Taryn Pizza Disability Studies in Art Education Reflection Paper 3: October 23, 2012
On Tuesday at Arts-2-gether, we began working on some things for the video that we will be making with J. She entered the room with a big smile on her face as we were watching the video. J came over to us, with a high energy, ready to get started. We were not able to go to the theater again so we did some other things in order to get ourselves ready for filming. The three of us, meaning myself, J, and Amanda, came up with a storyboard of how we wanted to put together the scenes for the music video. J spent a bit of time sketching what might go in the backdrop and developing ideas about a car as a prop. We then pulled up the Thriller video for reference, went out into the hallway, and went over a few of the moves of the dance. For the last ten minutes we started to work on the backdrop for the video. We determined where we wanted certain elements and plotted where we wanted various elements. Although J was looking forward to beginning to paint we ended up not having enough to time to get started.
Hopefully next week we will be able to go to the theater. J seems to be frustrated with the fact that we have not gotten a chance to go over there yet. She very much enjoys dancing and moving around and finally getting over there may be good for her focusing on getting the video done. Something that I have noticed about J is that her excitement can sometimes get her distracted. There have been times when Amanda and I need to give her certain directions multiple times, as in telling her we do not have time to paint, and in keeping her on a certain task. Along with this though, her excitement can make her incredibly motivated. She is extremely interested in making this video. The thing that I have started to realize is the importance on getting her focused on one task at a time. J has a great energy in working with Amanda and I and it will definitely allow for some quality art making.
J is definitely enjoyable to work with. She is extremely spirited, as it is clear through her excitement working in the class, and has a great sense of humor. Her comical nature provides a very natural and relaxed interaction. Because of J’s personality, I feel comfortable asking her what she is interested in doing, what is on her mind concerning particular parts of the project, and for any ideas she may have. I want to try and encourage her to use her vibrant personality in the process of making the movie. I do not think this will be a challenge at all as I am getting to know her. Along with this, I had an easier time understanding her this week as opposed to when we met last week. She seems to be articulating things better. I was wondering if this has to do with her comfort level. As the weeks progress I am excited to get to know J better and be develop an exciting video, one in which she will be quite happy with.
Today’s class was very difficult. I knew after speaking with his mother working with M would not be easy, however after last class I did not think it would be this upsetting when it did not go well. M is stubborn however it was not an issue when we last met, however today it was. I do not know if he was not cooperative today because he didn’t like the project or if something else was bothering him. He came into the room today excited and energized; I thought that would carry over to working with the smart board. It did for a small amount of time. M loved drawing on it. He found the pens, different techniques and effects exciting. He also liked to use both his hands at the same time as well as his body. Although there were many times when he would not put the flip camera down to experiment with using both of his hands. But M eventually got bored when we tried to type and use the smart board touch screen keyboard to facilitate communication. M is not always able to answer questions. I think he understands what we are asking but is only able to communicate with yes, no, something that either Cameron or I have said, or one of his slogans. At the smart board while he was able to differentiate colors and lines he couldn’t type or say what he drew. He could only communicate that it was red or green. However he could read what we typed on the board. He read red line as well as typed his own name himself when we tried to type. When we asked M to type red line instead of read he wrote the word see. We said yes, what do you see? And he wrote see again. We said you see a red line can you type red and he was unable too. This is where he started loosing interest. So we tried to integrate the music he loved from the last time we met. We asked him to draw how the music made him feel or what the music sounds like. After much of our constant begging he eventually did it but he was not interested for long. When he was drawing his understanding of the rhythm was evident. Although when he stopped he continued to dance to the music. After this we were unable to get M to do anything. He was very content on staying at the table and petting the dog while talking to other people. I wonder if the dog was a distraction as well as the other kids and students. Maybe it will be helpful to move him into another room.
- Our second arts-2-gether day was another successful work day for making our video with A. Since we had already made plans for the video last class, we were able to begin working on the video and illustrations. Also, we were joined by another student, T. It was my first time meeting T, and what struck me was how polite she was. Although she was not shy, she was very respectful and happy to be apart of our group. It may sound silly, but she was very proper and well-spoken, saying “May I..”, and asking other questions politely. To be honest, she showed no characteristics of her having any sort of disability. Later, I found out she has a learning disability, yet I’m not sure exactly what it is. But, I am really looking forward to working with her.
- Once we were in our group with A, T, Amy and myself, we began by explaining our project to T. Basically, we told her we were creating a video based off of A’s illustrations, mixed in with some clips of us narrating the series. We began by taking photos of A’s illustrations, which will be the basis of our video. Then, we began to list the characters, stating their name, animal-type, number of lines, and “accent". Next class, we plan on having auditions for each role. We have 8 characters, so each of us will be assigned 2 roles. We will then begin filming, and editing the video. We faced a few obstacles. It was a little difficult to go through all of the characters together. A. seemed to easily get distracted when discussing each role, and had some difficulty focusing on the task of making a list. Yet, this was understandable due to the fact that T had just arrived, and we were trying to explain it to her at the same time.
