Incorporating the Arts Across the Curriculum
Fred Michael Beam
Scott Gentzke
Debbie Golos
Chris Kurz
If you teach a subject area such as science, math, reading/writing, or social studies, you may wonder how to incorporate the arts or even wonder why it is essential to do so. There is unlimited potential to tap into the arts regardless of what grade or subject you teach. Not only can the arts motivate your students to engage in learning, but they can also foster a positive sense of self through creative expression. In addition, because the arts provide kinesthetic, tactile, and visual ways to communicate, they support communication access and development for Deaf students, particularly among those experiencing language delays or language deprivation. In this chapter, we show you how to include the arts in preschool through Grade 12 (P–12) by expanding on examples previously provided in other chapters and by providing additional examples from Deaf artists and us. Ultimately, this chapter offers strategies for teachers to integrate the arts across the curriculum to support their students’ learning.
Who Are We?
As authors, we have a variety of experiences within visual, performing, and media arts, including how to incorporate them into instruction across the curriculum. An experienced performer, dancer, director, teacher, ASL director, and choreographer with many acting credits that include Fall Out Shelter at the Kennedy Center, Othello at Gallaudet University, and I Didn’t Hear That Color, the first Black Deaf play ever produced, I (Fred Beam) am currently the outreach coordinator for Sunshine 2.0 at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). I have also toured nationwide in one-man shows and established the Leadership Training in Theater Arts for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People of Color.
Student from St. Mary’s School for the Deaf experimenting with fingerpainting.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in illustration and a master’s degree in art education, I (Scott Gentzke) taught visual arts for students in prekindergarten to age 21 at Rochester School for the Deaf for 10 years. I was also a resident advisor at Delaware School for the Deaf and a principal and dean of students at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf for several years. In both roles, I was able to incorporate the arts to support students in developing creative problem-solving skills and becoming more aware of how they observe the world. I am currently a faculty member for the Master of Science in Secondary Education for Students Who Are Deaf or Hard-of-Hearing department at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institute for the Deaf and obtained my doctorate from the Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners program at Gallaudet University.
As a professor with a background in creative writing and theater and a former sixth-grade reading/writing teacher, I (Debbie Golos) have always tried to incorporate the arts in education, including teacher training. My research focus is on language, literacy, well-being and identity development, and developing and evaluating the effectiveness of interactive educational media in ASL. Through my experiences, when given opportunities to engage in the arts, I have seen Deaf students’ creativity and identities flourish!
While teaching STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) and methods courses, I (Chris Kurz) have always sought artistic creativity in expressing academic concepts. This includes working with art and media teachers to develop and implement shared units on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts (e.g., fractals, transformations, atomic structures, time–space fields). This reinforces the importance of STEAM, with the A being the arts.
Chew on This!
Did you know that … ?
•Children, by nature, are artists! They just need opportunities to let their creativity shine.
•Art can be used to strengthen Deaf students’ language and literacy skills and promote self-expression.
•Despite what many may think, Deaf people enjoy dance and music. Deaf artists who are well-known for their musical talents include The Wild Zappers and the National Deaf Dance Theater (Deaf dance companies), NTID Sunshine 2.0 (Deaf educational theater troupe), Warren “WaWa” Snipe (rapper, writer, and performer), Rosa Lee Timm (performing artist), Justina Miles (ASL performer), Bob Hiltermann (drummer), and Sean Forbes (rapper).
Deaf Experiences, Perspectives, and Core Recommendations
There is a long history of connecting American Sign Language (ASL) and the arts in Deaf schools, Deaf clubs, and Deaf theaters. For example, storytelling in ASL has been a tradition for more than two centuries, and Deaf people have been telling ASL stories through media for more than 100 years (see Chapter 3). Although some of these treasures were lost (e.g., old stories in Black ASL, ASL folklore), we are increasingly finding ways to preserve this rich heritage.
Schools serving Deaf students often share these traditions by providing opportunities for the students to become involved in plays, storytelling, and visual arts, through after-school activities as well as through art and drama classes in ASL. Through the arts, there are many opportunities to provide diverse Deaf role models, support students’ language development and learning, and encourage students to explore and express themselves, which can lead to a positive sense of self. However, this rich artistic heritage has often not been tapped to its fullest by teachers of the Deaf and across the P–12 curriculum.
As mentioned in other chapters, Deaf children need access to Deaf role models from diverse backgrounds—whether live, virtual, or through media and literature (Cawthon et al., 2016). Yet, there has not always been enough access to these role models through media, art, and literature. One reason for this is that Deaf people haven’t often been portrayed from a cultural perspective, such as being shown within a Deaf environment or communicating with other Deaf characters in ASL (e.g., Golos, 2010). This is a result of limited opportunities being made available for Deaf people in the writing, development, and production processes. For example, although Deaf actors have been filmmaking and/or have been on television for more than 100 years (e.g., Bernard Bragg’s The Quiet Man, a weekly television show in San Francisco; Linda Bove’s recurring appearance on Sesame Street [1971–2003]), few roles were written, developed, or directed by Deaf people. Deaf people were not often provided opportunities to engage in these leadership roles or even consulted when their languages, cultures, or communities were portrayed.
However, this has improved in recent years with an increase in television and literature incorporating positive Deaf characters. For example, AMC’s The Walking Dead introduced Connie, who uses ASL to communicate with other characters on the show and is portrayed by multiracial Deaf actor Lauren Ridloff. Ridloff also portrays Makkari, the first Deaf superhero, on the silver screen in 2021’s Eternals from Marvel Studios. Black Deaf actor CJ Jones created the Na’vi sign language for the indigenous species who live on Pandora in Avatar: The Way of Water.
Another reason Deaf students have not had access to role models through the arts is that Deaf role models, in general, have not been widely integrated across the P–12 curricula. Recent research has indicated that teachers are not regularly inviting Deaf adults into the classroom or incorporating books/media with Deaf people or ASL into early childhood classrooms (Golos et al., 2018). As such, there are many missed opportunities to share the work and experiences of diverse Deaf artists. Deaf children need exposure to role models and particularly those who are Deaf and/or Black, Indigenous, or People of Color (BIPOC). With intentional integration of the arts into your teaching, there are many opportunities to include diverse Deaf role models!
In addition to Deaf role models, providing Deaf students opportunities to engage in the arts is particularly important for the many arriving at school with language delays. As mentioned throughout this book, the impacts of language deprivation are significant and long-lasting (e.g., Gulati, 2018). By providing opportunities for students to participate in the arts, Deaf students gain not only an outlet for their feelings, motivations, and frustrations but also an additional means of communication.
