Using Repetitive Interests – Ariel Su

Shelly Moore’s videos are always very informational and interesting. I loved all of her TedTalks and
YouTube videos. Her analogies are always very relatable and easy to understand.
I have had one experience that comes to mind when I think about building connections with students
with exceptionalities or language barriers. During my first year of teaching, I had a very seasoned teaching
partner who helped me through a lot of questions and problems. He had one international student who came in
the middle of the year with minimal English and a very quirky personality – for the sake of this post, I’ll call her
Alice. Alice didn’t connect very well with her peers and stood out not just because she didn’t speak English, but
also because she was exceptionally tall. Alice was often seen by herself on the swings during recess and lunch,
but she never seemed troubled by the fact that she was alone. She was happy in her own little world. As time
went on, she slowly learned English, but even then, made very little connections with her peers. The one thing
that caught my eyes were her artistic ability. Her doodles were amazing and she looked so happy whenever we
did art; I led Art for both divisions, my teaching partner’s and my own. She would try to talk about art with the
little English that she had, and that was my connection with her.
That year, when we were getting ready for the end-of-year Sports Day, she was part of the group I was
looking over. One of the tasks each group was asked to do was to make a banner. Alice was a grade 7 leader but
didn’t speak much, so the little ones looked around, clueless. I then approached Alice and asked her if she could
draw the bull (they animal the group chose) for the banner. She whipped out a beautifully drawn bull within
minutes and the rest of the group was so impressed (as was I)! From that, she made a few connections with her
peers and we talked about Art whenever we had the chance to.