- Regarding A. and T.’s interaction together, A seemed very happy about T asking to work with him because she loved his work. But, he was also a little embarrassed. At first, having T there made A a little more hesitant to talk as much as he was with just Amy and I. But, this didn’t last long. T was very interested in looking at A’s work. She recalled that when she previously saw A’s work, she “laughed out loud”. Since she was working with him, she really wanted to draw in the same style as A. This was really nice to watch, as A and T both showed each other how they drew certain animals, and we compared some differences in their style. Both of them were considering color, shapes, and emotions. It really struck me how both of them were very interesting in showing emotions in their characters. When I mentioned how expressive the characters were, T agreed and A chimed in, “Thats the fun thing about drawing. I like to draw the expressions.” Again, A has aspergers, yet he is very able to see emotions, and even depict them in his drawings.
-A and T got along very well. T created her own ideas about some new illustrations, and A welcomed them into the storyline. T was very excited to receive a new sketchbook, and told me she would probably have a lot of it filled by our next meeting. I told her I was looking forward to seeing her new drawings, and I’m sure they are going to be really great. I think as a group of four we are going to make an amazing video.
Amy Diener Disability Studies in Art Education October 30th, 2012 My experience last week was A and T was eventful, fun, and engaging. Once again, Michelle and I brought A to a different room away from the other people. This allowed him to pay more attention without the loud distractions from others. With A, we were making a narrative with his drawn comics, focusing on cropped facial expressions and accents. Michelle and I facilitated A in figuring out how many lines each character in his narrative had. I noticed A’s subtle compulsions. However, I wasn’t sure if they were compulsions for sure. For example, I observed him count and re-count the number of characters that were in his narrative trying to search for certainty. After working briefly with the story, T joined us. The first things I noticed was that she very nice, sweet, and a pleasure to have. I couldn’t tell what disability she had until someone told me. I was told she had a learning disability. Possibly, I think the reason I couldn’t figure out her disability was because she was creating art. Art is an outlet that may help with her learning disability. Afterwards, T showed a lot of interest in A’s drawings. T wanted A to teach him how to draw his specific style. She said, “ I love how you draw. Can you teach me how to draw your characters.”? A had a very cartoonlike style of drawing focusing on narrative and emotion. As well, I complimented A’s color palette. A said, “I actually just started using color. Color is pretty new to me.” I found it interesting that he was new to color. Does this have any connection to Asperger’s? This was surprising because we learned many individuals with autism and Asperger’s cannot show emotion and detect facial expressions. This shows that it is very difficult to define and generalize individuals who have these specific disabilities. How do you categorize facets of disorders especially autism and Asperger’s?
Mia Karlowich Arts Together Third Reflection Paper
At the beginning of this class we planned to work on the thriller video with A and J and T. At the start of class we learned that T would be working with another group of students. As the students were coming into the class we were watching an intriguing video about doodling. The video showed a fast pace doodle with a commentary. When J and A arrived we began to start working on the thriller video. It became clear that A was not as intrigued with the video as J was. We had been asking him all along if this is what he really wanted to do. Today he seemed to finally admit that he wasn’t that interested in working on the thriller video. It seemed that he liked the idea of the video because he enjoyed the music but he didn’t want to dance or dress up like a zombie. My partner and I were more then willing to break up the groups so that A could work on a project that he truly wanted to work on. In the beginning of the class we noticed him making doodles on a paper so we thought he might want to watch the video that we watched in the beginning of the class. We walked to the back of the classroom so he could watch the video on one of the computers. As he was watching the video it was clear that he was interested because apparently we were being too loud while he was watching it and asked us to be quiet. I have noticed that A usually starts off his sentences with “excuse me”, I started to wonder why he does this. I think it might be because he is used to being ignored so he has learned to say excuse me and therefore he is not interrupting people. After watching the video we showed him on youtube he began clicking on other videos. I kept trying to ask him if he was interested in the video we showed him but he was too distracted by additional videos. I have noticed that A becomes distracted very easily, it seems that he needs direction in order to get him back on track. Once we got him away from the computer it was much easier to talk to him. A said that he did indeed enjoy the doodle video and he wanted to make a similar video. At this point class was almost over but we decided to start the project. We placed a very large white piece of paper in the back of the classroom and began video taping A drawing on the paper. Our plan is to speed up the video just as in the one we watched on youtube. A really enjoys music so we plan to sift through songs that A likes and add music to the background. It seems that A is very pleased with the change in our video.