As educators of the Deaf, we must value Deaf students’ languages, cultures, and histories, and this includes Deaf artists. You can help enhance the role of the arts in Deaf students’ education by exposing students to diverse Deaf artists, including those who are BIPOC, DeafBlind, and Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer or Questioning, Intersex, Asexual, and/or more (LGBTQIA+), and provide opportunities for them to engage in creative expression. In doing so, you help foster positive identity development while also supporting their language development and learning.
Proud to Be Deaf. A bulletin board mural created by elementary students at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf.
Core Recommendations
In this chapter, we provide two core recommendations to integrate visual, media, and performing arts (subsequently referred to as “the arts”) into content areas across the P–12 curriculum.
•Provide role models from diverse backgrounds through the arts.
•Embed opportunities for creative expression to engage, motivate, and learn.
Effective Multilingual Practices for the Arts
In this section, we provide examples of how you can integrate our core recommendations throughout the curriculum. We also illustrate how you can align these recommendations with three out of the following four National Core Arts Standards (creating, performing, and connecting).
Chew on This!
Did you know that … ?
There are many diverse Deaf artists:
•Michelle Banks and Alexandria Wailes were the first Black Deaf actors who performed with Michael Davis, a Latino actor, in the musical Big River at the Mark Taper Forum in Hollywood, California, in 2002. Christina Dunams joined the cast with returning actress Alexandria Wailes to be the first Black Deaf actor to perform on Broadway in New York City at the American Airlines Theatre in 2003 (https://playbill.com/article/deaf-wests-big-river-shines-on-broadway-as-roundabout-revival-opens-july-24-com-114432).
•In 2017, NTID exhibited the artwork of more than 50 Latinx Deaf artists, including Claudia Jimenez, Miguel Diaz Calderon, Rolando SigüenzaIris Nelia Aranda, Iris Nelia Aranda, and Drago Renteria.
•Alaqua Cox, a Native American Deaf actress from Menominee and Mohican American Nations, is the first to play an Indigenous character who is Deaf and uses ASL: superhero Maya Lopez/Echo in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
National Core Arts Standards
1.Creating: Conceiving and developing new artistic ideas and work
2.Performing/Presenting/Producing:
Performing: Realizing artistic ideas and work through interpretation and presentation
Presenting: Interpreting and sharing artistic work
Producing: Realizing and presenting artistic ideas and work
3.Responding: Understanding and evaluating how the arts convey meaning
4.Connecting: Relating artistic ideas and work with personal meaning and external context
We also encourage you to review your state standards for the arts and try to integrate objectives from those standards, along with ASL and content area standards, into your lessons as well.
Core Recommendation 1: Provide Role Models from Diverse Backgrounds Through the Arts
Deaf students need to be able to see themselves and diverse others represented through media, theater, and the arts to reflect on who they are and learn about the world around them. You can do this by (a) viewing and discussing diverse Deaf art/Deaf artists and (b) integrating interactive media in ASL with Deaf role models into your instruction.
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Learning to see themselves
St. Mary’s School for the Deaf students show their De’VIA self-portrait project with Deaf artist Nancy Rourke.
View and Discuss Deaf Art and De’VIA
It is important for you to provide opportunities for your students to learn and appreciate Deaf art and Deaf artists so they have Deaf role models they can look up to who are artists, actors, performers, and directors. This is a great way to target the art standard of connecting art in meaningful ways by providing role models who are DEAF SAME, which can inspire students to see themselves as artists. One way you can get started is by introducing De’VIA.
First defined and recognized as an art genre in 1989, De’VIA stands for Deaf View/Image Art, which is art that emphasizes the Deaf experience and what it means to be Deaf. It is defined as:
•art that is representative of Deaf experiences
•artistic strategies that highlight color contrast and centralized focus
•visual fine arts and alternative media
•not exclusive to Deaf artists (e.g., Codas)
•not inclusive of all Deaf artists
We recommend you review https://deviacurr.wordpress.com/devia-curr/what-is-devia/ for suggestions on how to integrate De’VIA into the content areas. They present some excellent examples of how you can connect De’VIA to history, science, and other subjects to help your students learn about Deaf experiences and the world around them. In the following Teacher Tale, I (Scott) demonstrate how you can discuss Pop Art and the standard of connecting to the Deaf experience by integrating handshapes into art. Although I did this as an art teacher, you could also connect this to social studies class when discussing the Deaf experience and current trends in popular culture.
Teacher Tale
When I was an art teacher at Rochester School for the Deaf, one of my favorite topics to teach was Pop Art and what it might look like in the eyes of a Deaf person. I would talk about how pop artists are not interested in creating anything new, but rather they want to take what’s already been produced and make a statement about it. One thing pop artists do is make “larger-than-life” sculptures of everyday objects. One year, I had my students work in small groups to make pop art using objects that were important to them but with a twist—they had to incorporate De’VIA into their work. One group made a sculpture of a partially unwrapped Hershey’s Kisses using a Hula Hoop, chicken wire, paper-maché, paint, and aluminum foil for the wrapper. The students made handshapes representing the letters in the word Kisses with plaster wrap, painted them brown, and then attached the three-dimensional letters to the exposed part of the chocolate so it looked like the chocolate was spelling “Kisses” on the side. Another group made a giant Apple laptop out of cardboard boxes and paint. The keyboard had drawings of handshapes instead of letters in text, and on the screen, they made a “Word document” that said “ASL” in handshapes.
—Scott Gentzke
Building off of this Teacher Tale, you can further connect to Deaf experiences, such as making a sculpture with a hand-to-the-mouth signing KISS-FIST (i.e., love that!) made of Hershey’s Kisses. Also, consider ways you can connect to the Deaf experience not related to language. For example, in social studies, you and your students can create a diorama of a scene from a Deaf club or a scene from a family experience (e.g., at the dinner table).
In addition to De’VIA, it is also important to introduce Deaf art, which is a separate concept from De’VIA. Although De’VIA specifically emphasizes the Deaf experience, Deaf art can be any art created by a Deaf person but does not necessarily represent or portray the Deaf experience (e.g., natural landscapes, fruit stills). Let’s revisit the example in the social studies chapter (Chapter 9) when the students created stained glass while learning about the European Middle Ages. This would be a great opportunity to introduce students to Deaf artists who work in that medium, such as Barbie Harris, Beulah Hester, and Betty Taylor. (See Recommended Readings/Viewings to learn more about them and other Deaf visual artists.) When students see Deaf artists presenting their own work, they can see how they could also grow up to be artists or how art could play a part in their lives as Deaf adults.
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Deaf Artist in Action
A student sketches the statue of Abbe Charles-Michel de l’Épée at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf.
When possible, invite Deaf artists to your classroom live or virtually. A Deaf artist-in-residence program is a great way to get the entire school involved in a cross-curricular project, as described in the following Teacher Tale. St. Mary’s School for the Deaf has invited Deaf artists to work with their students as part of their Deaf artist-in-residence program.
