Reinventing the special education classroom

Social skills time is a daily thing for special education students at Homewood Middle School, but teacher Elizabeth Stewart doesn’t want it to look the same each day.

On Mondays, her class can be found in the community garden neighboring the school. On Tuesdays, they gather recycling products from every classroom. Wednesdays are drum circle days. Thursdays are for yoga, and Fridays are for cooking.

“They’re not coming to school and strictly getting just the academic part of it; they’re getting the social aspect of it. They’re getting the functional skills, and they’re getting a good experience with something they might not have experienced otherwise,” Stewart said.

She said she’s continually trying new things with her sixth- through eighth-grade students to continue giving them new experiences. The drum circle is the newest addition, as they received the grant to buy hand drums at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year. Band Director Chris Cooper and Assistant Band Directors Lauren Nowak and Terrance Cobb lead the program each week.

The drum circle often includes guest drummers — usually other teachers or administrators — and members of the HMS band’s percussion section. Nowak said the special education students get excited about suggesting songs to learn and practicing on their own time.

“It’s so joyous, not just for kids but for us,” she said. “These kids have taken ownership of it, but the rest of the school has taken ownership as well … they beg to come to drum circle.”

The drum circle performed at HMS Fest and the percussion spring concert. Cooper wants to share the program with other music educators in the state and be a model for similar programs, and he said a few interested schools already have approached him.

Special education students at HMS spend part of their days in general education classes with the rest of their peers, and part of the day in Stewart’s classroom. During social skills time, Stewart tries to make sure her students continue to be involved with the school as a whole.

Stewart’s students work with community garden caretaker Julie Gentry to tend four garden beds, producing herbs that show up both in the school lunchroom and in the recipes they cook on Fridays.

She said her students are leaders in recycling and green efforts throughout HMS, and they were among the first to visit a new Alabama Environmental Council recycling center in Avondale.

Stewart said she also is trying to teach skills her students can take home, such as the simple recipes they cook each week. Since beginning the yoga program, Stewart said she has seen her students remember their breathing exercises and use them outside her classroom and improve at holding long, still poses in the yoga class.

“It is one of the coolest experiences for me each week to see the growth in the kids each year,” she said.

From drumming together to cheering on the students as they attend the Special Olympics each year, Stewart said the middle school’s support of special education enables her to get creative in her classroom. She’s always on the lookout for new programs to share with her students. Recently, Stewart said she has been interested in involving more art activities for her students. She also purchased two Fitbits to incorporate lessons on fitness, nutrition and even math.

“We’re so lucky to have Elizabeth, because she does allow her kids to do so many different things,” Nowak said. “We want to be a part of them just as much as they want to be a part of us.”

 “To see teachers and community members really use their time … to enrich my student’s life is very special, I think, and not something you see everywhere,” Stewart said.