Jennifer Nicholas Disabilities in Art Education Arts2Gether 3rd Reflection Professor Wexler Due: 10/30/12
This class was slightly frustrating for Susan and I because our arts2gether student, N***, did not attend or let anyone know that he was not coming. Of course things happen sometimes, but it would have been nice to know that he was not coming beforehand. Susan and I were waiting around for a while because we were unsure when or if he would show up, and it wasn’t until about halfway through our class that we finally got to talk to Alice and she said that it seemed like he was not coming. It was frustrating because it was kind of a waste of time sitting there waiting for him, when I could have been working with other groups or doing other work with that time. It all worked out though, because after talking to Alice she told Susan and I to meander around with the other groups and see what they’re all working on. First I met with Taryn and Amanda and we talked about what they are doing with J***, and it sounds like it is going to be really fun. I was talking a little bit with A****, who is working on the costumes and set for J***’s “Thriller” music video. I loved hearing about other people’s ideas because they are all so different from one another. I think this was a really awesome project to do with the arts2gether students because they can take it in some many different directions. I don’t think any two movies will be alike, especially because each group is playing off of the student’s strengths and interests. It should be really fun to watch how it all plays out and comes together in the end. Next I walked over to Ashley and Bethany’s group. They are working with a middle school aged girl whose name I can’t remember. It was surprising to see what they were working on because it related directly to the video we watched earlier in class that day. Originally the wanted to make a movie about volleyball but the school’s gym policy did not allow her to be in there. So they had to totally switch gears, and they came up with another idea that I really enjoyed. The video we watched in class that day had to do with parabolas (math class, boring!) and how they shape of them could turn into so many different artistic things. Coincidentally, the student in Ashley and Bethany’s group had just learned about the same techniques of drawing as were in the video we watched that day, in her middle school art class earlier that day! Because everyone was so interested in the movies we watched in our respective classes on that way of drawing with points, they decided to use that in their movie and make a stop motion animation. I love stop motion so I am excited to see how theirs turns out. Overall it was a good day because I got to work with other groups, talk to other arts2gether students and see how other people interpreted the assignment on hand. In the future, I hope N*** informs Alice ahead of time if he won’t be attending so that Susan and I know to use that time better rather than waiting around.
Unfortunately, N was sick and couldn't make it to this week's session. I spent the class time interacting with all the other children. Everyone is in groups and working on their projects. I tried to interact with different groups without interfering with their projects and what they had already planned, which was hard to do. I spent a lot of time with J, who is just so much fun to be around. Her group was working on recreating the Thriller music video. There was a lot of dancing and playing happening. J is also surprisingly strong! She is so high energy that while she is fun, you also have to work on keeping her attention on one task. One other thing I noticed about J is that she doesn't have many boundaries. She is very sweet and affectionate, but can get too familiar with people without realizing it. THis is a very good lesson for me. I'm very easy going and have trouble setting boundaries and saying no to people. With any kind of child, giving them rules and telling them what is appropriate behavior helps them learn and be able to have fun while still staying in a safe enviornment. I worry about hurting the child's feelings. I think I just need to focus on firmly stating rules. I can still state them in a kind, gentle way, but I can't just laugh things off like I usually do. That doesn't really help anyone learn.
Today, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, was our second meeting with C*. He had his special companion dog, Walden with him. He shared that his dog gets help for him if he is actively having a seizure. We welcomed his dog. If someone wanted to pet his dog, they needed to ask permission first. He did allow others to pet his dog who asked.
Before our session ended last week, we discussed many topics of interest from favorite hobbies like archery to writing poetry. We discovered that our families had something uniquely in common too, which was a love for root beer. We ended up with a list of items to bring in for this session to share with each other. The purpose of this personal activity was repeated too, which is to ultimately make a movie about him. We challenged him to think about a topic of a movie that we could make about him regarding one of his most favorite things to do.
In this session, we also discovered that he did give active thought about it and decided to have it done on his involvement with archery. He came prepared also with two poems that he had written. Heidi read one aloud and I read the other. We were impressed with his writing of rhyming poems, discovering another interest and liking of his for rodents! Whittling is another favorite thing to do so he shared two examples of sticks he found and whittled on. One looked like a snake! He had talked about this one last week and this week we were able to see it. Since we had some computer difficulties we decided to reserve the computer game and video footage he wanted to share for next session right at the beginning. While the computer was being ‘worked on’ I was able to facilitate the discussion and comparison of root beers that I brought in to share. The final thing we all did together was to taste a sampling of root beers brought in to taste, since our families really like root beer. A list that my husband created of the top ‘best’ root beers made was shared with the reasons why. A copy was given to him for his dad and brother to see too. See below:
1. Vergils (best made) 2. Boylan (best tasting) 3. Bulldog (only available on west coast & in World Market) 4. Ithaca (best made in NYS) 5. Maine Root 6. Sprecher (comes in 16 oz. bottle) 7. Hansen’s (no preservatives – sold in health food stores) 8. Natural Brew
Important Note: Any root beer that uses high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar is lower echelon. Any root beer that has more preservatives than flavor is lower echelon.