When St. Mary’s School for the Deaf and Rochester School for the Deaf hosted their Deaf artist-in-residence programs, they invited a Deaf artist to implement a schoolwide project and work with various teachers and students by creating artwork that incorporated not only the arts but also history, math, ASL, English, and so on. This also gave the students a connection to Deaf artists in a more tangible way. When students meet a Deaf artist they have been learning about, they begin to see the significance of the arts and also develop deeper connections to Deaf history and culture. The best part is that the schools ended up with a beautiful piece of artwork that many in the school community contributed to.
—Scott Gentzke
Deaf artist Nancy Rourke in front of a mural she helped Deaf students create at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf.
A student pauses to look at his progress on the mural.
Chew on This!
Did you know that … ?
There are many ways for you to integrate BIPOC Deaf artists into your classroom!
•Deaf Artists in America: Colonial to Contemporary (Sonnenstrahl, 2002) showcases more than 300 works from over 60 diverse Deaf artists.
•Have your students explore the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at the Rochester Institute of Technology exhibitions that spotlight the works of BIPOC Deaf artists Latinx/Hispanic, Black, and LGBTQ+ community; https://www.rit.edu/ntid/dyerarts-exhibitions) and extensive Deaf arts collections that highlight many Deaf artists of varying cultural, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.
•Teach about BIPOC Deaf artists such as Burton Bird, Shawn Richardson, Nancy Rourke, Gayle Sanchez, Mia Sanchez, Christine Sun Kim, and other well-known Deaf artists such as Chuck Baird, Matt Daigle, and Guy Wonder.
St. Mary’s School for the Deaf also invited Ellie Zusi to their Deaf Artist-in-Residence program. Ellie discussed intersectionality and the Deaf and LGBTQIA+ community and also provided the school with an ASL dictionary of LGBTQIA+ signs.
View and Discuss Diverse Deaf Artists
There is a long history of Deaf BIPOC and LGBTQIA+ people in the arts. To provide role models for Deaf students, it is important for them to see and learn about artists from diverse backgrounds. For example, well-known Native American Deaf artist Nancy Rourke spent a few weeks at St. Mary’s as staff, students, and other members of the school community participated in De’VIA workshops and collaborated on a large mural that is now permanently on display in the hallway.
Let’s consider Black Deaf theater.
Deaf artist Ellie Zusi working with students virtually at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf.
Stick It Into Action!
History of Black Deaf Theater
You can integrate the history of Black Deaf theater into social studies, Deaf studies, language arts, and other STEAM classes. Here are some key points to include:
•1972: A one-act play, The American Dream, had the first all-Black Deaf cast.
•1973: First all-Black Deaf cast in a full-length play is Ceremonies in Dark Old Men.
•1977: National Theater for the Deaf had three Black Deaf actors playing the lead roles in their play, The Three Musketeers. This was the first dominant Black lead role in mainstream theater or Deaf theater.
•1990: Michelle Banks, a Black Deaf actress, founded the Onyx Theater Company in New York City, the first Deaf theater company for People of Color.
•1990: First all-Black Deaf play about the Black Deaf experience was I Didn’t Hear That Color.
You can connect to your students’ experiences as Deaf people when viewing or discussing art in any subject area. For example, in language arts and/or Deaf studies, you can have students read, analyze, and discuss a graphic novel by Awet Moges, a Deaf artist, and then create their own graphic novel. You could also have your students analyze the meaning of song lyrics and create an ASL music video, which would be a great way to study and analyze the genres of ASL literature as well as introduce Deaf performers such as The Wild Zappers, National Deaf Dance Theater, NTID Sunshine 2.0, Rosa Lee Timm, Warren “Wawa” Snipe, and Justina Miles (see Core Recommendation 2 and Chapter 3 for additional examples of creative expression in content areas).
Also, if possible, consider taking your students on field trips to see Deaf artists perform in local or national touring productions. For example, if you are teaching Shakespeare in social studies or language arts, look to see if there are any local Deaf theaters putting on performances of his works, like the annual Oregon Shakespeare Festival, which includes Deaf plays. It is a great way to make literature come alive for your students.
In this next Teacher Tale, Leala Holcomb shares their experience about how growing up in a Deaf family led Leala to found an all-Deaf company, Hands Land, that creates and produces ASL rhyme and rhythm media (see www.handsland.org for more information). Sharing Leala’s story can empower students to believe they too can create their own business integrating art and education.
Teacher Tale
My multigenerational Deaf family is full of educators engaged in developing Deaf children’s languages. Growing up in an environment that was rich in language and literacy inspired me to become a teacher. When I went through the teacher preparation program, I found that many of my family’s practices were not used in the field of Deaf education due to its long history of hearing dominance. This led me to create an all-Deaf organization called Hands Land to develop educational resources and provide professional development to teachers of the Deaf. By bringing these cultural and linguistic approaches used by Deaf families into the classroom, Deaf children’s language experiences are enriched.
—Leala Holcomb, former preschool teacher
Exposure to diverse Deaf role models of varying backgrounds who are working in various artistic fields is critical to fostering students’ positive and intersecting identities. Providing models of and opportunities for students to express their content understanding by connecting to their experience as a Deaf person leads to positive self-identity. It also increases opportunities for deeper, richer, and more meaningful learning experiences when students can connect them to their own personal experiences. Make sure to provide models where diverse Deaf experiences are not only recognized and uplifted but also become central to learning in any educational settings.
“For 17 years, I have spent one week a year with Deaf children from mainstream programs to engage them in the theater. Every year, I watched how engaging in the arts with Deaf adults and peers has helped them grow and shine. They become more confident, open, creative, and proud of who they are. Their teachers say the children always talk about their time with me throughout the whole year. This has always touched my heart. Deaf children need role models to inspire them through the arts. With creativity and strong identities, they can achieve their dreams of who they want to be!
—CJ Jones, Deaf actor, producer, and director
Incorporate Interactive Educational Media With Deaf Artists to Provide World Knowledge
Deaf children learn more when they connect with characters they see or read about in books and media. Did you know that Deaf children can learn from interactive educational media in ASL and learn even more with teacher support (e.g., Golos et al., 2013)? As explained in Chapter 14 with Deafverse (deafverse.com), as well as in Chapter 3, you can connect media in any content area or through interdisciplinary units. In doing so, you can also integrate the standard of connecting art to the Deaf experience by including media with diverse Deaf role models. Deaf children may start to receive messages from an early age that they need to be “fixed” or are not good enough. When Deaf children see Deaf people in the media interacting in everyday experiences, it can help them start to develop a positive sense of self. This also increases their engagement in learning, as demonstrated in Christina’s Teacher Tale using the evidence-based, interactive educational media from the Peter’s Picture series, starring well-known Deaf actor and storyteller Peter Cook (see Recommended Readings).
