Full Description
Identity-Affirming Arts Integration and Special Education introduces a transformative approach to special education by integrating identity-affirming arts into teaching practices. Using critical frameworks, the book demonstrates how arts integration can enhance adolescent students' linguistic, cognitive, and emotional engagement in content area and literacy learning.
This three-part volume presents an inclusive, evidence-based model for fostering student engagement through a sense of belonging and value. It bridges interdisciplinary scholarship in human development, special education, disability justice, and critical disability studies. The book highlights arts integration practices implemented by educators in inclusive classrooms, with real-world examples from middle- and high-school settings that feature students with diverse strengths and needs. Additionally, it offers practical case studies and teacher demonstrations to support professional development and higher education training.
Essential reading for special and inclusive education practitioners, administrators, researchers, and policy advocates, this book provides valuable insights and tools to advance inclusive education practices.
Contents
Part 1: Theory and Background on Identity-affirming Arts Integreation, Inlusive Education, and Special Education 1. Intersecting DisCrit, Arts Integration, and Critical Special Education Research 2. Centering Student Identities in Curricula Through the Integration of Disability Justice and Disability Art 3. Identity-affirming Arts Integration: Reframing Engagement through Affective, Cognitive, and Linguistic Dimensions of Students' Experiences and Identities Part 2: Identity-affirming Arts Integration Demonstrations of Practice 4. Visual and Performing Arts Integration and English Language Arts with Seventh Grade Students 5. Using Poetry and Creative Writing to Promote Psychological Safety for Black Girls in Inclusive Elementary School Math Classrooms 6. Drama-integrated Social Studies for Generationally Traumatized Students 7. Integrating Film Arts in English Language Arts Classes to Support High School Students' Literacy Skills Through Identity Connections Part 3: Next Steps for Identity-affirming Arts Integration Research and Practice: Teacher Education and Systems Changes 8. Where Love Lives: Cultivating Antiracist Arts-integrated Classrooms Through Ubuntu and Psychological Safety 9. A Case for the Arts in Special Educator Preparation Programs
