LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Read about an actress who uses a wheelchair; understand issues of accessibility as well as the importance of including actors with disabilities; identify appropriate ways to interact with people who have disabilities.

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 8: Demonstrate the ability to advocate for personal, family, and community health.

CASEL: Social awareness

KEY VOCAB

accommodations 

accessibility

advocate

Lesson Plan: Defying Gravity

A car accident at age 11 left Marissa Bode with a spinal cord injury. This fall, she’ll fly through the air in her wheelchair in the movie adaptation of Wicked.

PREPARING TO READ

Before you read the article “Defying Gravity,” ask your students the following pre-reading question:

What accessibility issues might make a movie set or theater a challenging place for actors with disabilities?

READING AND DISCUSSION

  • Have your students read the article “Defying Gravity”; read the article out loud to them; or have students partner-read the article out loud.
  • After they’ve read the article, revisit the pre-reading question. Have their answers changed?

BUILDING COMPREHENSION

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tools:

  • Comprehension Quiz with vocabulary questions

EXPANDING SEL OPPORTUNITIES

Continue the learning journey with the following extension activity:

In ACCESS FOR ALL, have students use the provided bullet points to do some research to learn about other actors or performers with disabilities. Then have them use their research to create a slide presentation about their chosen actor and how their actor’s story relates to issues of accessibility and/or inclusion in the performing arts. When they are finished preparing their presentations, have them share what they learned in small groups.

Print the Lesson Plan

Text-to-Speech