Live It, Learn It: The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD - Softcover

Smith, Sally L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1557666830 ISBN 13: 9781557666833

Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co, 2004

Synopsis

This book describes the Academic Club Method Approach and shows teachers how to use it in their classrooms. Through a total environmental approach, the method envelops students in a particular topic and utilizes the arts as teaching tools. This method of teaching can be used with all students, but is particularly effective for children with learning disabilities and ADHD. Chapters discuss the principles behind the approach and the procedures for organizing a club. Several detailed examples of academic club themes, lessons, and activities are included. The Academic Club Method was first developed in 1966 for use with inner city youth and is currently used as a way of teaching at The Lab School of Washington and the Baltimore Lab.

About this title

About the Author

Sally L. Smith is Founder/Director of The Lab School of Washington and Professor of Special Education at American University in Washington, DC.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Excerpted from Chapter 2 of Live It, Learn It: The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD, by Sally L. Smith.

Copyright © 2005 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Charles hated school. He had been to four of them. Although he felt good about himself at home and in the neighborhood, he felt bad about himself at school. Charles didn't feel stupid when he was in the Cave Club learning about hominids. At dinner at home, he discovered he knew more about Paleolithic man than his older brother.

Marie wanted to hide in the back row in class and not be called on to speak. However, she felt important and needed as Assistant Manager of the Storekeepers Club.

Norman had what they called a motor mouth; he talked all of the time, and his body moved relentlessly. This perpetual chatterbox was the Barker in the Carnival Club who kept spinning the big bicycle wheel and luring visitors into the carnival with promises of prizes and wondrous sights within.

Alexandra said whatever popped into her mind without thinking. Then, she became Secret Agent 005 in the summer school Secret Agent Club. The teacher, Captain 007, reminded the agents to think before they spoke and not to give away secrets. Alexandra demonstrated more control of what came out of her mouth.

Kim was disorganized, could not read or write at age 9, and had a poor memory for facts. As Isis, the Goddess of Wisdom, in the Egyptian Gods Club, Kim loved seeing postcards of what her Goddess looked like. She made masks so she could recognize her Goddess, listened to the myths featuring her Goddess, and then made a pop–up book of her own about one of the stories featuring her Goddess.

Joey didn't know his left side from his right or forward from backward, and he frequently got lost in the large school building. But he always felt safe in an assigned seat in the Pirates Club on the main deck in the circle made of red tape. He reveled in the opening ritual holding out his skull and crossbones flag to points of the compass at the Pirate Chief's command, "All pirates north. All pirates south. All pirates east. All pirates west. All pirates stand tall."

Laura learned everything visually. She didn't think in words, but in pictures. In the Knights and Ladies Club, she knew that the feet of her Club Leader, Lord Don, measured exactly 1 foot. In order to visualize the length of the famous Bayeux Tapestry, she took a roll of toilet paper and asked Lord Don to step out exactly 231 feet (heel to toe).

Kevin was unfocused much of the time. All of his report cards said that if he could focus, he would be able to show how smart he was. In the Cave Club, Kevin acted a dramatic role, wore his caveman costume, whispered a password into the teacher's ear, and participated in a ritual opening; he could leave all of the distractions behind him. The ritualistic beginning demanded that he, as part of the group, say, "We slowly rise up likeHomo erectus. We use our hands like Homo habilis (gestures with hands). We speak and communicate likeHomo sapiens, and count one, two, three! Greetings, Wise Elder." This ritual grabbed his attention and held it.

Abigail, who was a visual thinker, could draw ideas better than speak about them. She was talented in art and very original; she loved being a member of the Renaissance Councillors Club. Her role was to be Leonardo da Vinci, which she enjoyed because da Vinci made many ingenious inventions during his life and constantly drew his ideas. Abigail found that she could draw her own ideas, too, and she aimed to invent new contraptions to make life easier for human beings. She studied birds and how they flew and related these concepts to airplanes. Her next project was to look carefully at insects to see what could be invented from studying their movements.