Teacher Tale
I teach K–3 Deaf students. I remember the first time they found out that Peter and the other children in the Peter’s Picture series were Deaf themselves. They could not believe it. They looked at each other in excitement, signing, “DEAF?? THEY’RE DEAF???” It was very sweet, and I could see it positively impacting their identities. I also noticed the attention that they had during the episodes. Many of my students struggle to watch me or other signers for longer than a few minutes. Yet, when I turned on Peter’s Picture, they were glued to the screen. And the students giggled all the way through each episode. While laughing along with Peter, Rika Roo, and the other characters, they are learning so many new valuable things in a natural and age-appropriate way. They had no problem watching the entire episode, and I was amazed; they were able to recall the words they learned after viewing the episode when playing the Peter’s Picture app games afterward. Peter’s Picture is a must-have for any teacher working to close the gap of language deprivation in our Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.
—Christina Skahen, early childhood/elementary teacher
As we have mentioned throughout the book, viewing educational media with Deaf people along with field trips are excellent ways you can help students learn about the world around them, particularly when they don’t have the language to connect with their experiences. When using interactive media, we recommend integrating the viewing comprehension strategies (questioning before, during, and after viewing) described in Chapter 3 and the reading comprehension strategies discussed in Chapter 6. Here we provide an example that can be used with students from preschool through third grade as well as with older students who exhibit language delays. It is a great resource for building world knowledge (e.g., farms, libraries, restaurants) by viewing Deaf characters in ASL. You can use the following viewing strategies with any educational media in any educational setting.
Stick It Into Action!
Viewing Strategies
Let’s say you plan a field trip to the library for students. You can view evidence-based, interactive educational media such as the Peter’s Picture “Our Trip to the Library” episode to teach story knowledge and targeted vocabulary, here library-related vocabulary, as well as how to behave in a library (See Golos & Moses, 2013; Golos et al., 2015) for additional viewing strategies).
•Before viewing:
▪Introduce target vocabulary: library, librarian, borrow, library card.
▪Introduce the main characters and theme.
▪Let children know it’s okay to engage during the video by
♦moving along with the main character
♦copying their signs or fingerspelling
♦asking questions
•During viewing:
▪Have children watch the video without teacher interaction.
▪Watch the video again and encourage active engagement.
▪Encourage children to sign along with the main character.
▪In subsequent viewings, pause, question, and discuss. Encourage children to ask questions and interact with the print on the screen by signing or fingerspelling the target written word and asking them to point to the correct word on the screen.
•After viewing:
▪Have students sequence pictures, add sentences, and make a book.
▪Storysign the book in ASL and record your students on video.
▪Reenact scenes from the videos.
▪Interact with the four Peter’s Picture app games (app.peterspicture.com)
♦Vocabulary matching game
✦Sign to picture
✦Sign to print
✦Fingerspelling to picture
✦Fingerspelling to print
♦Play a sequencing game: putting key events from the story in order
♦Play a word game: match the target word to the word in a sentence
♦Read an eBook of the story in the movie
▪Go on a field trip to the library. Bring along students’ books and/or pictures of the vocabulary words and support their learning.
♦Take pictures and video record the trip with students explaining what they are doing during the trip.
♦When you return, follow the same “after viewing” steps by making a book of your own trip!
♦Create your own library with books and videos of all the trips you take during the year.
Viewing and discussing Deaf artists through multiple contexts and mediums lays a great foundation for students to begin to explore and express themselves and demonstrate their learning through their creative expression.
“One of my earliest memories as a student was when I was 3 or 4 in preschool, and we were learning about colors. I remember being excited to learn how to identify my favorite color, orange, along with the other colors. This is the moment I connected my love of working with colors and started a lifelong relationship with art. From there, I spent my childhood coloring, drawing, and poring over artwork in comic books (which led to a love of reading), and eventually, I became an art teacher. Positive connections to the arts can create powerful memories and build a foundation for learning and identity development.
—Scott Gentzke
Core Recommendation 2: Embed Opportunities for Creative Expression to Engage, Motivate, and Learn
As teachers, you know that drawing on students’ prior knowledge and experiences is important when teaching any new content. The arts can provide a medium to engage students in learning as well as ways of making meaning of the world through Deaf eyes. Here, we revisit some strategies and examples from other chapters as well as share additional resources you can tap into to provide your students with opportunities to engage in creative expression in the arts. You can target the art standards of creating, connecting, and/or performing these activities. As mentioned in Chapter 2, it is never too early for you to have your students begin to explore who they are and what is important to them. In fact, the sooner, the better! You have an important role to play in fostering a positive sense of self and awareness of their multiple and intersecting identities across all ages and grade levels. When you empower students to express themselves creatively, students not only learn about themselves but also become actively and personally engaged in learning.
Theater in Education
Theater in Education (TiE) uses interactive drama practices to help aid the educational process for students of all ages. In TiE, teachers have students use acting, role-play, and movement to learn a concept, express understanding, and reinforce learning. See the following Stick It Into Action for an example in science.
Stick It Into Action!
TiE and the Digestive System
To integrate TiE into a science lesson, follow these steps:
•Assign your students a part of the digestive system (e.g., teeth, tongue, esophagus, stomach).
•Have them research their assigned part for its function(s) and come up with body movements to represent the function(s).
•Allow them to move around and find their adjacent part(s), such as the large intestine, which should be next to the small intestine and rectum.
•Have another student check the system for accuracy.
•Select a student who is not in the system to become a cookie and have them go through the system from the mouth to the anus.
•Discuss each part’s body movements and functions and how they work together as the digestive system.
My students really like TiE because they can move around and demonstrate their learning differently. When we discuss abstract ideas, such as different bodily systems, we use TiE to express them visually and kinesthetically. The students become actively engaged and motivated in understanding how each part in the system works. I also use TiE when teaching history. Each of my students selects and researches a Deaf person of historical significance. We then have a Deaf Celebration party where every student (including the teacher—me) dresses up like their Deaf person and makes a short biographical presentation or acts out a biographical play.
—Chris Kurz
TiE: Deaf persons of historical significance.
Exploring Identities Through Creative Expression
There are so many ways you can integrate creative projects to encourage students to think about who they are and what is important to them or to build confidence, as Justin shares in his quote. One way to get started is through “All About Me” projects (see Chapter 8 for more information), which can be incorporated into your classrooms no matter what grade you teach. It’s never too early to start and you can use so many different mediums for this. Have students reflect on their personal and social identities to reflect on who they are, what they like, what is important to them, who the people are who have shaped them, activities they enjoy doing, and/or for self-care or well-being, what they value, and so on.