The three of us agreed that the Boylan was the best tasting root beer. This was a fun ‘filler type’ of activity and a connection was made that just as all root beers are not made the same and are uniquely designed, so are we. Samples of each kind tasted today were sent home with C* to his delight to share with his family, especially his dad and brother whom we discovered loved root beer too.
In preparation for the next session, he said he would bring in archery items too. He also shared that he starts archery classes Monday and/or Tuesday at 6:30 in the evening. He told us that attends lessons at Ti Yogi Bowmen in Hyde Park. We now anticipate him sharing more in the next meeting.
Bethany Hall Disability 10/31/12 3rd Reflection Paper
On the second day Ashley and I got to meet with Hannah we were a little disappointed because we couldn’t do our original idea. We had planned on going to the gym and shooting a stop motion movie about volleyball but it turns out we are not allowed to bring anyone under 18 into the gym. She would have to be a student. So that was a real bummer.
Instead we tried to come up with another fun idea. And Hannah suggested a stop motion video of her drawing this cool thing she learned in class today and ironically enough it was much like the images we saw in the video before class. It’s especially ironic because Hannah wasn’t even there for that part of the class. We spent the class figuring out what we should do with the camera and how we can set it correctly. Meanwhile Hannah drew her drawing so we could get a sense of what it would look like when it was completed. We want to have an introduction of her drawing the words so we will have her write the "Title" (what ever that will be) and also, "Produced by Bethany Ashley and Hannah." We also spent time finding materials that we will need for the project. We couldn’t find graph paper so were going to bring that in ourselves next time we meet. I feel like we got a lot of the boring stuff out of the way so now we can dive in on the video next week.
That was mostly it for the day. That class went by really fast it seemed.
Rebecca Trosa Disabilities in Art Edu Reflection 3
On our second day of Arts Together my partner and I began to work on the Michael Jackson Thriller video with A, T and J. While we were storyboarding costumes for the characters A seemed to lose interest fast he started to show me these drawings he called illusions, he started making these series of dots than started connecting the dots to make these shapes. He said look you can see different pictures in it, you might notice the small triangles or you might notice the big star. As he was doing this I thought how ironic it was that he was making these drawings that were almost identical to the parabola video we had seen before he had arrived. He never saw the video before but he was showing me the same sort of drawing we had seen earlier. Then my partner and I started to think that maybe A should see the parabola video, he might just be more interested in these drawings than the Michael Jackson video. It turned out that A was more interested in drawing these illusions than acting/ dancing in the Thriller video. We pined up a piece of white paper so A could start his drawing. A really wants to have music in his video so we are going to play music in the background and speed up the pace similar to what was done in the parabola video. I asked A if he enjoyed math and he said he does; I’m wondering if there is a way we can include numbers and symbols into our drawings. I enjoy working with A and he reminds me of myself at his age. He started to tell me how a kid at his school would say mean things to him and make fun of him. I wasn’t quite sure what I should say to him, but this was obviously bothering him and I wanted to say something to help him. I remember feeling the same way as a kid, never seeming to fit in. So I said the one thing that always comforted me. That maybe that kid was saying those mean things because he doesn’t feel good about himself. He replied that could be why. I’m not sure if I handled this situation correctly and If anyone has any suggestions of what else I could have said please let me know.
We had so much fun this week with our student. Last week, we found out so much, like his love for root beer. Similarly, Freida’s husband has an equal, if not more obsessive love for root beer. As a pseudo-homework assignment, we asked our student to think about what he would like his movie to be about, and to bring in some of the things he is interested in/created. He brought us some really lovely whittling samples, and examples of his poetry. We read them aloud, and I was astounded at the level in which they were written. He has a strong grasp on rhythm and poetry, and had written some really beautiful and inspiring poetry. He is so insightful, and I am really happy we are getting a closer glimpse into his life. It is difficult to get to know what he is really thinking and feeling because his speech is slower, and he always has a concentrative look on his face, but I really got to see the real boy in there through his writing. He also brought his service dog, Waldon, with him today. I have to say, he is the most fantastic pooch I have ever met. What a handsome, kind, and happy dog! I do not think he is like other service dogs I have met before, often leaving our students side to experience the rest of the classroom. I think he might be a seizure dog, but we do not know if our student experiences such. That will be something to find out. Freida really delivered today, bringing root beers from her husband’s famous favorite root beer list. We had a very nice root beer tasting today, which was a great way to become more comfortable with each other and wind down our day.
