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Administrator Administrator Posts: 18
4/11/2016
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Choose One(1):
- Option 1: Provide/Describe one or more examples of adapted or alternative assessments you have successfully used in the music classroom for students with disabilities. Be sure to identify the student's disability. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
- Option 2: Think of a music student with a disability you have now (or have had in the past). Identify their disability. Review the Alternative Assessment Checklist and select two or more options that could potentially benefit this student in assessing his or her music learning. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
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Ann McFall Posts: 3
4/14/2016
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I had an autisic student in my room with a one-on-one paraprofessional. Students were being quizzed on classifying the instruments into their proper families. All students had a "fill in the blank" quiz with the picture of the instrument and a blank next to it to write in the family name. For my student with autism, I had cut outs of the instruments and he had to place them onto the color coded instrument family paper. (Purple was strings, blue was brass, green was woodwind, and red was percussion. These were the color codes we used all year.)
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Robert Surroca Posts: 3
4/14/2016
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In my school, I've had the opportunity to teach classes where various students were visually impaired. I would help those students by creating a whole class assessment and projecting it on the board. The multiple choice questions were fairly big on the board and I would read them out loud and call on various students at a time to get an answer from them. I would ask them to come to the board and choose the right answer from the smart board after seeing the four possible answers to choose from. The enlarged front with color would help those students choose an answer from the board. Of course, I would assist them with reading it as well. But they could easily read the multiple choice questions and choose the right answer from the selections. My music smart board program also had sound effects that would help those students with hearing impairments feel encouraged to know they got an answer correct.
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Robert Surroca Posts: 3
4/15/2016
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One way I have adapted my classroom for an assessment for the visually impaired is orally asking questions and choosing those students that raise their hand. I would create 2-4 choices to decide upon and every student has to raise their hand to choose the correct answer. This allows me to know which students understand the material taught in class and what to grade them based on their correct answers. In addition, I've created quiz questions that are accompanied by pictures of instruments. Those students would have to circle the correct instrument that belongs to the indicated family. Looking at various pictures allows the students to pick and choose and will let me know if they understand the material discussed in class.
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Zadda Bazzy Posts: 3
4/18/2016
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In the past, I have made adaptions to the melodic notation assessment that I use. When students have specific learning disabilities, they may have difficulty drawing note heads on the staff. In the past, I have allowed students to use manipulatives to notate what they heard. I have also reduced the number of pitches in each example and provided boxes on the staff (like bar lines between each note head) to help students compartmentalize the notation for the first pitch, the second pitch, the third pitch, etc. In terms of testing accommodations, I have tested students one-on-one (flexible setting), played the melodic phrases as many times as the student needed, and allowed for extra time.
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Judith Kelley Posts: 4
4/21/2016
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A few years ago, I taught a class of hearing impaired students. It was very challenging for me but I did come up with some strategies and alternative assessments. When assessing, I would write down instructions or demonstrate what they were expected to do. I would pat on their shoulder or hand the steady beat or rhythm of words. Through using visuals, words or pictures, they would play rhythms on classroom instruments. I bought beach balls for the children to hold so they could feel the beat of the music. I had to turn the music up a bit, but they could feel the vibrations through the balls and I could assess steady beat. When playing Orff instruments, I color-coded notes on the music staff and then used matching colored dots on the bars. When assessing movement, I took the students to the stage and turned the music up so they could feel the vibrations in the hardwood flooring.
edited by Judith Kelley on 4/21/2016
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Julie Hebert Posts: 6
5/13/2016
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I taught a hearing impaired kindergarten student who attended music with an interpreter. The student was not completely deaf, but had severe hearing loss. I planned an assessment on percussion instrument timbre that included playing un-pitched percussion instruments while standing behind the piano (so students could not see the instrument). The purpose was for students to correctly identify the instrument being played by identifying the instruments' timbre. To accommodate the student who was hearing impaired, I had him sit with his aide next to the piano so that he could see the instruments. This made the assessment a level 1 task for him because he was only identifying the instruments by site.
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Tammy Voodre Posts: 3
5/15/2016
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I currently have a student who lacks self-control, is impulsive and is very easily distracted. The challenge for me is to actually get him to stay seated and focused so he can learn in music. I would like to provide preferential seating for him in the front of room. This would allow me to monitor his progress better and be within arms link to him. I would also like to come up with a signal that would let him know that he is going off track, and vice versa a signal that he can give me to let me know that he needs to move. I have given him a special rug to sit on during class to try establish some boundaries for him. This worked for a little while, but I wasn't consistent with him in order to make it apart of our expectations for him in my room. With regards for assessing his knowledge, this year I need to break things up into smaller units for him to see if this will help with his attention and retention.
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Julia Weinstein Posts: 1
5/20/2016
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In order to adapt an assessment on Spirituals, Blues, and Jazz for a third grader with a learning disability, I gave the student more time to complete the assessment and also allowed him to draw in order to answer the questions. Drawing helped him to remember historical and musical facts about the material. It acted like a placeholder for the knowledge that was already there inside of his brain, and he actually began writing the answers after drawing pictures to activate this knowledge. I also gave him additional time to complete the assessment.
