what are your standards in your classroom? How are those communicated, supported, and demonstrated throughout the year? Take time to consider how “rigorous” the academic requirements are for your classroom, and shape the environment to consistently demand of students higher and higher levels of academic progress!

The post What is Academic Rigor and What Do We Do with It? appeared first on TeachHUB.

Many teachers shy away from alternative assessments because they take extra time and effort to create and grade. On the other hand, once the assessment guidelines and grading rubric are created, it can be filed away and used year after year. Here are 40 alternative assessment ideas to get you started!

Alternative Reading Assessments

1. Bookmark – Create a bookmark to match the theme of the last book read.
2. Time Capsule – Put together a group of five things from the story of the week.
3. Stuffed Animal – Students can make a stuffed animal that matches the theme of the story read.
4. Business Card – Summarize the story by designing a business card (this will be harder than it sounds).
5. Radio Show – Create a radio program that is set in the same time as the book.
6. Recipe – Make a recipe (or just the instructions) for something that a character in the story might make.
7. Paper Doll – More geared towards the younger set, this activity involves creating paper dolls and costume changes for the characters in the story.
8. Wanted Poster – Make a wanted poster for the antagonist in the book.

Alternative Writing Assessments

9. Eulogy – Write a eulogy for a word that is overused in the student’s own writing samples.
10. Infomercial – Students will tape a segment that uses persuasion.
11. Bumper Sticker – Design a bumper sticker with a catchy slogan for each of the writing genres.
12. PowerPoint – Pairs can create a slideshow about their writing process from start to finish.
13. Newscast– Students can form teams to create a news program about writing conventions (run-on sentences, spacing, punctuation, etc.).
14. Comic Strip – Draw a comic strip that shows examples of figurative language.
15. Brochure – Create a brochure that explains the steps involved when writing for different audiences.
16. Survey – Create a survey of students’ favorite writing styles or writing pet peeves. Make a graph that explains the results.

Alternative Math Assessments

17. Acrostic Poem – Using one math term, such as geometry or algebra, make an acrostic poem.
18. Internet Resource List – Students will find a list of websites that explain the current math concepts correctly.
19. Readers Theater – Perform a readers theater that is all about the current topic.
20. Crossword Puzzle – Use the vocabulary from the assessed chapter to create a crossword puzzle, including the design and matching clues.
21. Scrapbook Page – Each student makes a page that describes a certain math term. Combine them to provide a future review tool for students.
22. Paint By Number – More artistically inclined students can create a paint-by-number portrait that includes math terms and examples. They can also write and solve problems that match the paint-by-number answers.
23. Pattern – Find a pattern in the current math unit that can be explained.
24. Collage – Using magazines, students can cut up and paste math strand examples.

Alternative Science Assessments

25. Help Wanted Ad – Write an ad to find a “professor” who can help to explain the subject at hand.
26. Singing Telegram – More musically inclined students can create a song about the latest chapter.
27. Calendar – Mark on a calendar (paper or electronic copy) the time frame for how long it takes to see changes in a scientific event (such as erosion or plants growing).
28. Diary – Pen a diary entry from the perspective of a famous scientist.
29. Advice Column – Students write advice to an “anonymous friend” who has a scientific problem that needs solving.
30. Trivia Game – Students create the questions (and answers) that will be used in a review game.
31. T-shirt – Design a t-shirt that matches the current science concepts.
32. Experiment – No explanation needed for this one – get creative!

Alternative Social Studies Assessments

33. Cheer – Compose a cheer for someone in history who has struggled through something in your latest unit.
34. Fashion Sketch – Draw an example of what a person would wear from the era being studied.
35. Toy – Create a drawing (or a prototype) of a toy that might have been used from the children of that specific time period.
36. Documentary – Recreate an important historical event.
37. Family Tree – Research the family tree of a famous historical person.
38. Time Line – Students create a class timeline as they study different eras. Post the master timeline up in the classroom and add as new eras are learned.
39. Speech – Memorize and recite an important historical speech.
40. Museum Exhibit – Students each create a museum “artifact” and set them up in the classroom as a museum where they will stand next to their artifact to explain and answer questions from visitors. Invite other classes or parents to come do a walkthrough of your museum.

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