Del Mar Teacher Uses Art to Create Literacy in Kids with Learning Differences

By MARY MANCERA (Open Post)

DEL MAR, CA - Dan Peregine, an instructor for 27 years at The Winston School, believes art is the cornerstone of all learning. A passionate multi-media artist and sculptor, Peregine uses art to cultivate literacy at the Del Mar school that specializes in curriculum for students with learning differences. He is helping students shape art that will appear at the Festival of Arts event in May.

“When we read, we develop imagery in our minds. Art, drawing and painting are tools that cultivate understanding as abstractions of emotion and experience—this allows learning to happen visually,” said Peregine.

Every year Peregine chooses a poem for students to interpret through a class art project he leads. This year students are using “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird,” by Wallace Stevens as inspiration for their pieces. For the project, students analyze the words and interpret the stanzas through drawings or watercolors.

“Art is an exercise for children on the spectrum to expand and extract abstract ideas,” he said. “They’re concrete in their thinking and art becomes a catalyst to reach outside themselves. Art as a tool helps them move forward.”

From Peregine’s perspective, everyone has different learning styles and current teaching models used in public schools serve only about one-third of students. Working at Winston over the decades, helped him learn about his own differences. He was given eye drops to treat dyslexia when he was a child and didn’t realize until he was an adult that his own learning difference was really a gift – an uncanny “ability” to see things three dimensionally.

“It changed my whole perception about dyslexia and helped me save my own kids from struggles with their differences,” he added.

“Dan’s classes are life savers for many kids. They instill hope and confidence and really help students cultivate a sense of self,” said Mike Peterson, headmaster at the school.

Prior to joining the staff at Winston in 1989, Peregine ran an art program at the Nebraska State Penitentiary that included an arts and crafts center. This work included teaching inmates on death row. He describes the work as extremely rewarding and a great training ground that shaped his teaching skills, despite the divergent and challenging audiences.

“If you can teach and instill hope in a place like that, you can do it anywhere,” he said.

Student art generated from this year’s “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” project will be the centerpiece of the 2016 Festival of Arts event on May 21 from 2:30-5:30at The Winston School. Peregine will also lead Winston’s Summer Academy of the Arts, a three-week multi-media journey in filmmaking that gets rave reviews from students.

Winston School is a college preparatory school for students struggling with autism, Asperger Syndrome, dyslexia, dysgraphia, dyscalculia, ADD, ADHD, specific learning disabilities or learning disorders. The school incorporates small class formats, multi-sensory teaching methods and individual attention to help students fulfill their academic, physical, artistic, social and emotional potential.

For more information about the school go to:http://thewinstonschool.com

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