Making a “Specials” Connection

MUSIC: Introduce a grammar, math, history, or science lesson with a silly song that communicates the main learning points. Surfing the internet may turn up a song video that will capture the attention of your students, but they can be equally engaged by lyrics that you write and sing to a familiar tune.

If your class has a particular love for music, they may enjoy the challenge of taking the learning points and writing their own lyrics to a tune of their choice! High schoolers might relish adding the key points into an AI song generator (a Google search will reveal several free ones) to see how many possibilities they can come up with, though you should try it out yourself first to be sure the results are appropriate.

ART: Ideas for teaching fractions through art abound. Do a quick internet search and see what might excite your students—making a paper quilt, creating a 3D origami-style sculpture, or something as simple as marking and cutting little paper pies and gluing them beside the fraction they represent.

Whet appetites for graphing coordinates by offering a variety of coordinate lists that reveal different connect-the-dots images after they are graphed. Or generate interest in a new unit by asking your class to create an illustrated “word wall” for it.

Grammatical concepts like first, second, and third person come alive to visual learners when they illustrate them (stick people accepted!). After a reading assignment, use a drawing prompt to direct students into higher-level thinking. Generate anticipation by starting a cultural unit (e.g., Native American, Appalachian, ancient Greek and Roman) with an introduction to cultural achievements and the announcement of a culminating unit project where students will research and make a 3D project to go along with the summary of their learning about the culture.

Visual learners grasp scientific concepts like life cycles, water cycles, and photosynthesis when they draw and label their own illustrations. Would your students learn human body systems more thoroughly if small groups researched and made life-size models using candy or recyclables that they collectively contribute? How much more interesting would the structure of a cell be to junior high students if they worked in groups to make a poster-size 3D model of it with edible parts that the group brings in? There are so many possibilities!

The ideas mentioned above are, of course, ways to vary your teaching methods and to generate interest, engagement, and learning. Laura Allnutt put it so well in her article “Why Classrooms Need Differentiation” when she observed that “because every person is a unique blessing from the Lord, every student in your classroom is a unique learner. Differentiation means adjusting your method of teaching to meet the diverse learning needs of students in your classroom.”

Activities normally associated with a specials class, such as art or music, can tap into the creative side of your students and generate enthusiasm, avenues for understanding, and deeper thinking about the lessons taught in your classroom.