Taryn Pizza
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Reflection Paper 3: October 23, 2012
On Tuesday at Arts-2-gether, we began working on some things for the video that we will be making with J. She entered the room with a big smile on her face as we were watching the video. J came over to us, with a high energy, ready to get started. We were not able to go to the theater again so we did some other things in order to get ourselves ready for filming. The three of us, meaning myself, J, and Amanda, came up with a storyboard of how we wanted to put together the scenes for the music video. J spent a bit of time sketching what might go in the backdrop and developing ideas about a car as a prop. We then pulled up the Thriller video for reference, went out into the hallway, and went over a few of the moves of the dance. For the last ten minutes we started to work on the backdrop for the video. We determined where we wanted certain elements and plotted where we wanted various elements. Although J was looking forward to beginning to paint we ended up not having enough to time to get started.
Hopefully next week we will be able to go to the theater. J seems to be frustrated with the fact that we have not gotten a chance to go over there yet. She very much enjoys dancing and moving around and finally getting over there may be good for her focusing on getting the video done. Something that I have noticed about J is that her excitement can sometimes get her distracted. There have been times when Amanda and I need to give her certain directions multiple times, as in telling her we do not have time to paint, and in keeping her on a certain task. Along with this though, her excitement can make her incredibly motivated. She is extremely interested in making this video. The thing that I have started to realize is the importance on getting her focused on one task at a time. J has a great energy in working with Amanda and I and it will definitely allow for some quality art making.
J is definitely enjoyable to work with. She is extremely spirited, as it is clear through her excitement working in the class, and has a great sense of humor. Her comical nature provides a very natural and relaxed interaction. Because of J’s personality, I feel comfortable asking her what she is interested in doing, what is on her mind concerning particular parts of the project, and for any ideas she may have. I want to try and encourage her to use her vibrant personality in the process of making the movie. I do not think this will be a challenge at all as I am getting to know her. Along with this, I had an easier time understanding her this week as opposed to when we met last week. She seems to be articulating things better. I was wondering if this has to do with her comfort level. As the weeks progress I am excited to get to know J better and be develop an exciting video, one in which she will be quite happy with.
Sara Bernstein
ReplyDeleteOctober 23, 2012
Arts 2gether
Today’s class was very difficult. I knew after speaking with his mother working with M would not be easy, however after last class I did not think it would be this upsetting when it did not go well. M is stubborn however it was not an issue when we last met, however today it was. I do not know if he was not cooperative today because he didn’t like the project or if something else was bothering him.
He came into the room today excited and energized; I thought that would carry over to working with the smart board. It did for a small amount of time. M loved drawing on it. He found the pens, different techniques and effects exciting. He also liked to use both his hands at the same time as well as his body. Although there were many times when he would not put the flip camera down to experiment with using both of his hands. But M eventually got bored when we tried to type and use the smart board touch screen keyboard to facilitate communication.
M is not always able to answer questions. I think he understands what we are asking but is only able to communicate with yes, no, something that either Cameron or I have said, or one of his slogans. At the smart board while he was able to differentiate colors and lines he couldn’t type or say what he drew. He could only communicate that it was red or green. However he could read what we typed on the board. He read red line as well as typed his own name himself when we tried to type.
When we asked M to type red line instead of read he wrote the word see. We said yes, what do you see? And he wrote see again. We said you see a red line can you type red and he was unable too. This is where he started loosing interest. So we tried to integrate the music he loved from the last time we met. We asked him to draw how the music made him feel or what the music sounds like. After much of our constant begging he eventually did it but he was not interested for long. When he was drawing his understanding of the rhythm was evident. Although when he stopped he continued to dance to the music. After this we were unable to get M to do anything. He was very content on staying at the table and petting the dog while talking to other people. I wonder if the dog was a distraction as well as the other kids and students. Maybe it will be helpful to move him into another room.
- Our second arts-2-gether day was another successful work day for making our video with A. Since we had already made plans for the video last class, we were able to begin working on the video and illustrations. Also, we were joined by another student, T. It was my first time meeting T, and what struck me was how polite she was. Although she was not shy, she was very respectful and happy to be apart of our group. It may sound silly, but she was very proper and well-spoken, saying “May I..”, and asking other questions politely. To be honest, she showed no characteristics of her having any sort of disability. Later, I found out she has a learning disability, yet I’m not sure exactly what it is. But, I am really looking forward to working with her.
ReplyDelete- Once we were in our group with A, T, Amy and myself, we began by explaining our project to T. Basically, we told her we were creating a video based off of A’s illustrations, mixed in with some clips of us narrating the series. We began by taking photos of A’s illustrations, which will be the basis of our video. Then, we began to list the characters, stating their name, animal-type, number of lines, and “accent". Next class, we plan on having auditions for each role. We have 8 characters, so each of us will be assigned 2 roles. We will then begin filming, and editing the video. We faced a few obstacles. It was a little difficult to go through all of the characters together. A. seemed to easily get distracted when discussing each role, and had some difficulty focusing on the task of making a list. Yet, this was understandable due to the fact that T had just arrived, and we were trying to explain it to her at the same time.