BUILDING SELF–ESTEEM

The preceding examples show how the Academic Club Methodology was successful with children with moderate to severe learning disabilities and/or attention–deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) as well as children at risk for academic failure. The Methodology 1) demanded total involvement, 2) helped them to focus, 3) set clear boundaries for them, 4) taught them in ways that did not rely heavily on language abilities, 5) introduced complex material in an unintimidating manner, and 6) introduced complex material in ways that promoted long–term retention. It helped the children thrive in school and showed them that success was not only possible but also expected. Without such success, though, these children would have experienced devastating consequences.

Traditionally, the biggest battle we face with nonreaders or poor readers is rebuilding their sense of self–worth; these students tend to feel bad about themselves. They are very aware of their academic shortcomings. In fact, adults with reading difficulties often admit that they knew something was wrong with them as early as kindergarten. When children notice that they cannot do what other students do with ease, they taste the bitter herbs of defeat year after year in school. This disappointment leads them to create defense mechanisms to keep others from seeing their inadequacies. They put on "masks" to avoid pain felt from teasing or their own recognition of their failures. As a result, energy does not go toward learning but toward protecting self–worth through various defense mechanisms. Some children become class clowns who make everybody laugh in order to deflect attention from their difficulties. Others become "know it alls" who put everybody else down in an effort to conceal their own flaws. A child may become a Good Samaritan who runs errands so that he or she will not have to do any schoolwork. Nonreaders often pretend that they do not want to read.

Fortunately, many children with learning disabilities and ADHD shine in areas of school where the instruction is not verbal and/or logical–mathematical. Adults with reading difficulties often had childhood experiences of competence and mastery in the arts. For example, 30–year–old Ricardo said, "I hated school except for art and music. I was alive then. Then, people could see the person I was at home, in the summertime, everywhere but at school."

Drama can be especially comforting for children with learning disabilities and ADHD because it allows them to pretend that they are someone else. Children who are withdrawn in traditional classrooms often become extroverts when placed in the dramatic framework of an Academic Club. If they are afraid to say something wrong and risk failure, they feel protected by the Academic Club's dramatic cover, by their Club role, and by the dramatic theme of the Club. They dare to guess or say what they think because their character is the one speaking in the Academic Club. Through "childhood magic," a Club Member becomes a character and can then feel that the character is the one making mistakes. Therefore, a student who comes across as flat or emotionless in a traditional classroom may show animated reactions in the Academic Club.

The arts are also important for students with learning disabilities and ADHD because people who work in the arts often find unorthodox ways to teach youngsters. Ingenuity at problem solving, resourcefulness, and flexibility— all skills that are greatly needed to work with children with learning disabilities— are common traits among artists. Practicing artists usually engage in activities with a contagious enthusiasm. They often become excited by the challenge of trying to reach and teach children who puzzle other adults. Their richness of style, depth, originality, and ability to create things from whatever resources are available make them uniquely suited to teach children who resist usual school practices. Many artists/art teachers have become Academic Club Leaders. Teachers who are most comfortable in the use of arts and concrete approaches are particularly attracted to the Methodology.

The Methodology also builds on the strengths of teachers. The same Academic Club can be taught successfully in different ways by drawing on each teacher's special talents. For example, one Renaissance Club was taught for a number of years with students taking on roles of famous artists and the Club Leader acting as the great patron of the arts, Lorenzo De Medici. A different Renaissance Club Leader decided to explore poetry by reading Dante'sInferno to the Club Members and providing an exciting visual exploration of Dante's levels of the Inferno. Still another Renaissance Club Leader, who was a multitalented artist and musician, decided to give one Club Member the role of a Renaissance musician, Josquin des Prez, a genius 15th–century composer who changed the medieval view of music as a craft into the High Renaissance idea of music as an art. Another Club Leader gave a Club Member interested in science the exciting role of Galileo. In this way, the Academic Club Methodology can help both students and teachers feel successful.

CHARACTERISTICS OF CHILDREN WITH LEARNING DISABILITIES

Although you probably know some students who have experienced failure in traditional classrooms, you may not understand the specifics of their learning difficulties. This section presents some of our findings about children with learning disabilities at The Lab School. For instance, we have found that children with learning disabilities are neurologically immature. They act their age in some ways and not in others. These children look typical but don't learn typically. Their responses and behavior are often more appropriate for much younger children, and they often lack basic skills that are usually acquired in the preschool years, such as sorting information into categories; differentiating by color, shape, and size; and integrating several things at once. These skills are the foundations necessary for academic learning, so these children are unsuccessful in traditional classrooms. Through a panoply of art forms, youngsters with learning disabilities can learn to sort information, differentiate, and integrate, and they can enjoy aesthetic experiences that can lead to future pleasures as audience members and/or artists. They can be successful in school and employment.

