Course Start Date: Monday, February 6, 2023
Course End Date: Friday, March 3, 2023

Facilitation Duration: 4 Weeks
Synchronous meetings via Zoom: February 16, 7:30-8:30 p.m. EST; and March 1, 2:00-3:00 p.m. EST (both will be recorded, participation not required for course completion)
Registration Fee: $299, 50% off for members with discount code (see Member Home page)

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Description: This online course will introduce learners to special education law and practice through the lens of arts education. Drawing on classroom examples — with valuable input from experts in the field — from across arts disciplines, it will offer productive and asset-based approaches for understanding, including, and engaging students with disabilities in arts settings.

Throughout this course, we will consider:

1. Who are our students with disabilities? What are their unique needs, strengths, and legal rights in arts classrooms?
2. What are ways to empower students with disabilities through assets-based practice? What are evidence-based strategies to address students' cognitive, sensorimotor, communication, and behavioral needs?
3. How should arts teachers approach accommodations and modifications in their classrooms? How can they leverage no to low-cost solutions and the skills of adult aides to promote inclusion of students with disabilities?

Participants who satisfy all course requirements will receive a letter of completion from the Kennedy Center as evidence of 20 hours of professional development.

Target Audience: All
Experience Level: All

Facilitator and Course Developer: Jenna Gabriel (she/her) is a Ph.D. student at Virginia Commonwealth University, where her research focuses on how disabled students develop a political identity and the role of art teachers in challenging deficit-based framings of students to advance material transformation in public schools. She is also a member of the adjunct faculty at VCU and at University of North Carolina, Wilmington, where she teaches undergraduate and master’s level coursework related to sociopolitical struggles in education, as well as practicum coursework on arts integration and on supporting students with disabilities in art education. As an independent consultant, Jenna supports schools, districts, and arts culture institutions in addressing issues to better serve individuals with disabilities. She has led professional development workshops, facilitated strategic planning, and conducted research for clients across the country, including the Oregon Cultural Advocacy Coalition, The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, Guilford County Schools, MINDPOP, The Kennedy Center, Americans for the Arts, and more. She holds a BFA with honors in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, and studied Intellectual Disabilities and Autism at Teachers College, Columbia University before completing her Master’s in Education at Harvard University.