Students learn through play at Carlton Comprehensive

Oct 13, 2017 | 3:50 PM

Students at the Carlton Comprehensive High School are using play as an educational tool.

The Independent Futures program is offered for students with disabilities between the ages of 13 and 21. Students in the program are being paired up with their peers in the drama 30 course in a mutually beneficial program.

Lynn Lundell, an occupational therapist who’s contracted by the Saskatchewan Rivers Public School Division, said play is an important tool for students in the Independent Futures program to use as many parts of their brain as possible.

“We want them to be moving, and looking, and listening, and anticipating, and thinking about cause and effect, and thinking about social cues all at once,” Lundell said.

In order to properly engage all of those functions, students participate in a variety of activities.

An entire classroom is dedicated to the integrated play sessions. A majority of the room is covered by a soft padded floor; inflatables, high jump mats, swings and other objects are littered about the room for students to interact with.

“This is learning, and it’s learning through play, it’s developing through play, this is real education that is happening here, it just looks different then it would perhaps in a regular classroom,” Lee-Anne Hood said.

Hood is a teacher in the Independent Future program at Carlton. She said the goal of the program when it was created three years ago was to create sympathy and empathy among the drama students who participate, while including the Independent Futures students in the Carlton community.

“It has evolved into Integrated Play groups this year,” Hood said. “Our approach for the first two years was kind of more of a focus on building an awareness and empathy building for students from more of the mainstream, in the drama department.”

Drama teacher David Zulkoskey said he thought Integrated Play is a wonderful way for students to build relationships and empathy. The program is now making them part of their fellow students’ educational development while making them aware of the larger Carlton community.

“They’re not teachers, but they’re in the process of helping others in a very concrete way,” Zulkoskey said. “So it’s not just the relationship that they’re building, although that’s an integral part of it, it’s the idea of helping these students in Independent Futures, in their personal development.”

He called the mentoring process wonderful and said it’s one of the coolest programs he’s been part of. Students in the past have even taken the initiative to continue on with the visits and started including Independent Futures students in their hang-out sessions outside of class.

“That is very powerful, it’s very empowering for students,” Zulkoskey said. “When we look at the future, and we’re so critical with the future… and the tone of society, this gives us a true sense of hope, that we can still have that true sense of humanity in our interactions with others.”

For Independent Futures students, Hood said having a friend who is part of the larger community within Carlton is an exciting and life altering experience.

Zulkoskey agreed and said drama students are often buzzing with excitement when they return to class after an play session. The sessions also integrate lessons he’s been teaching students from Grade 10 to Grade 12; how to be child-like.

“I’ve always talked in my program, the idea of being child-like as opposed to childish,” Zulkoskey said. “This is the perfect opportunity to… put it to practice. We’re not doing plays here, we’re taking drama and putting it into a different perspective.”

While the Integrated Play Program has only met twice this year, students who are taking part from the drama program have already seen growth.

“Today, when we were playing in the ball pit, it was the first time [my partner] acknowledged me like that, the first time he asked me to do something for him” Ginny John, a Grade 12 student said. “He’s non-verbal, so the way he asks you is he’ll make eye contact with you… that was a big step for me.”

Cameron Spademan, another Grade 12 drama student said after spending a session observing the Independent Futures students, the group was able to determine what they’d like to work on with them.

Mobility, interactions and communication were the biggest areas drama students wanted to focus on.

“The first day was a big step, because [our partner] actually held Cameron’s hand,” Kirk Graupe, a Grade 12 frama student said. “It’s nice to hear we made a connection; they say ‘you’re going to go spend time with your friends.’ He’s excited because he knows who we are.”

 

Bryan.Eneas@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @BryanEneas