- Regarding A. and T.’s interaction together, A seemed very happy about T asking to work with him because she loved his work. But, he was also a little embarrassed. At first, having T there made A a little more hesitant to talk as much as he was with just Amy and I. But, this didn’t last long. T was very interested in looking at A’s work. She recalled that when she previously saw A’s work, she “laughed out loud”. Since she was working with him, she really wanted to draw in the same style as A. This was really nice to watch, as A and T both showed each other how they drew certain animals, and we compared some differences in their style. Both of them were considering color, shapes, and emotions. It really struck me how both of them were very interesting in showing emotions in their characters. When I mentioned how expressive the characters were, T agreed and A chimed in, “Thats the fun thing about drawing. I like to draw the expressions.” Again, A has aspergers, yet he is very able to see emotions, and even depict them in his drawings.
-A and T got along very well. T created her own ideas about some new illustrations, and A welcomed them into the storyline. T was very excited to receive a new sketchbook, and told me she would probably have a lot of it filled by our next meeting. I told her I was looking forward to seeing her new drawings, and I’m sure they are going to be really great. I think as a group of four we are going to make an amazing video.
Amy Diener
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October 30th, 2012
My experience last week was A and T was eventful, fun, and engaging. Once again, Michelle and I brought A to a different room away from the other people. This allowed him to pay more attention without the loud distractions from others. With A, we were making a narrative with his drawn comics, focusing on cropped facial expressions and accents. Michelle and I facilitated A in figuring out how many lines each character in his narrative had. I noticed A’s subtle compulsions. However, I wasn’t sure if they were compulsions for sure. For example, I observed him count and re-count the number of characters that were in his narrative trying to search for certainty. After working briefly with the story, T joined us. The first things I noticed was that she very nice, sweet, and a pleasure to have. I couldn’t tell what disability she had until someone told me. I was told she had a learning disability. Possibly, I think the reason I couldn’t figure out her disability was because she was creating art. Art is an outlet that may help with her learning disability.
Afterwards, T showed a lot of interest in A’s drawings. T wanted A to teach him how to draw his specific style. She said, “ I love how you draw. Can you teach me how to draw your characters.”? A had a very cartoonlike style of drawing focusing on narrative and emotion. As well, I complimented A’s color palette. A said, “I actually just started using color. Color is pretty new to me.” I found it interesting that he was new to color. Does this have any connection to Asperger’s? This was surprising because we learned many individuals with autism and Asperger’s cannot show emotion and detect facial expressions. This shows that it is very difficult to define and generalize individuals who have these specific disabilities. How do you categorize facets of disorders especially autism and Asperger’s?
Mia Karlowich
ReplyDeleteArts Together
Third Reflection Paper
At the beginning of this class we planned to work on the thriller video with A and J and T. At the start of class we learned that T would be working with another group of students. As the students were coming into the class we were watching an intriguing video about doodling. The video showed a fast pace doodle with a commentary. When J and A arrived we began to start working on the thriller video. It became clear that A was not as intrigued with the video as J was. We had been asking him all along if this is what he really wanted to do. Today he seemed to finally admit that he wasn’t that interested in working on the thriller video. It seemed that he liked the idea of the video because he enjoyed the music but he didn’t want to dance or dress up like a zombie.
My partner and I were more then willing to break up the groups so that A could work on a project that he truly wanted to work on. In the beginning of the class we noticed him making doodles on a paper so we thought he might want to watch the video that we watched in the beginning of the class. We walked to the back of the classroom so he could watch the video on one of the computers. As he was watching the video it was clear that he was interested because apparently we were being too loud while he was watching it and asked us to be quiet. I have noticed that A usually starts off his sentences with “excuse me”, I started to wonder why he does this. I think it might be because he is used to being ignored so he has learned to say excuse me and therefore he is not interrupting people.
After watching the video we showed him on youtube he began clicking on other videos. I kept trying to ask him if he was interested in the video we showed him but he was too distracted by additional videos. I have noticed that A becomes distracted very easily, it seems that he needs direction in order to get him back on track. Once we got him away from the computer it was much easier to talk to him. A said that he did indeed enjoy the doodle video and he wanted to make a similar video.
At this point class was almost over but we decided to start the project. We placed a very large white piece of paper in the back of the classroom and began video taping A drawing on the paper. Our plan is to speed up the video just as in the one we watched on youtube. A really enjoys music so we plan to sift through songs that A likes and add music to the background. It seems that A is very pleased with the change in our video.
