DANVERS — Emily Boulger knows the difference a picture can make.
The Danvers High School teacher incorporates art into her lessons, encouraging her special education students to visualize the descriptive language they read in books and put the characters, settings and sequences on paper.
Student-made clay figures from Roald Dahl's "James and the Giant Peach" — including the peach — are perched on one counter in her classroom. Nearby, a paper giant is taped to the wall that students drew based on the details in the book "The BFG" (Big Friendly Giant), also by Roald Dahl, drawn with a "nose as sharp as a knife," the book reads.
"I use a multisensory approach," Boulger said. "Some people are visual learners, so as we read books, I like to ask them to draw pictures about something that happened in the last chapter."
Boulger's work has been recognized by the Massachusetts Art Education Association, which named her "2008 Special Education Art Educator of the Year." She accepted the award at a ceremony in Boston on Saturday, held at the Massachusetts College of Art.
"I was so nervous, I thought I would have a heart attack," she said of accepting the award in front of a crowd of hundreds of people. "I'm horrible at public speaking, so I just said how honored I was."
Boulger didn't always plan to become a teacher. She was an art student in college in New York City and majored in fine arts, but after working with students with special needs, it propelled her career in a new direction.
"I found the special education kids made art that was more fascinating and interesting than the stuff I saw in art school," she said.
So Boulger pursued her master's degree in education at Endicott College in Beverly. She worked in a collaborative school in Methuen for four years before coming to Danvers nearly three years ago, at first hired through the North Shore Arc.
"I feel I'm more creative teaching content areas rather than teaching art," Boulger said. "I enjoy teaching them how to remember what they just read in English class, using art."
The Mass Art Education Association is a nonprofit group that aims to represent, inform and support art educators — and promote art education. It awarded four teachers statewide on Saturday, from elementary, middle school and high school levels, and the special education award that Boulger received. There were also awards for an art administrator and a college professor.
"I also use (art) as a form of integration," said Boulger, who has included regular education students into past art projects, including an exhibit in the Gallery at Southside at the North Shore Arc.
Boulger regularly secures grants to fund various programs for her students, including a community garden, and money to pay for the art supplies and other multisensory tools her students use, like audiobooks.
Boulger, 30, has a gentle voice and manner. She coordinates the Transitions Program at Danvers High, teaching students in all subjects, in addition to life skills, incorporating art into all realms. She is the adviser to the Diversity Team and Gay Straight Alliance at the high school and is also an active member of the Cultural Council in Haverhill, where she lives with her husband, Brian.
"It is so amazing what the students create. I get ideas from them all the time," said Boulger, who is working on an oil painting for her grandparents of their old cottage on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. "Art helps kids remember what they learn, and it's more exciting and fun for them."
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