I’m curious if, from your experience, Special Education teachers are more creative, or more encouraging of creativity, than general education teachers?
Alisa’s response:
This is such a great inquiry! It is not a simple answer. The truth is, it is a tricky balance and because of the way the school environment is systematically organized, it is more often failing many children. Even within special education there are critical “misses” on really being open and child-centered about how to support all learning needs. I don’t want to be disrespectful about what I have witnessed. That being said some poor choices (perhaps out of frustration, lack of training/support, etc.) get made and nobody succeeds. It is vital to have a healthy loop of communication between teacher/s, parent, administration (as needed) and learner. The approach to behavior compliance definitely becomes a focal point in many classrooms and can be difficult to navigate. I have seen creative structures work when the teaching team (teacher, paras, and any other adults in the space) have a clear and consistent way of supporting a student, especially in their most difficult moments. Student success in special education IS unique and I believe the path to success (behavioral or otherwise) can be designed in ways that both create individual success AND have a connection or an equitable pathway that is similar to general education expectations.
Circling back to the tricky part… it just isn’t a one-size-fits-all, and in an inclusive classroom setting, this may get blurry.
As a dance teaching artist, I have used the opportunity to present a curriculum that is as engaging as possible to my learners. When I see things start to fall apart, again it is case by case, I really try to not let that student get lost in the room. I try not to let the behavior affect the goals. Perhaps the curriculum allowed that student that disengaged to work through a behavior in a way that couldn’t happen in a non-dance class moment. Keeping that student and others safe is a priority, but I have definitely seen adults try to restrict a student from moving and vocalizing in the way that they may need to at that moment. I am certain that some would push back on this response and call it unsafe, etc., etc. Sometimes it may be. Our levels of comfort will vary from situation to situation. I worked with a classroom once where the student was in a destructive mode and throwing furniture. There was a very serious protocol to follow where one teacher and security remained with the student while the rest of the class was taken out of the room. The doors were secured so he couldn’t leave. He was raging with anger, frustration, hormones, anxiety and probably lots more. This same kid was amazing in dance class. He was a wheelchair user, mostly non verbal. Brilliant mover and inventor.
I remember feeling kind of horrified by the way the situation was dealt with. I also really trusted these teachers and knew they cared for the kids in this program.
I think there are ways to learn about social behavioral “norms” AND be flexible on the pathway of how they are adapted and learned. I would be happy to discuss further with you.
As you spend time with a focused intention of your inquiry, do you find detours where new questions and wonders arise?
And if so, do you incorporate them into the current ideas you are investigating? Also, how do you know when you are finished investigating?
Rossana’s response:
Yes, when I am thinking about my inquiry around Family Dance there are always new aspects and new questions arising. It is such a rich and interesting topic, so there are lots of things to think about.
When exploring Family Dance, I always think about how dance and movement can support parent-child bonding and how this kind of experience helps parents to understand more about child development. Some aspects of my inquiry are: what’s the best curriculum? How to organize the movement explorations? How to engage more parents into these experiences? How to help them be comfortable dancing and playing with their children?
Last year, I got very interested in exploring Family Dance with parents and babies. I participated in a project in Brazil focused on the relationship between mothers, fathers and their babies (under 12 months) and how the use of dance, movement, touch, sounds and music could affect this interaction. With two other artists, we led a series of virtual family meetings, where we brought different elements to facilitate the parent-baby interaction. It was such a joy to watch how babies and parents received the information and process their responses to the stimuli.
This year, new inquiries have been arising as I am co-teaching virtual Embodied Parent Education (EPE) to women recovering from substance abuse in a residential center in Oakland, CA. These classes are part of Luna’s Moving Parents and Children Together (MPACT) and they were developed to support parent’s understanding of their child’s psycho-social, physical and cognitive development in relationship to the Basic Neurocellular Patterns articulated by movement educator Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen.
So, as new experiences happen, new inquiries arise and it looks like there’s no end for this process. I think I will be always investigating.