Jennifer Nicholas
ReplyDeleteDisabilities in Art Education
Arts2Gether 3rd Reflection
Professor Wexler
Due: 10/30/12
This class was slightly frustrating for Susan and I because our arts2gether student, N***, did not attend or let anyone know that he was not coming. Of course things happen sometimes, but it would have been nice to know that he was not coming beforehand. Susan and I were waiting around for a while because we were unsure when or if he would show up, and it wasn’t until about halfway through our class that we finally got to talk to Alice and she said that it seemed like he was not coming.
It was frustrating because it was kind of a waste of time sitting there waiting for him, when I could have been working with other groups or doing other work with that time. It all worked out though, because after talking to Alice she told Susan and I to meander around with the other groups and see what they’re all working on. First I met with Taryn and Amanda and we talked about what they are doing with J***, and it sounds like it is going to be really fun. I was talking a little bit with A****, who is working on the costumes and set for J***’s “Thriller” music video. I loved hearing about other people’s ideas because they are all so different from one another. I think this was a really awesome project to do with the arts2gether students because they can take it in some many different directions. I don’t think any two movies will be alike, especially because each group is playing off of the student’s strengths and interests. It should be really fun to watch how it all plays out and comes together in the end.
Next I walked over to Ashley and Bethany’s group. They are working with a middle school aged girl whose name I can’t remember. It was surprising to see what they were working on because it related directly to the video we watched earlier in class that day. Originally the wanted to make a movie about volleyball but the school’s gym policy did not allow her to be in there. So they had to totally switch gears, and they came up with another idea that I really enjoyed. The video we watched in class that day had to do with parabolas (math class, boring!) and how they shape of them could turn into so many different artistic things. Coincidentally, the student in Ashley and Bethany’s group had just learned about the same techniques of drawing as were in the video we watched that day, in her middle school art class earlier that day! Because everyone was so interested in the movies we watched in our respective classes on that way of drawing with points, they decided to use that in their movie and make a stop motion animation. I love stop motion so I am excited to see how theirs turns out.
Overall it was a good day because I got to work with other groups, talk to other arts2gether students and see how other people interpreted the assignment on hand. In the future, I hope N*** informs Alice ahead of time if he won’t be attending so that Susan and I know to use that time better rather than waiting around.
Unfortunately, N was sick and couldn't make it to this week's session. I spent the class time interacting with all the other children. Everyone is in groups and working on their projects. I tried to interact with different groups without interfering with their projects and what they had already planned, which was hard to do. I spent a lot of time with J, who is just so much fun to be around. Her group was working on recreating the Thriller music video. There was a lot of dancing and playing happening. J is also surprisingly strong! She is so high energy that while she is fun, you also have to work on keeping her attention on one task. One other thing I noticed about J is that she doesn't have many boundaries. She is very sweet and affectionate, but can get too familiar with people without realizing it. THis is a very good lesson for me. I'm very easy going and have trouble setting boundaries and saying no to people. With any kind of child, giving them rules and telling them what is appropriate behavior helps them learn and be able to have fun while still staying in a safe enviornment. I worry about hurting the child's feelings. I think I just need to focus on firmly stating rules. I can still state them in a kind, gentle way, but I can't just laugh things off like I usually do. That doesn't really help anyone learn.
ReplyDeleteArts-2-Gether with C*
ReplyDeleteFreida Wright 10/23/2012
Today, Tuesday, October 23, 2012, was our second meeting with C*. He had his special companion dog, Walden with him. He shared that his dog gets help for him if he is actively having a seizure. We welcomed his dog. If someone wanted to pet his dog, they needed to ask permission first. He did allow others to pet his dog who asked.
Before our session ended last week, we discussed many topics of interest from favorite hobbies like archery to writing poetry. We discovered that our families had something uniquely in common too, which was a love for root beer. We ended up with a list of items to bring in for this session to share with each other. The purpose of this personal activity was repeated too, which is to ultimately make a movie about him. We challenged him to think about a topic of a movie that we could make about him regarding one of his most favorite things to do.
In this session, we also discovered that he did give active thought about it and decided to have it done on his involvement with archery. He came prepared also with two poems that he had written. Heidi read one aloud and I read the other. We were impressed with his writing of rhyming poems, discovering another interest and liking of his for rodents! Whittling is another favorite thing to do so he shared two examples of sticks he found and whittled on. One looked like a snake! He had talked about this one last week and this week we were able to see it.
Since we had some computer difficulties we decided to reserve the computer game and video footage he wanted to share for next session right at the beginning. While the computer was being ‘worked on’ I was able to facilitate the discussion and comparison of root beers that I brought in to share. The final thing we all did together was to taste a sampling of root beers brought in to taste, since our families really like root beer. A list that my husband created of the top ‘best’ root beers made was shared with the reasons why. A copy was given to him for his dad and brother to see too. See below:
1. Vergils (best made) 2. Boylan (best tasting) 3. Bulldog (only available on west coast & in World Market) 4. Ithaca (best made in NYS) 5. Maine Root 6. Sprecher (comes in 16 oz. bottle) 7. Hansen’s (no preservatives – sold in health food stores) 8. Natural Brew
Important Note: Any root beer that uses high fructose corn syrup instead of sugar is lower echelon. Any root beer that has more preservatives than flavor is lower echelon.