For older students, you can have them create biographies as discussed in Chapter 9 or other projects that represent their multiple and intersecting identities. For example, you can have them create a poster or an online slide with embedded art, drawings, picture collages, and so forth, and then have them make a video of themselves to share with others. You can embed technology by requiring students to also include a GIF of themselves doing something they love (see Chapters 3 and 11 for more on leveraging technology). This is a great project to introduce at the beginning of the year, with opportunities to return to it throughout the year with modifications or updates. You can modify it for any grade level. Your students can learn about themselves, each other, and you as their teacher. In the following Teacher Tale, Judy demonstrates how students explore their identities and target the art standards of creating and connecting with Deaf studies through the arts.
“Growing up Deaf, I struggled with my identity as a Gay person. Every time I could get into a role and fly with it, it felt like an escape. However, through the process, I fell in love with the art of acting, and it gave me the confidence to embrace my identity every time I stepped out of a role.
—Justin Jackerson, Deaf actor, ASL teacher, creator of The ASL Lab
Teacher Tale
When I was teaching Deaf studies, I did several art projects with middle school Deaf students to help them explore and discover their multiple and intersecting identities as a Deaf person. For one project, we made papier-mâché masks showing two perspectives: on the front, what they felt to be the hearing/public perception of them, and on the inside, the mask showing their true feelings, their perspectives as a Deaf person. In another art project, students traced their hands in crayon and then drew pictures/wrote words expressing their thoughts about ASL and the value of their hands. Afterward, they covered their drawing with black ink. In the end, they scraped their chosen words, such as proud, sacred, beautiful, on the black ink, exposing the drawings/words from behind. I saw how powerful the art projects were for the students. It truly helped them become more proud and positive about their Deaf beings.
—Judy Pratt McGuigan, Deaf teacher
Tap Into Your Students’ Strengths in Creativity for Self-Expression
At the start of each year, as you welcome new students, it is important to get to know them and develop an awareness of their diverse backgrounds—not only their race, cultures, languages, and academic skills, but also what brings them joy and motivates them. In the reading chapter, one of the core recommendations is joy (see Chapter 6). Here, we highlight how tapping into your students’ creative strengths can bring both joy and motivation for them to engage in learning. One way to do this is by offering them opportunities to express themselves through drawing, as I (Scott) highlight in the following Teacher Tale. For students with language delays, expressing through arts offers them alternative ways to engage in the classroom content and contribute their ideas to class discussion. It also gives them opportunities to share their strengths and develop confidence in their abilities.
Tapping into students’ strengths, particularly for students with language delays, is not only a great way to build confidence but also a way of building language and literacy skills across multiple languages. For those of you who teach reading/writing, you have probably seen students who shut down when they come to your class because literacy may have been a frustrating experience for them throughout schooling. In the following Teacher Tale, Debbie shares how she addressed the art standard of creating by allowing a student to use his strength as an artist to engage in reading/writing class.
I used to assign “Questions of the Week” journal responses for my middle school students when I was an art teacher as a way to promote literacy in the arts. Although this may seem like most journal assignments, the students used “write and draw” journals (which can be found online, or you can have students create their own). The pages are half blank at the top and have lines for writing at the bottom. This gave the students the opportunity to respond to the question of the week using some sort of artistic expression on the top half, accompanied by their written responses on the bottom half. This way, students who struggled to express themselves in writing could use their art skills to support their responses and sometimes students benefit from having something they can see on paper to help develop their written responses. Although this was a weekly assignment for art class, this could easily be done in language arts as well as any other classes that involve journaling/written responses (e.g., reading, ASL, science, math). Students who struggle with writing may be able to better express themselves artistically, which promotes participation and boosts their self-esteem.
—Scott Gentzke
Teacher Tale
Author/Illustrator
As a reading/writing teacher, I worked with my students every year on creating their own stories. I often found that the students who had delayed literacy skills due to having experienced language deprivation did not want to do this project. One year, I noticed a student who had amazing artistic skills. He loved to draw and would often doodle or draw whenever the opportunity presented itself. I paired him with another student who had better writing skills and enjoyed writing more than drawing. Together, they worked to create an amazing story. While they discussed the story in ASL and worked on the writing and drawing together, one took the lead on writing while the other took the lead on illustrating. It allowed them the opportunity to be creative in developing a story together while building off of each of their individual strengths. They were motivated every day to come to class to write, create and draw!
—Debbie Golos
“The Shiloh mock trial not only allowed me to understand the story and trial process through real-life experience, but it also gave me a new way to analyze literature through acting.
—Justin Jackerson
Engage in Role-Play Another way we can tap into students’ strengths is by providing them opportunities to engage in role-play. We have seen time and again that when students are provided opportunities to act, it allows them to try on different roles (e.g., different genders, personalities), explore potential future jobs they may have, or step into different family relationships or dynamics. For example, when teaching about animals to preschool students, you can role-play different animals as seen in the following image of Sunshine 2.0.
You can engage in role-play with your students at any grade level. When I (Debbie) was teaching middle school, I incorporated role-play as a component with most of the books I taught. I often saw that students thrived when having the opportunity to play a role, and it provided them another way of deepening their understanding of what they were reading, as Justin illustrates regarding his experience participating in the Shiloh mock trial in sixth grade (see Chapter 7).
Sunshine 2.0 with preschool students. Role-play as an animal.
Teacher Tale
As described in Chapter 7, my sixth-grade students would put on a mock trial every year, taking on the roles of witnesses, lawyers, or jury members. I remember I was surprised when one student, who was quite shy, put “lawyer” on her “Who do you want to be?” list (see Chapter 7 for the description of the Shiloh trial). Through this role, I saw her truly shine; I could see her leadership skills blossoming as she practiced her part as the prosecuting lawyer trying to fight for Marty Preston to keep the dog. As the students worked in small groups to prepare, she took the lead in preparing for this activity. She made sure all the witnesses had practiced and were ready for trial day, and she double-checked that the evidence was labeled and organized. When it came time for the mock trial day, she came prepared and ready to take on the role of presenting her opening and closing arguments and questioning the witnesses. She was one of the best lawyers I had in the trial.
—Debbie Golos
Not only can taking on role-play foster students’ strengths in academic areas, you can also target the art standard of performing by providing students opportunities to practice and get feedback on their performances. Sometimes, it takes us as teachers to believe in them and see their inner sparkle, as demonstrated by the following Teacher Tale about performing the story of The Little Prince (Saint-Exupéry, 2000).
Teacher Tale
I love seeing unity and confidence being built through theater. I remember one time when I directed The Little Prince, the student playing the Little Prince was absent a lot and not committed to the role. I picked out one of the crew members, a bright, timid freshman, to temporarily take over during rehearsals. I quickly noticed her memorization, translation, and acting skills. Within 3 weeks, she ended up taking over the role, and I replaced the original actor with the crew member. She did a fabulous job! I believe that she continued to participate in theater for years after. I know that children need good and sincere people to believe in them and to find the hidden gems within the students and encourage them to thrive. I always root for underdogs—keep them under your wings in the beginning, and then watch them soar!
