Special Populations Workshop: Tapirape Upe Masks

This lesson plan was designed for students with disabilities, ages 12-20. The challenges were to keep the students engaged, educate the students on the Tapirape Tribe in the Amazon and create an Upe Mask of their own. Students each had individual goals set out in the beginning of the day. Joining me in the classroom were: Katie as my Assistant Teacher, Alex, Becky and Margo as paraeducators.

The students were fully engaged in the presentation. They really reacted well to the index cards with the animals on them. The index cards were created in advance to engage the students in the Power Point Presentation so that they can learn about the animals that the Taprirape live with. This created interesting discussions about the different types of animals that the students have encountered, as well as incorporated the animals natural environments.

When presenting the Tapirape Tribe, I incorporated the name of the tribe, phonetically spelled out throughout the worksheets. This helped the students remember how to say the tribes name. The step by step directions assisted students in working independently and allowed room for adaptations as necessary. The diversity of the final product was absolutely amazing!! The students all put their unique personalities in the the Upe Masks and really enjoyed working with the different materials.

Mikes Upe Mask

If you are interested in incorporating this project in to your curriculum, you can see the full lesson plan under the 'High School Lesson Plans' tab at the top of the page.