Children with delayed development live in a world of disorder. They have a hard time controlling their attention and actions. What they need from the outside world isorder. Through the arts and Academic Clubs, children can put order into their world, make sense of what they know, relate past experiences to the present, turn muscular activity into thought, and put ideas into action.

Many children with learning disabilities and ADHD have trouble integrating several processes at once and need to do one thing at a time. Children with ADHD, for example, may look as though they are not paying attention to anything, but, in fact, they are attending to every stimulus around them. These children are bombarded by every sight, sound, and movement in the room. They cannot assign priorities or tell themselves which tasks are most important, less important, and unimportant. They give equal importance to all things and do not set priorities, so they are overwhelmed by too much information at once. Everything going on in the classroom distracts these children from paying attention to what they are there to do—learn! Children with ADHD are not yet equipped to automatically filter out irrelevant and unnecessary stimuli; however, the ritual activities of lining up for an Academic Club, whispering the password, putting on a costume, getting props, and sitting in an assigned seat help them focus. The very structure of the Academic Club is an ally to the weak control systems of children with learning disabilities and ADHD.

The Academic Club Methodology is designed to meet the needs of students with concentration and memory problems, learning disabilities, and ADHD, as well as students who are at risk for failure. It does so by producing immediate results, eliciting total student involvement, and drawing on students' strengths—all processes that can also be used for children without learning difficulties. Reading, writing, and research components can be added to the Methodology and emphasized when the Methodology is used with typically developing children.

The Methodology was designed for nonreaders, nonwriters, and unpredictable students. The basic goal is to build on students' strengths, but it takes detective work on the part of the teacher to filter out what students do well. It may be something in the academic realm, such as visualization, good conceptualization, or good listening or language skills. Often, students do not have obvious talents, and teachers have to dig deeper to discover the student who is the "best finder" of lost objects, "the quickest fixer" of things, the most thoughtful, the most original, the one with the best sense of humor, or the one who connects ideas well.

Experiential learning through hands–on projects in the Academic Clubs requires a frequent change of pace, alternating very active learning with listening and discussion. Club Leaders try to produce visible results in short time periods because Club Members may be impatient, unable to concentrate, or very impulsive. With miniprojects, students can physically point to their results and explain what they had to do first, next, and last. This ability is important for children who have trouble with sequences and order. In addition to miniprojects, several in–depth projects are planned for the entire year. Through these projects, students learn that producing great results takes time, intense thought, planning, and continued energy.

HELPING CHILDREN TO FOCUS

Instead of an expanding world that includes unlimited opportunities, free choices, and as many options as possible, children with learning disabilities need boundaries in order to learn effectively and to create fully. The Academic Club teacher and the structure of the Club must become the focusing agent for these children. The programming and material must also help children to concentrate, discriminate, and set priorities.

Academic Clubs give children with learning disabilities and ADHD the parameters and borders to organize what they wish to express. Because these children need a time, a space, and a place for all things, the Methodology provides clear, precise directions given one at a time. Use of drama helps to screen out distractions. For children who need help locating their own bodies in space, arranged seating is a blessing. A Secret Agent sits on the chair with his or her secret agent number (e.g., 007) marked on it, an Egyptian God sits in front of a special column with his or her logo, a Medieval Knight sits on a pillow with his heraldic symbol on it, and a Disc Jockey sits by his or her specific compact disc.

Children who often miss the main point need to know their goals. If they cannot visualize well, then a model or a demonstration can provide direction before they work on their own. If children have weak memories, then they need help learning to make pictures in their minds to remind them of information. If they cannot deal with sequences, they need to be shown explicitly what to do first, next, and last in order to understand the parts that contribute to the whole and the order of procedure. The Academic Club Methodology seeks to provide these children with the help they need.