—Judy Pratt McGuigan, Deaf teacher and theater director
Incorporating Your Own Creative Abilities Into Your Teaching
Sometimes, as teachers, we are so focused on what our students need that there is no time to think about ourselves and what our own strengths for creative expression are that we can bring to our classroom. However, your passion can shine through you, and this can inspire students in their learning. Do you like to draw or paint? Tell or write stories? Create poetry in ASL or other languages? Rap? Dance? Act? Play drums? Then include that in your teaching! You don’t have to be an expert to share your love for the arts. Students enjoy seeing their teachers use their own hidden artistic talents in their lessons. In language arts, I (Debbie) would sometimes come to class dressed up as characters in the books I was teaching, and the students loved it. Here, I (Scott) share my experience sharing my art with my students.
Teacher Tale
As an art teacher, obviously I would use my art skills when working with students, such as sketching something for them as a reference or showing them different methods of painting with a brush. However, they were always most excited whenever I would share examples of my own artwork with them as if it helped them realize that they could learn to do the same thing. It would be an extra-special treat when some of my colleagues who taught other subject areas would come visit the art room and share their artistic creations or talk about their art. Seeing teachers from a different perspective helps the students humanize them and see them as more than a teacher, strengthening their relationship. It also shows students that it is good to develop a wide variety of skills and outlets for creative expression.
—Scott Gentzke
You can share your creative expression no matter what grade or content you teach. In the social studies chapter (see Chapter 9), we show a picture of a timeline responding to the question, “Why did Black ASL develop?” If you love poetry, create a poem with your students to highlight key events that align with the timeline. If you love to rap, create a math rap when teaching about exponents (see examples from ASL in Chapters 3 and 10). There are so many ways for you to connect your own passions for the arts in your classroom to motivate and engage your students in learning. In this picture, we see members of the Sunshine 2.0 company signing a rap song about the order of operations in mathematics.
The Sunshine 2.0 order of operations video screenshot.
Create Opportunities for Creative Expression in All Content Areas
In addition to modeling your own passion for the arts and connecting it to content areas, it is also important to provide ways for your students to express themselves creatively. Think about the assignments that you give your students. Is there room for flexibility? When you have assignments requiring responses to questions, you could provide them with options on how to respond, as I (Scott) demonstrated in my previous Teacher Tale. As we also mentioned in the science chapter, there are several strategies for allowing students to respond in multiple languages and modalities, such as through ASL and drawing. Students could also demonstrate their learning through an art project, a poem in ASL, or creative dance. For example, in science class, they could create an ASL video combining dance and sign language to explain how planets orbit the sun. In social studies, they could role-play interviews with famous Deaf people in history and create props, backdrops, and a funny but historically accurate script. Allowing students to have options in how they interact with or respond to class material can increase motivation, engagement, and learning.
Key Strategy
Let’s take a look at the strategy “many media, same message.” With this strategy, you can offer options for students to demonstrate their learning in one of several different mediums (e.g., drawing, video, acting) as described in the following Stick It Into Action.
Stick It Into Action!
Many Media, Same Message
You can integrate the strategy “many media, same message” (Jones & Lapham, 2004) into assignments in any content area at any grade level. Here, we give an example from Deaf studies with students learning about the Deaf President Now movement. Give students the option to choose from one of the following and then share their presentations with the class:
•Reenact the Gallaudet students stating their demands to the board.
•Create an interpretive dance demonstrating the key events of Deaf President Now.
•Draw a map of where the key events occurred. Create a legend to identify key locations and people.
•Write and illustrate a picture book demonstrating key events in the order they occurred.
•Create an ASL poem or story about what Deaf President Now means to you, and record yourself on video telling the story.
Using strategies such as this provides students with additional ways of communicating, which can support students’ understanding of concepts and promote language learning. When students are struggling with a concept, think about ways you can integrate the arts to expand on meaning. For example, in the book Maniac Magee (Spinelli, 1999), the main character’s favorite food is Butterscotch Krimpets (note: make sure to review anti-bias and trauma-informed approaches before teaching this book as it addresses racism; see Chapters 7 and 8). It is repeated throughout the book, and none of my (Debbie) students had ever seen them before. At the same time, in writing class, we were also working on persuasive writing. In the following Teacher Tale, I describe how we connected reading, writing, and ASL with the arts standards of creating and performing.
Teacher Tale
Throughout my time teaching sixth grade, I must have walked away with boxes of videos of my students’ performances. We incorporated acting or production into almost all of our units. And sometimes, they stemmed from questions from the students. I remember one of the students asked whether Butterscotch Krimpets were real. We researched together as a class and found out they were made in Philadelphia. The students had the idea of creating commercials acting like the main characters advertising their favorite treats. Once they found out that they were real but that we couldn’t buy them in California, we wrote a letter to the Tasty Baking Company (now called Flowers Foods). We let them know the book we were reading and asked if they could send us a sample to make our commercial. Imagine the students’ surprise when they sent us 10 boxes! Students worked together in small groups to create storyboards and make commercial videos. It helped them to see the real-life benefits of persuasive writing. In addition, it also helped them better understand the characters and key content in the story. We connected reading, writing, art, acting, and film production, and the students had a blast!
—Debbie Golos
Creative Expression Through Storytelling and Poetry Creating stories, ASL rhyme and rhythm, and ASL poetry can be fun and help develop sign language skills, cognitive skills, and problem-solving skills, as well as target the art standard of creating. You can have students do these activities as individuals or in a group. Consider Leala’s Teacher Tale about their experience engaging and motivating students in an early childhood classroom. As we mentioned in Chapter 2, you can build off of their motivation and engagement by asking students to come up with new signs with a specific handshape to create a new rhyme.
Teacher Tale
Every time I use ASL rhyme and rhythm, my students’ faces look like they have seen something magical. No matter what their language skills are, they often smile, giggle, bob their heads, and sing along with their little hands. They are truly absorbed in the delightful experience! It is my favorite part of teaching.
—Leala Holcomb, former preschool teacher
You can offer storytelling opportunities in any content area for your students to be expressive and use their imaginations while engaging in the course content. For example, let’s say you are studying legends in social studies. You can create an interdisciplinary unit connecting to science, English language arts, and ASL language arts and a book such as The Legend of Gravity: A Tall Basketball Tale (Palmer, 2022) to explore the ways the main character is a legend. As an extension, you can have students create stories of themselves as legends or Deaf heroes (see Chapter 9). You could add a performance activity by having them tell their stories live or prerecorded.
Teacher Tale
As a creative writing activity in our legend unit, students created stories of their lives as Deaf legends. One of my students created a story where he became a famous Deaf basketball player whose legendary activities were raising money for basketball camps for Deaf youths. I remember that throughout the unit, he showed up early for school, so he had extra time to work on editing and revising his writing. His writing improved, and the unit became more meaningful for him by allowing him the opportunity for creative expression. As a culminating activity, we showcased each of the students’ legends through storytelling in ASL.
