By: Elizabeth Connolly
As the Art teacher at TAPA, I work towards facilitating each student’s experience with all different media in the art room. We use paper, fabric, wood and all sorts of materials to create our projects. We glue, stamp, cut, paint and draw.
While it is my task to provide my students with a rich experience of all different media, I always endeavor to look for what each student truly enjoys doing the most. When a student is non-verbal it can be difficult to make that observation.
Today our lesson was on how to draw pumpkins using a crayon and then painting them in with different shades of orange paint.
As I was walking around the table, watching the class paint, I took a look at Amanda, and the joy on her face was transcendent! Amanda is non-verbal and has difficulty using her hands. She always has a vollie to help her throughout the day. Today she did not want any help at all and was thrilled to paint her pumpkin all by herself.
I wanted to share this story with you because, to me, it illustrates what a special place TAPA is.