SETTING CLEAR BOUNDARIES

In order to meet the needs of children who are overloaded with stimuli that is unscreened from their senses, the Academic Club Methodology places limits on the amount of materials, work, time, procedures, space, and words used. Abstract concepts are taught through concrete materials. For example, teaching young children about the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) can be done by using this basic concept: countries stick together to build resources and fight common enemies. Students can form designs using designated yellow, orange, and red pieces of paper that symbolize NATO countries. Children do not have the option to use other colors because these colors are not designated to symbolize NATO.

Basic skills, such as dealing with left—right and forward—backward directions, are presented in more mature forms that nevertheless have clear boundaries. In the Pirates Club, all pirates step forward, then turn north, south, east, and west as part of their opening ritual. The teacher always plays the role of an authority figure and is clearly in charge. The teacher, as Captain Hook or Mary Beth, a famous woman pirate, is the only one who has the authority to command the pirates. The structure of the roles of students and teachers create clear behavior expectations. Discipline is handled within the same framework, so a Secret Agents Club would have "agent rules," an American Indian Tribe would respect its "elders," and a Renaissance Councillors Club would use "council" discipline. The Academic Club also provides order and structure through the specific way the room is entered, the prescribed seating arrangement, the ritualistic opening ceremony, the limit of only three or four activities presented within the 50 minutes of Academic Club time, and the formal dismissal. Children with learning disabilities and ADHD thrive in this environment because they are given such clear limits and prescribed codes of behavior.

TEACHING THAT DOES NOT RELY HEAVILY ON LANGUAGE ABILITIES

Many children with learning disabilities also experience language problems (Catts & Kamhi, 1999; Dillon & Dodd, 1994; Vellutino, 1979). About 85% of the students at The Lab School have moderate to severe language learning disabilities. The Academic Club Methodology is designed to help children who are unable to read or express themselves well to actively participate in their education. Instruction draws on multiple intelligences, visual, and other senses to relay content. Primarily, the Methodology uses a visual, concrete approach through which children see, recreate, and visualize materials and develop artwork or projects. Being immersed in a historical period (e.g., American Pioneers Club, Livingstone's Explorers Club) or a dramatic theme (e.g., African Market Club, Computer Programmers Club) demands the use of every resource that Club Members have. A child's body, mind, and spirit are all active in an Academic Club setting.

Club Members develop their language skills while immersed in the topic. The Club Leader reads to them and shows them artwork and photographs relevant to the topic. Children also discuss the projects they work on, use passwords, and participate in a vocal dismissal procedure. Computer CD–ROMs and short films may be introduced occasionally to give an overview of a topic (e.g., castles in medieval times) or to reinforce a project the students have just finished (e.g., sculpting gargoyles). Learning by doing is the starting point, but activities are usually followed by discussion and questions.

MAKING EACH CHILD FEEL INCLUDED

When I designed the Academic Club Methodology, I chose the word club carefully. It implies membership, belonging, and ownership. Also, everything presented in a Club is academically based—thus, the nameAcademic Clubs. Academic Clubs are groups in which each person has a recognized place. By their very nature, Clubs are noncompartmentalized—the arts, the subject matter, the concepts, and the ideas all relate to one another, reinforce one another, and funnel toward the same objectives. Children with learning disabilities tend to be egocentric (i.e., unable to see through another person's perspective), so they have trouble working in groups in traditional classrooms. The magic of Academic Clubs, however, is that their dramatic framework and use of pretend play encourage children to naturally work as a group.

Club activities also allow room for individualization. Because the Methodology uses concrete materials and project learning, a teacher can place children in subgroups according to their strengths. Activities can be adapted for students with motor and/or visual–motor skill difficulties. One subgroup can create a large project out of heavy cardboard or wood while another makes a miniature or small project out of pipe cleaners.

The Methodology not only builds on children's strengths but also aims to give them a positive image of themselves. Each student is given a role—a dramatic cover—of a successful person, such as Curator of Housing in the Museum Club, John D. Rockefeller in the Industrialists Club, or Larry King in the Newscasters Club. In addition, students are given attention and praise for everything that they do well. Very specific praise is given; tokens, certificates, medals, and other visible signs of appreciation are part of the daily routine. The message is: We like who you are, what you are, and the way you are behaving and thinking. Thus, children get feedback through positive reinforcement rather than through disapproval of negative behavior.

