pridepastedoc1 xPrideandDignityinCorrectionalandSpecialEducationSettings x
Online Assignment #3:
Read the document “Pride and Dignity” located on our Blackboard site, then… Watch the video “Pride and Dignity”, also available on our Blackboard site.
On-line Reflection/Discussion Forum postings (2 per week)
Discussion Forum topic: Using Readers Theater for students with disabilities (Two postings, one original and one a response to a classmate). Consider the video “Pride and Dignity” as you write and respond to these postings, touching on the idea of using Readers Theater with young at-risk or disabled readers, and especially considering using that approach with older students with behavior issues, court involvement, and/or learning or attention disorders.
Prideand Dignity
in Correctional and Special Education
David A. Almeida, Ed., Professor of Special Education,
Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
It’s been said that besides psychological disabilities, there are three constructs that may lead students towards involvement with courts and the law: “dysfunctional family life”, “over-exposure to maladaptive groups”, and “real or perceived failure in school”.
While teachers may have little control over the first or second of the above variables, they have great control over the third variable. If teachers, especially teachers of students with moderate special needs, can be successful at getting at-risk adolescent students to see school as a place where they belong, seeing participation in school and school related activities and academics as a sort of “game”, perhaps, one that they can actually be a valid part of, maybe teachers can help to keep students who are at-risk for adjudication out of the court system. There is an abundance of research which demonstrates how using plays or simple dramas in the classroom can be a positive teaching approach for improving reading skills and building content knowledge in at-risk teenagers, and here I invite the reader to delve into that literature, but perhaps most importantly, to consider that the regular use of classroom drama can allow these students to see themselves as “players” in the “game” called school. Using plays to teach content helps these students feel as though they have a place in school, that they can take part in an activity in a classroom where they can, perhaps, shine; and many students feel that performing in movement-oriented reading activities like plays gives them some small amount of control over at least a part of their literacy learning.
The occasional reading of plays, as occurs in most reading instruction for adolescents, is simply not enough for teenagers with low reading skills, who need to move, who need to emote, and who are often narcissistic in their makeup. And many of the plays in theseIf, as a regular part of their instructional repertoire teachers use plays of substance, i.e. plays that tap into great literature or drama (like Shakespeare), or if they use plays that focus on historical people or events, (like any of the variety of history plays available on the internet), these teachers will make great inroads towards helping at-risk students to actually see that these subjects (literature, drama, history) can be really nothing more than great and entertaining stories that speak to them as people.
Beyond students who are at-risk for school failure, using plays on a regular basis works well for students with a variety of attention and learning issues, too. Students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders can remain engaged in plays, since plays can be re-written by teachers so that each person’s part is relatively short and there is, therefore, little time to get bored. There is movement around the floor as characters interact with each other, there is continual character dialogue, and students who have difficulty staying on-task are continually prompted by the action to watch the goings-on as the play unfolds around them. And perhaps most importantly students themselves get to move, something which students with attention disorders usually find attractive.
In terms of students with learning issues, (such as reading disabilities or learning disabilities), plays are the perfect vehicle for transmitting content. Each part in the play can be rewritten so that everyone’s part is at his/her own functioning reading level, no matter how high or how low it might be.
When students rehearse their parts they are reading and REREADING, which builds sight vocabulary, reading fluency, and imagery skills, since you can use what is going on around you to visualize the story, comprehend what you’re reading, and store it in memory for later recall on a quiz, a test, or even just in discussion or conversation. All of these skills are important and transferable to other subject areas in school.
For students with behavior disorders, or those who do get involved with the courts, using plays is an effective teaching strategy with these students, as well. Consider examining the literature that speaks of the link between narcissistic tendencies and clinical narcissism with adolescents diagnosed with behavioral disorders and those who find themselves detained in secure treatment facilities by the courts. Narcissistic individuals often see themselves as “stars” and they often enjoy being “center stage”. Many of these individuals emote naturally, and they often see themselves as entertainers, even if careful scrutiny proves otherwise. Since many of the students detained in secure facilities have been diagnosed as having attachment disorders, being a cast member in a play helps, in a discrete way, with bringing them closer to others on the unit; it helps them find their place in the facility.
All students who are outgoing enjoy the applause they receive from their performance in a classroom play, either the inner applause that comes from reading lines successfully or from the overt applause that comes from an audience’s appreciation of their work. Even shy or passive students will respond, after a time, to having a part. Shy students often wish for a chance to be part of the social structure of the classroom, and if they don’t feel they belong to the group, they seem to know naturally that they CAN belong and find a place while they’re in the play. Adolescents seem to feel good about the bonding that occurs naturally when they take part in a play.
Finally, when adolescent students read with honest emotion (as they must when they
act out a part in a play), it helps them to CHANNEL that emotion properly, and to see the effect that emotion has on the other characters around them.
For adjudicated youth (i.e. those who have gotten involved with the courts) who are being held in detention facilities, using a classroom drama can also be a tool for reducing recidivism. First-step correctional models for reducing recidivism sometimes focus on having individuals move through a cognitive process of mentalizing/empathy/remorse. Because remorse can be a key component of helping individuals stop repetitive criminal behavior, if teachers can get students to “mentalize” images of injustice towards others by using plays, it’s possible these offenders might develop “empathy” towards others, and that empathy could lead to “remorse”.
