Today’s Free Friday is short and very sweet!  This week, we’ve been focusing on connecting with all children through the arts and strategies for building intentional relationships with our special education students.  As a way to support you in this important journey, we are so honored that Paula Kluth is offering each of our readers [...]

As educators, we’re always looking for ways to reach and teach every child.  Sometimes, this can be a challenge when looking for ways to meet the needs of our special education students in and through the arts.  We know that the arts are an access point for many students in special education, but due to [...]

“What are you doing with him?  He’s walking taller, smiling more and participating so much more in class.”  This was a colleague of mine back when I was just beginning my teaching career as a teacher of Special Education in a middle/high school.  My colleague was referring to a handsome, shy young man, we’ll call [...]

Ben was a genius.  He could play any melody back to you on any instrument in my classroom without a minute of practice.  His whole body transformed when he listened to a piece of music.  He was alive with a sense of purpose and joy.  From the moment he entered my 3rd grade music class [...]

Editor’s Note: Please welcome our newest contributing writer, Pat Klos, to EducationCloset!  Pat is an Arts Integration Specialist in Anne Arundel County, MD and has been featured in Edutopia and national conferences for her work in this field.  We are so honored to have her on board and writing for us each Monday.  To learn [...]

You might have noticed a couple of additions here on EducationCloset.  We’ve added a tab to the top of our menu for “The Vision Board” and you’ll also find a banner for this organization on the right side of our site.  We’re so excited to share this new adventure with all of you as we [...]

Data and art seem like natural enemies, don’t they?  We’re constantly hearing for the need for more data in the classroom. In fact many classroom teachers are fearful to implement arts integration because it may affect their data to which they are held accountable.  At the same time, many arts teachers worry that assessments will [...]

One of the biggest fears of many teachers when working through an integrated lesson is how to assess the other content area.  Part of this fear comes from just not “knowing”.  We can punch that fear in the face if we take a few extra steps to ensure that we map out the assessments we [...]

What will the world look like when our students leave school?  While we educators may not know exactly, we can see the direction the world is taking and can make an educated guess as to what our students will need to be able to do; hence the creation of the 21st Century Skills.  When I [...]

  Student Learning Objectives are coming to a school near you.  Are you ready?  First of all, if you are not aware of Student Learning Objectives (SLOs), I encourage you to find out as much as you can about them during your upcoming summer vacation.  Essentially, these are selected targets based on the students in [...]