—Debbie Golos
You can have your students do individual or collaborative storytelling activities. For example, in this picture, students collaboratively create a story related to science content using their bodies to demonstrate Newton’s laws of motion.
Creative Expression in STEAM Here, we provide some examples from NTID Sunshine 2.0, a professional traveling theater troupe based at NTID in Rochester, New York. The troupe provides performances and activities for Deaf students that highlight the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM), as well as educational topics connecting to the Deaf experience. The following Stick It Into Action describes a workshop provided by Sunshine 2.0 on Newton’s laws of motion that illustrates all three arts standards introduced in this chapter: creating, connecting, and performing.
Students create a story for science about flying with their bodies.
Stick It Into Action!
Newton’s Laws of Motion
The virtual workshop presentation (created by Bianca Ware of Sunshine 2.0; https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_TqGfjJBrIoWt7TK14GtES756-BA4seu/view) is shown on video. It is designed to be a 20-min lesson plan, and the objectives with emphasis in arts are for students to be able to do the following:
•Demonstrate the laws of motion through body movement and in ASL.
•Define vocabulary words in different modalities.
•Do an experiment embodying the laws of motion through arts.
Follow these steps to implement this lesson:
•Ask students if they know about the laws of motion.
•Ask where they may see the laws of motion in action; have them role-play their examples (e.g., planes, driving, balls).
•Introduce the three laws of motion individually with video and demonstrations.
•Have students tell a story, in character, of Newton and describe how you (Newton) came up with the laws.
•Review Law 1 (play video).
•Provide visualization through movie clips or plays with class participation.
•Have students use body movement or dance to define vocabulary words they need to know before moving on to Laws 2 and 3 (i.e., Force [show sign] = push or pull in a specific direction; velocity [show sign] = speed of something in a given direction).
•Follow these steps with the next two laws.
•Follow-up activity: Have students create their own lyrics and production (dance, acting, poetry, or songwriting) to summarize an interpretation of the laws of motion.
Bianca Ware of Sunshine 2.0 giving a lesson on Newton’s laws of motion.
The Sunshine 2.0 troupe: (from left to right) Bianca Ware, Zain Ahmed, Fred Beam (coordinator), Shiann Cook, Tyler Fortson.
Creative Expression and Nature Taking your students outside is a great way to connect to the arts. Not only is it grounding, but it is also good for students who need to move, such as those with challenges with attention. You can implement many activities outside in any subject or grade level. For example, if you are doing a project on the solar system, take the students outside and make a sundial. There are many craft kits for this, or you can create your own. Go on a nature walk with the class to learn about animals, plants, trees, and the land around them. You can have them take pictures along the way, make a movie of their experience, and/or create a book when they return. Have them create a poem about an animal they saw in ASL, English, or other languages (see Bringing It All Together and Chapter 7). You can also have students collect flowers such as lavender. These can be dried to create a collage or scrapbook. A great way to start engaging with nature is through short mindfulness practices. Regularly going on a mindfulness walk with your students is a great way to do moving meditations, helping them to stay present, engaged, and grounded (see Chapters 2, 7, and 8 for more on mindfulness). This will help your students feel more connected to nature, sense what they want to select for their art projects, and be more present and engaged in their learning in general.
Handstamp Sample
Using Nature as a Theme Is a Great Way to Introduce Color Theory!
A Tinfoil Monoprint of a Rainbow by an Elementary Student at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf
In doing any of these activities, consider also collaborating with teachers of the arts in your school to create a cross-curricular unit where you each cover your respective subject areas but work together to have the students create a project that incorporates both content and the arts. The arts are often dismissed as “special” or as something that is not a core class, and you can help change this by working together with teachers of the arts. They are usually more than happy to collaborate with other subject area teachers!
Teacher Tale
One year, I was introducing eighth graders to the concept of tessellations, which is when a shape is repeated throughout the design like a tile without any overlapping or gaps like a puzzle. The students told me that they just started learning about tessellations in math class as well. Right after class, I reached out to the math teacher to see if we could find a way to combine our lessons. Students created their own tessellations and, as a result, ended up with a stronger and more cohesive understanding of the concept. At the end of the unit, they were excited to show off their artwork to their math teacher.
—Scott Gentzke
Showcasing Students’ Artistic Works
There are many ways you can share your students’ work. Display students’ artwork in a public space so they can revisit concepts they learned, and you can also invite their families to see them. Tap students’ creative literary expression through performing, role-playing, and skits. You can host an ASL bowl, ASL slam, and/or ASL storytelling night for your students to demonstrate their ASL literary skills. The goal is for students to apply their knowledge and skills by creating their own ASL essays, stories, poems, and skits. When you showcase students’ work, it not only makes your students feel good about themselves, but it is also a way to engage with families by sharing and appreciating their children’s work and enjoyment of art.
Handstamp Sample
Elementary Students’ De’VIA Artwork on Display at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf
Differentiating Instruction and the Arts
It is very important to create opportunities for all of your students to engage in the arts. Deaf students with disabilities can create artwork in any medium. They can also understand how other works have been constructed. Although they may require differentiated instruction and accessible accommodations with the process and even the type of materials they are using, it is critical that you see them as artists, creative problem solvers, and capable learners. Make sure to provide opportunities for hands-on activities that involve various media tools, such as using a tablet to make a short video of what they just did or learned. You can also have them feel and touch art materials and media equipment before doing an activity. They should be empowered to make choices and decisions, such as picking colors or mediums.
Student at St. Mary’s School for the Deaf painting a De’VIA mural.
For some students with disabilities, arts may be their only way of communicating their understanding, needs, wants, and emotions. This also may be true for Deaf students with language delays. Communicating through the arts helps them develop language skills through self-expression and concept understanding. By being actively engaged in arts-related activities, they are learning ways to communicate their feelings and thinking while developing language skills.
Stick It Into Action!
Differentiating Instruction in Art
You can purchase adaptive materials for students who struggle with fine and gross motor skills. Here are some examples:
•Instead of regular crayons, you can purchase thicker crayons or handwriting grips that are fitted onto crayons that are designed for those who struggle to hold things.
•For students who are DeafBlind, many materials can be used to provide accessibility to creating art: Sponge ’Ums for tactile painting, scented markers to develop a color association with smell, light boards, paint pallets with braille labels, neon paint, and purple glue that will dry clear.
There are no limits for your students!
