Children With Learning Differences Exploring Artmaking to Address Deficit-Laden Perspectives

<p class=ql-align-justify>Actively listening and building bridges among students teachers and communities provides learners with authentic opportunities to be involved invested and ignite meaningful change. This book celebrates students' first-tellings of their experiences as students with differences in schools. Throughout the authors' school experiences they yearned for spaces to share their expertise thoughts ideas talents and aspirations. These authors emphasize the need to recognize student voice which they contend should permeate all levels of collaborative work in schools. These collaborations include but are not limited to the integration of diverse assessments differentiation curriculum design arts-based projects inquiry establishing school policies and evaluating daily practices in schools.</p><p class=ql-align-justify> </p><p class=ql-align-justify>What students have to say matters. However authors reiterate how often schools attempted to silence them especially due to the label assigned to them: disabled. How students learn matters. What students learn matters. Their untapped sense of wonderment plays a pertinent role in their growth and development. Together these authors utilize artmaking to express how they navigate oppressive systems such as school. They contend there is a need for K-12 students to co-create knowledge and build bridges among themselves educators families and diverse communities. Their new ways of knowing through this artmaking process afforded them with a renewed relevance for learning and the need to promote authentic school reform. Bottom line: students matter. Their leadership creativity and capacity to think system-wide are essential to classroom school curriculum and community needs. These young authors stress the need to continue this significant work and emphasize the power of student voice through artmaking.</p><p class=ql-align-justify> </p><p> </p>