Motivating Special Education Students Through Experiential Activities

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Motivating Special Education StudentsThrough
Experiential Activities
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Group Activities

• Creative Writing
• Play Writing
• Story Telling
• Poetry

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My Favorite Shoes

• Use shoes as a prompt for both an art activity
  and a creative writing activity

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The Best Play I Ever Saw

• Use a topic that is agreed upon by a majority of
  the group.
• In writing the play, first brainstorm possible
  scenarios of how a situation could play out.
• Have a recorder write down the ideas while the
  teacher is supervising to insure a cohesive
  format is evolving.
• When the ideas have been formulated, assign
  different jobs to the students based on their
  interests and abilities. There can be writers,
  those who type it on the computer, those who edit
  it and those who want to do art work or sound
  effects. The production can be as elaborate as
  you and your students want it to be.

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The Gift

• This activity can be used to
• serve as a story starter
• enhance self-esteem
• problem solve a specific situation
• provide relaxation
• Set the tone for an art project
• The guided imagery is done while playing the CD
  Secret Garden

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The Gift

• You can read from a script describing the gift
• This might serve as a story starter for a
  creative writing activity

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Poetry Writing

• I enjoy having students write to music
• Many students enjoy rap music, which serves as a
  motivator for writing activities
• You can allow students to write from a different
  point of view (an object, for example) and play a
  game, having students try to guess what the
  author is

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Sample Poems Written by My Students Food
Tastes that are tangy Wake up my mouth Good for
the stomach Good for the soul
Smells coming from the kitchen Invite me in Make
me feel safe
Food is good Food is home Food is good