Bringing It All Together
If you recall, in Chapter 7, we suggested an idea for an interdisciplinary unit for middle schoolers on astronomy that included a culminating activity of a camping trip. This included students studying the stars, moon, and sun and reading books about Katherine Johnson, such as Hidden Figures (Shetterly, 2016) or A Computer Called Katherine: How Katherine Johnson Helped Put America on the Moon (Slade & Miller Jamison, 2019). We have expanded here to align the camping trip with our core recommendations and the theme of “Hidden Figures.” In this unit, students can explore multiple meanings of the term and what it means for Deaf people through creative expression by connecting to the art standards of create, connect, and perform.
Unit: Hidden Figures
Prior to the camping trip, students will have completed the following activities within their content area classes.
Content Area Objectives
•Language arts: Read and analyze the book Hidden Figures using graphic organizers and the before, during, and after comprehension strategies outlined in Chapter 6. View the movie Hidden Figures using the viewing comprehension strategies outlined in Chapter 3.
•ASL language arts: Have students create a 1-min social media-like video of the multiple meanings of the term hidden figures, including as it applies to racial justice, geometry, and science. Sign concepts accurately in ASL. ( Core Recommendation 2 )
•Social studies: Read and analyze primary sources about the civil rights movement and “women in computing.” Engage in civil discourse discussions as outlined in Chapter 9. Have students compare and contrast facts and fiction with the Hidden Figures movie and primary source documents (see Chapter 7 comparing fiction/nonfiction).
•Deaf studies: Identify and interview a BIPOC Deaf role model in STEAM fields (e.g., Emmanuel Perrodin-Njoku, David James, Ashley Fisher, Nadmionor Casiano-Berrios). Have students create a video summarizing why they are role models to Deaf people (see Chapter 9 on biographical information). ( Core Recommendation 1 )
•Math: After learning about geometric shapes in nature, explore and take pictures of hidden geometric shapes or numerical digits in nature. Have students create a new natural object with hidden shapes or digits.
•Science: Study the seasonal appearances of constellations. Engage in claim-evidence-reasoning (outlined in Chapter 11) to predict how constellations will appear during the camping trip. If it is cloudy, use a constellation projector in the dark classroom. Have students compare and contrast the hidden figures in the night sky with their predictions.
Camping Showcase
Students will present one of the following for the evening showcase to demonstrate the arts objective by reinterpreting what hidden figure means to them with one of the following options: visual art project, ASL poem/storytelling, or media art project (see Table 12.1).
Table 12.1. Hidden Figures Unit Evening Showcase
| Subjects | Evening Showcase Activities and Core Recommendation (CR) |
| Math, science, arts, media, ASL | Nature walk: Share a media poem, story, video, or play of their nature walk: Hidden Figures in Nature. (CR 2) |
| Social studies, science, Deaf studies, reading, ASL arts | Storytelling/visual art/media share: Perform their story, skit, or poem on what hidden figures means to them related to their own identities and/or the Deaf adults they have interviewed or researched. (CR 1, 2) |
•Students perform their story, skit, or poem on what hidden figures means to them. Their stories can connect to their own identities and/or the Deaf adults they have interviewed or researched.
This unit can take approximately 3 to 4 weeks, depending on the extent to which you are able to allocate daily time to each of the content areas. The camping trip could be a one- or two-night trip and take place in the fall or spring, depending on where you live. As an alternative to overnight camping, you could do a day trip to a local park or nature center.
Your Turn to Practice!
Now, it’s your turn! Develop, teach, and reflect on a lesson that integrates visual and/or performing arts and media into a content area subject. You can modify a previously developed lesson or create a new one. If you are currently teaching, try it out with your own students. If you are a teacher candidate, you can practice with real or mock students. Here are the steps to follow.
Create a Lesson
Develop or modify a lesson plan for a content area (e.g., science, math, Deaf studies, social studies, reading/writing, ASL, language arts).
•Add a visual or performing arts objective(s) to your lesson that provides students an opportunity for creative expression (e.g., creating, performing, connecting):
•A discussion about Deaf artists (if possible, invite a Deaf artist to the conversation either in person or through video conferencing)
•An opportunity for the students to engage in the creative expression of their choice (e.g., drawing, painting, viewing, production, theater, dance)
•A way of connecting their engagement in the arts to personal experience
Teach your lesson to students in your classroom or in a mock setting.
Reflect on Your Teaching
Reflect on your experience. Consider the following questions:
•What went well?
•What would you change/do differently if you taught this lesson again?
•After assessing your students, how well did your students learn the targeted objectives?
•What benefits could you see for your students?
▪Creative expression
▪Development of multiple and intersecting identities
▪Those with language delays
▪In varying educational settings (e.g., one to one, group)
▪Motivation? Engagement? Other?
Recommended Readings/Viewings
For Teachers/Teacher Candidates
•De’VIA Curriculum (https://deviacurr.wordpress.com/) is a website where you can access lesson plans, curriculua, and materials about De’VIA art and artists.
•Sunshine 2.0 (https://www.rit.edu/ntid/sunshine) for more information about workshops and performances including ASL poetry, storytelling, skits dance, and basic performing skills.
•“Creating and Using Educational Media With a Cultural Perspective of Deaf People” (Moses et al., 2018). Read more on best practices for creating and using educational media ensuring that Deaf people are taking the lead in the process.
•“The Benefits of Using Educational Videos in American Sign Language in Early Childhood Settings” (Golos & Moses, 2015). This article shares research-based strategies you can use to teach language and literacy through interactive, educational media in ASL.
•“Supplementing an Educational Video Series With Video-Related Classroom Activities and Materials” (Golos & Moses, 2015). This article shares strategies for teachers for pre-, during, and post-viewing of educational media in ASL.
For Using With Students
•Deaf Art (https://deaf-art.org/) is a website featuring more than 100 Deaf artists and their works. It also has numerous resources and materials that are excellent for students to research and present.
•Unfolding the Soul of Black Deaf Expressions (Terry, 2016). This book covers illustrations of artworks by Black Deaf artists.
•Peter’s Picture (https://app.peterspicture.com) is a website that includes three interactive educational videos from the Peter’s Picture series, each with four aligning games.
Conclusion
In this chapter, we provided resources and suggestions on ways you can introduce Deaf artists and embed the arts throughout P–12 grade levels (and transition) in any subject area. Doing so can have many positive impacts on your students, from fostering a positive sense of self and understanding diverse perspectives of others, to motivating them to engage in learning. When students, particularly those with language delays, are given multiple opportunities to express themselves through a variety of different artistic mediums, you are providing them with multiple avenues for meaning-making through creative expression. Whether theater, drawing, dance, music, or media, students often find at least one of the arts they connect to. Embed the arts in your classes, and you will be amazed at the positive impact on your students’ engagement and enjoyment in learning!
Sticking Points
•Introduce and discuss diverse Deaf role models in performing, visual, and media arts to foster students’ multiple and intersecting identities.
•Provide multiple opportunities for creative expression in visual, performing, and media arts across the curriculum.