This year as part of my teaching package, I was asked to teach art one period a week in a contained ASD class. Surprisingly, it has become one of my favourite periods of the week and something I look forward to. There are 6 students in the classroom with a variety of needs and challenges but we have somehow managed to create some really cute art during the first four months of school.
Let me be upfront and honest. I have very few artistic skills. Therefore, the thought of leading anyone in art was a little nerve racking. To combat this problem I relied on the knowledge of my student’s interests, Pintrest and amazingly supportive colleagues to come up with some fun projects.
Before we began every project, I showed them all the finished product and had step by step verbal instructions to complete the task. This highly structured environment enabled all of them to be successful and lowered stress levels for some of the students. 
We all sat at the table together and the materials were placed in front of every students work station.
Some of the art we created was inspired by the students’ interests.
One of the students in the class loves animals. To inspire our art lesson, I made a prezi about my cat Harley https://prezi.com/vquishjdeok3/my-cat-harley/. We then made our own Harley kittens out of paper plates, paint and construction paper.
Another student in the class loved the book “A Soup Opera” that we read last year in music. I took one of the images from the book and we recreated it in another art lesson.
A song called “5 Little Pumpkins” was the inspiration for another art piece. After we learned the song, we made our own 5 little Pumpkins.
A colleague of mine lent me a book with a variety of art activities in it. We made teeth puppets out of paper plates and gloves. We then created tooth brushes out of recorder cleaners and tissues and sang the song “You brush your teeth”
Another helpful tool this term was Pintrest. I sure I am the last person in the teaching profession to find out about this great tool and the next two winter art pieces were inspired from art on Pintrest.
I have taught other contained classes the arts in the past and some further considerations to keep in mind before starting are:
- In some classes scissors could be very dangerous if not probably monitored.
- Oral fixations that result in consumption of glue, clay or art materials is a possibility for some students. Make sure to read the student’s IEP and speak with their classroom teacher before bringing these materials
- Knowing your students’ triggers are important. I had a student in the past where holding a pencil caused them a lot of anxiety so I planned accordingly.
- Have a very clear plan about the pairing of student with staff to create the best scenario for success.
