Throughout the spring 2015 semester, I had the most challenging and rewarding educational experience. I worked with students that had special needs ranging on a wide spectrum. During my time in service learning I worked in an unfamiliar setting that brought up challenges consistently. The responsibility I had through Service Learning consisted of creating and altering lesson plans, tailored specifically to students needs and abilities. Each lesson required differentiation of ideas, which was provided through getting to know each individual student and their unique learning abilities and styles. After each lesson there was a subsequent blog and journal entry due, all describing what each student learned and how it connected to readings and discussion in Concepts in Art Education. Each post was published on the internet through a blog and can be read by the professor, other classmates, and even the public. In my specific Service Learning situation, I worked with a student from Cooper Home, which is an organization that helps special needs students between the ages of 18 and 21, transition into their further life stages through job coaching and facilitation in real life community settings. Five times throughout the semester I would teach art lessons to Ryan, a 19 year old male, for an hour and a half each in the art education room at Colorado State University. We would meet on Mondays from 12:30 – 2:00 pm, beginning one February 2nd all the way up to April 13th. Ryan was a big CSU fan and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, making it easy for him to come prepared for each lesson.
Please follow the link below to view a detailed blog and website dedicated to my Cooper Home experience.