The three of us agreed that the Boylan was the best tasting root beer. This was a fun ‘filler type’ of activity and a connection was made that just as all root beers are not made the same and are uniquely designed, so are we. Samples of each kind tasted today were sent home with C* to his delight to share with his family, especially his dad and brother whom we discovered loved root beer too.
In preparation for the next session, he said he would bring in archery items too. He also shared that he starts archery classes Monday and/or Tuesday at 6:30 in the evening. He told us that attends lessons at Ti Yogi Bowmen in Hyde Park. We now anticipate him sharing more in the next meeting.
Bethany Hall
ReplyDeleteDisability
10/31/12
3rd Reflection Paper
On the second day Ashley and I got to meet with Hannah we were a little disappointed because we couldn’t do our original idea. We had planned on going to the gym and shooting a stop motion movie about volleyball but it turns out we are not allowed to bring anyone under 18 into the gym. She would have to be a student. So that was a real bummer.
Instead we tried to come up with another fun idea. And Hannah suggested a stop motion video of her drawing this cool thing she learned in class today and ironically enough it was much like the images we saw in the video before class. It’s especially ironic because Hannah wasn’t even there for that part of the class. We spent the class figuring out what we should do with the camera and how we can set it correctly. Meanwhile Hannah drew her drawing so we could get a sense of what it would look like when it was completed. We want to have an introduction of her drawing the words so we will have her write the "Title" (what ever that will be) and also, "Produced by Bethany Ashley and Hannah." We also spent time finding materials that we will need for the project. We couldn’t find graph paper so were going to bring that in ourselves next time we meet. I feel like we got a lot of the boring stuff out of the way so now we can dive in on the video next week.
That was mostly it for the day. That class went by really fast it seemed.
Rebecca Trosa
ReplyDeleteDisabilities in Art Edu
Reflection 3
On our second day of Arts Together my partner and I began to work on the Michael Jackson Thriller video with A, T and J. While we were storyboarding costumes for the characters A seemed to lose interest fast he started to show me these drawings he called illusions, he started making these series of dots than started connecting the dots to make these shapes. He said look you can see different pictures in it, you might notice the small triangles or you might notice the big star. As he was doing this I thought how ironic it was that he was making these drawings that were almost identical to the parabola video we had seen before he had arrived. He never saw the video before but he was showing me the same sort of drawing we had seen earlier. Then my partner and I started to think that maybe A should see the parabola video, he might just be more interested in these drawings than the Michael Jackson video. It turned out that A was more interested in drawing these illusions than acting/ dancing in the Thriller video. We pined up a piece of white paper so A could start his drawing. A really wants to have music in his video so we are going to play music in the background and speed up the pace similar to what was done in the parabola video. I asked A if he enjoyed math and he said he does; I’m wondering if there is a way we can include numbers and symbols into our drawings. I enjoy working with A and he reminds me of myself at his age. He started to tell me how a kid at his school would say mean things to him and make fun of him. I wasn’t quite sure what I should say to him, but this was obviously bothering him and I wanted to say something to help him. I remember feeling the same way as a kid, never seeming to fit in. So I said the one thing that always comforted me. That maybe that kid was saying those mean things because he doesn’t feel good about himself. He replied that could be why. I’m not sure if I handled this situation correctly and If anyone has any suggestions of what else I could have said please let me know.
We had so much fun this week with our student. Last week, we found out so much, like his love for root beer. Similarly, Freida’s husband has an equal, if not more obsessive love for root beer. As a pseudo-homework assignment, we asked our student to think about what he would like his movie to be about, and to bring in some of the things he is interested in/created. He brought us some really lovely whittling samples, and examples of his poetry. We read them aloud, and I was astounded at the level in which they were written. He has a strong grasp on rhythm and poetry, and had written some really beautiful and inspiring poetry. He is so insightful, and I am really happy we are getting a closer glimpse into his life. It is difficult to get to know what he is really thinking and feeling because his speech is slower, and he always has a concentrative look on his face, but I really got to see the real boy in there through his writing.
ReplyDeleteHe also brought his service dog, Waldon, with him today. I have to say, he is the most fantastic pooch I have ever met. What a handsome, kind, and happy dog! I do not think he is like other service dogs I have met before, often leaving our students side to experience the rest of the classroom. I think he might be a seizure dog, but we do not know if our student experiences such. That will be something to find out.
Freida really delivered today, bringing root beers from her husband’s famous favorite root beer list. We had a very nice root beer tasting today, which was a great way to become more comfortable with each other and wind down our day.