The Use of Creative Movement, Dramatics, and Dance to Teach Learning-Objectives to the Hearing-Impaired Child

The Use of Creative Movement, Dramatics, and Dance to Teach Learning-Objectives to the Hearing-Impaired Child Patricia Chamberlain-Rickard A creative movement and dance program at the New York State School for the Deaf in Rome, New York has been in existence for the past nine years. The thrust of the program is to teach the deaf child dance as a performing art. However, a second and more important result stems from this program: The chUd is encouraged to integrate these creative skills into meeting the language arts objectives of the classroom . This is attained by finding the commonalities between this art form and basic learning skills. These commonalities exist, and they provide the teacher with a supplemental approach to teaching the deaf child. This approach is visual, tactile, kinesthetic, physical, and, most of all, motivational (Chamberlain-Rickard, 1978). Young children are active and learn through being active. Charles (1972) discusses the wants and interests of students. He states that children from ages 5-10 want encouragement, praise, group membership, physical activity, direct sensory experiences, and concrete tasks. The interests that coincide with these wants are sharing, relating experiences, competitive activities, stories, dramatic play, and rhythms. If a teacher can incorporate these wants and interests into learning tasks that are concrete yet fulfill the children's needs through a supportive multisensory approach to teaching, the integration has been accomplished, and the children are motivated to continue learning. Throughout the elementary years the child is drilled in every aspect of learning until he/she mechanisticaUy repeats the appropriate answers. This is extremely prevalent in deaf education, where hearing-impaired students have to learn a whole new language without these wants and interests being taken into account. The standard educational approach for the hearingimpaired student should be expanded to The author is associated with the New York State School for the Deaf in Rome, New York. include these needs. A possible solution is the use of an innovative and sound supportive educational approach. A Concrete Example of a Lesson The following is a concrete example of a lesson that meets the classroom learning objective by utilizing the supportive teaching of creative movement, dramatics, and dance. The learning objective is to improve vocabulary, comprehension , and the concept of action verbs. The locomotor skills in movement and dance equate with many of the action verbs found in basic reading texts and everyday language. The eight skills are: walk, run, jump, hop, leap, skip, gallop, and slide. The operative word of this example is "skip." The teacher can present this word traditionally by writing it on the board, explaining it, and then using it in context. The deaf child is expected to recall this new vocabulary word through visual discrimination and, for some, through phonetics. According to Piaget's (1963) stages of cognitive growth and learning, the child is using the most fundamental tool of memory. To enhance and simplify the above standard approach of teaching new vocabulary to the deaf child, the teacher can use the supportive approach of creative movement, dramatics, and dance. Brown in his book The Live Classroom, Innovation Through Confluent Education and Gestalt (1975) states that throughout the elementary years the child is drilled in every aspect of learning until he or she mechanistically repeats the appropriate answer. A bulletin board of a tree is made by the teacher for this example. On a large colored leaf, the teacher can write the new word "skip." The teacher can then present a number of creative ways to have the children actually learn the work "skip:" 1. Have the students skip around the room. 2. Go outside and skip in open space. 3. Skip with a partner. A.A.D. I June 1982 369 Creative Movement, Dramatics, and Dance 4. Skip rope. 5. From these concrete activities, the students can make up their own language using this action verb. The teacher places the children's sentences in their own language on the bulletin board under the leaf with "skip" on it. 6. Have the children read the sentences that they have made up. 7. In higher elementary grades, vocabulary can be increased by learning that there are other meanings for this...