INTRODUCING COMPLEX MATERIAL IN AN UNINTIMIDATING WAY

The Academic Club Methodology is designed to entice children, to capture their imagination and enthusiasm, to build on their love of pretend play, and to offer them fun and success in learning by immersing them in the atmosphere of a given historical period (e.g., Cave Club; Gods of Ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome; Knights and Ladies Club of the Middle Ages; the Renaissance Councillors; the Philosophical Society) or plunging them into a real–life experience (e.g., Smokey the Bear Nature Club, Magician's Club, Tarzan's Jungle Club, Western Gold Mining Club). The Methodology is based on the theory that children can be taught what they need to know through the very things that interest them most.

Any subject can be taught through an Academic Club; it is gently woven into a dramatic framework and approached through the arts, literature, science, logic, history, geography, and civics. Creative problem solving is demanded from both teachers and students. Although instruction may look very informal, when done properly, academic objectives for a Club are carefully programmed and rigorously reviewed. The step–by–step teaching is reflected in ongoing written reports that are part of the Club's record–keeping procedure. Objectives, activities, and comments on individual and group behavior are documented by the teacher in daily reports that are used regularly for reference.

The Academic Club Methodology is designed to stretch bright minds and tap students' imagination in the classroom while subtly teaching the mechanical skills of reading, spelling, handwriting, and arithmetic. Students do not feel overwhelmed because of their deep involvement in their learning and because of the Methodology's ability to help children use multiple resources to learn. Academic Clubs draw on the full range of children's experiences and relate subject matter to their lives. Clubs relate the past to children's present lives and show children cause–and–effect relationships as well as the steps from planning to action. In addition, abstract concepts are presented in a concrete, understandable way.

The Methodology challenges children's intellect as far and as fast as possible so that students are guaranteed success. Club Members can learn specific readiness skills that they did not master at a younger age because the Club Leader tailors instruction to suit Members' abilities. Students are not overwhelmed but, instead, are offered an interesting and manageable topic to explore. Concepts that would be too complex for students to tackle in traditional classrooms are easily investigated using the Academic Club Methodology and presented in ways to promote retention over a lifetime.

The following example illustrates how one Renaissance Club Leader introduced Dante'sInferno to her group of 10–year–olds. She had each student produce a Pocket Inferno made from a watercolor paint set with 10 paint wells and a lid.The paint set served multiple purposes during the project. The watercolor paint was removed from the wells, and nine of the wells became graphic organizers, representing the nine circles of the Inferno. As sections of Dante's poem were read aloud, the Pocket Inferno provided an anchor to which Club Members could tether new vocabulary or abstract concepts. Each well symbolized a different level of the Inferno and a particular behavior deserving of punishment. In this way, the concepts of cause and effect and the law of retribution were reinforced.M

The Pocket Inferno provided the location for each student to create symbols for concepts. In the wells, the students built small mixed–media sculptures from clay, found objects, hot glue, and paint. Students were allowed to create original symbols for each action and circle of the Inferno. They had to choose carefully because the well was small and because some ideas would not make good symbols. Club Members were encouraged to look for examples in their own lives and then convert them into sculpture. Some concepts were simple to create images for, such as violence and gluttony; others, such as sullen, traitor, and fraud, challenged the students to search for examples—and, in the process, better internalize their vocabularies. One student found it easy to make a figure that was feeding itself with two hands to represent gluttony, but he struggled with how to depicttraitor. However, when another Club Member said, "It's like turning a back on a friend," he made a statue of a person turning his back on the American flag.

These Pocket Infernos also provided students with a visual prompt for a presentation to their peers. This prop helped the students become more confident presenters. In addition, the project helped students sequence information, which is a skill that students with learning disabilities need to practice. Those who have experienced Pocket Infernos can recall the information on Dante many years later; it is painted in their minds.

Excerpted from Chapter 2 of Live It, Learn It: The Academic Club Methodology for Students with Learning Disabilities and ADHD, by Sally L. Smith.

Copyright © 2005 by Paul H. Brookes Publishing Co. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

Edition details

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing Co
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557666830
• ISBN 13: 9781557666833
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224