To conclude, there is a place in a classroom play for every single student, at every single age group, and every single ability level. Special educators can use entire plays, one scene from a play, they can find plays online or they can write their own play (or better, yet they and their STUDENTS can write a short play), and they can combine them with many other kinds of reading material and writing activities to create an excellent, student-centered literacy curriculum. In any event, using plays with at risk or disabled readers should be (at least) a weekly occurance.
Prideand Dignity
in Correctional and Special Education
David A. Almeida, Ed., Professor of Special Education,
Bridgewater State University, Bridgewater, Massachusetts.
It’s been said that besides psychological disabilities, there are three constructs that may lead students towards involvement with courts and the law: “dysfunctional family life”, “over-exposure to maladaptive groups”, and “real or perceived failure in school”.
While teachers may have little control over the first or second of the above variables, they have great control over the third variable. If teachers, especially teachers of students with moderate special needs, can be successful at getting at-risk adolescent students to see school as a place where they belong, seeing participation in school and school related activities and academics as a sort of “game”, perhaps, one that they can actually be a valid part of, maybe teachers can help to keep students who are at-risk for adjudication out of the court system. There is an abundance of research which demonstrates how using plays or simple dramas in the classroom can be a positive teaching approach for improving reading skills and building content knowledge in at-risk teenagers, and here I invite the reader to delve into that literature, but perhaps most importantly, to consider that the regular use of classroom drama can allow these students to see themselves as “players” in the “game” called school. Using plays to teach content helps these students feel as though they have a place in school, that they can take part in an activity in a classroom where they can, perhaps, shine; and many students feel that performing in movement-oriented reading activities like plays gives them some small amount of control over at least a part of their literacy learning.
The occasional reading of plays, as occurs in most reading instruction for adolescents, is simply not enough for teenagers with low reading skills, who need to move, who need to emote, and who are often narcissistic in their makeup. And many of the plays in theseIf, as a regular part of their instructional repertoire teachers use plays of substance, i.e. plays that tap into great literature or drama (like Shakespeare), or if they use plays that focus on historical people or events, (like any of the variety of history plays available on the internet), these teachers will make great inroads towards helping at-risk students to actually see that these subjects (literature, drama, history) can be really nothing more than great and entertaining stories that speak to them as people.
Beyond students who are at-risk for school failure, using plays on a regular basis works well for students with a variety of attention and learning issues, too. Students with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorders can remain engaged in plays, since plays can be re-written by teachers so that each person’s part is relatively short and there is, therefore, little time to get bored. There is movement around the floor as characters interact with each other, there is continual character dialogue, and students who have difficulty staying on-task are continually prompted by the action to watch the goings-on as the play unfolds around them. And perhaps most importantly students themselves get to move, something which students with attention disorders usually find attractive.
In terms of students with learning issues, (such as reading disabilities or learning disabilities), plays are the perfect vehicle for transmitting content. Each part in the play can be rewritten so that everyone’s part is at his/her own functioning reading level, no matter how high or how low it might be.
When students rehearse their parts they are reading and REREADING, which builds sight vocabulary, reading fluency, and imagery skills, since you can use what is going on around you to visualize the story, comprehend what you’re reading, and store it in memory for later recall on a quiz, a test, or even just in discussion or conversation. All of these skills are important and transferable to other subject areas in school.
For students with behavior disorders, or those who do get involved with the courts, using plays is an effective teaching strategy with these students, as well. Consider examining the literature that speaks of the link between narcissistic tendencies and clinical narcissism with adolescents diagnosed with behavioral disorders and those who find themselves detained in secure treatment facilities by the courts. Narcissistic individuals often see themselves as “stars” and they often enjoy being “center stage”. Many of these individuals emote naturally, and they often see themselves as entertainers, even if careful scrutiny proves otherwise. Since many of the students detained in secure facilities have been diagnosed as having attachment disorders, being a cast member in a play helps, in a discrete way, with bringing them closer to others on the unit; it helps them find their place in the facility.
All students who are outgoing enjoy the applause they receive from their performance in a classroom play, either the inner applause that comes from reading lines successfully or from the overt applause that comes from an audience’s appreciation of their work. Even shy or passive students will respond, after a time, to having a part. Shy students often wish for a chance to be part of the social structure of the classroom, and if they don’t feel they belong to the group, they seem to know naturally that they CAN belong and find a place while they’re in the play. Adolescents seem to feel good about the bonding that occurs naturally when they take part in a play.
Finally, when adolescent students read with honest emotion (as they must when they
act out a part in a play), it helps them to CHANNEL that emotion properly, and to see the effect that emotion has on the other characters around them.
For adjudicated youth (i.e. those who have gotten involved with the courts) who are being held in detention facilities, using a classroom drama can also be a tool for reducing recidivism. First-step correctional models for reducing recidivism sometimes focus on having individuals move through a cognitive process of mentalizing/empathy/remorse. Because remorse can be a key component of helping individuals stop repetitive criminal behavior, if teachers can get students to “mentalize” images of injustice towards others by using plays, it’s possible these offenders might develop “empathy” towards others, and that empathy could lead to “remorse”.
To conclude, there is a place in a classroom play for every single student, at every single age group, and every single ability level. Special educators can use entire plays, one scene from a play, they can find plays online or they can write their own play (or better, yet they and their STUDENTS can write a short play), and they can combine them with many other kinds of reading material and writing activities to create an excellent, student-centered literacy curriculum. In any event, using plays with at risk or disabled readers should be (at least) a weekly occurance.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