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Ruthie Antmann Posts: 3
5/23/2016
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One assessment accommodation I have successfully used is response cards. I used these with a student who has an orthopedic impairment that prevents him from writing. The response cards were used to assess knowledge of orchestral instrument families.
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Ivy Hernandez Posts: 3
5/24/2016
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I had an autistic student and the Alternative Assessments that could potentially benefit this student in assessing his music learning were - samples of student work produced during regular classroom instruction that demonstrate mastery of specific instructional strategies in place of performance on a computer-scored multiple-choice test covering the same content and skills,
- teacher observation of the student
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Sara DiPardo Posts: 7
6/6/2016
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I have a student with Cerebral Palsy and the assessments I have used have been thumbs up or down and placing a blue square of paper in a cup that has the rubric 1, 2, 3 or 4 on them. 1 being you were backstage still learning the goal or 4 being you were a rockstar. Both of these have been successful. I also use teacher observation and I speak with the other specials area teachers and the ESE instructor.
Alternative Assessments I will be using "Discovery Learning". I think this will be great with my student. She can speak quietly and she can acknowledge yes or no easily so we can do a lot of contrast and compare with the discovery. The other assessment is "Chaining". My student will be graduating next year and they will have a graduation song to learn and using "Chaining" will be perfect for her! response cards and tickets are also something I have used but will use more with her as they are successful.
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Devra Pollard Posts: 3
6/14/2016
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Self-assessment with a graphic has been an alternative to an exit ticket for developmentally delayed students. Students choose one of three graphics depicting animated students at three levels of achievement: “I can play for a friend, I can play with a friend, I can play with my teacher.”
A student with an orthopedic impairment was confined to a wheel chair. Their tray was filled with images, short words and phrases for response. I simply worded my questions to accompany the responses on the tray. A few times, my selected responses regarding pitch, dynamics and tempo were programmed into the student’s sound board.
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Karen Gentry Posts: 3
6/18/2016
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In my recorder class, I have found that it works better for my ADD students to have a peer test them on their mastery of a song. While I am working through the class, assessing the students' proficiency on a given selection, I have my advanced students listen to those students who have trouble with their focus while waiting their turn.
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ursula von bargen-seitz fortner Posts: 5
6/18/2016
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An autistic student will benefit from being assessed individually in a quiet setting, so as to minimize the risk of potential sensory overload. For the same reason, scheduling should allow for frequent breaks in the assessment process. Presentation should be in the form of visual prompts, rather than oral directions, given potential limitations in verbal communication skills. For the same reason, the student should be allowed to respond via pointing or sorting.
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Janet Thomas Posts: 3
6/20/2016
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OPTION 1 Examples of adapted or alternative assessments for speech impaired students
An adapted or alternative assessment that works well for speech impaired students is response cards or pictures. For example, when teaching young children to identify loud and soft, I have used pictures or a lion and a mouse. For loud, the students point to a big picture of a lion or hold up a lion response card. For soft they would indicate a mouse. A similar example with response cards can be used when teaching students to identify the individual instruments of an instrument family. For example, make a set of brass instrument cards for each student (trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba) and have the student hold up the correct card for a listening example from the brass family.
Many teachers are now using “Plickers” cards in their classrooms (see website www.plickers.com to sign up). These may be used by teachers and students to check for understanding on any subject and are easy to set up and use. I personally have not yet used them but have seen them in use in other classrooms and also at several professional development meetings that I have attended. The students (and adults) love these because the Plickers seem like a game. I plan to get my own “Plickers” account set up during the summer and put it into use next year.
These are all great assessments with immediate feedback and work well for all students, students with disabilities, especially those with speech impairment.
edited by Janet Thomas on 6/20/2016
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Brad Gillet Posts: 3
6/21/2016
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I have worked with students who have forms of autism and one with an orthopedic impairment. On some of my assessments I use cards with pictures. The students simply have to hold them up to show whether they know the timbre of the instrument. With 5th Graders, I have used Plickers, which allows students to hold up cards to answer a question. I scan the cards my mobile device and their answers immediately show up on the Promethian Board. When doing assessments with music notation, to help these students out, I use ready-made notation, where students have to place the notes on a staff, rather than having to draw them on paper. Not only do these accommodations help the students with disabilities, it also makes assessing quicker and easier in a short time period.
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Tracy Messina Posts: 3
6/22/2016
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A few years ago I had a student with a hearing disability. He was in the fifth grade. He loved music so much and could feel the beat when the music was played made my african drumming ensemble that year. Anyway it was the end of the year fifth grade county music test that is done on the computer. His teacher said he didn't have to take the music test because of his disability. He had an interrpreter with him at all times. I knew since he did so great hearing the beats I would ask his parents if it would be alright for him to take the test. The parents thought it was a great idea. He took the test with his peers but got to sit right next to the stereo so he could feel the beats. The interpretor was told not to help him with the answers just to sign the questions to him. After the test was complete his class cheered for him. He had a smile from ear to ear. He did get to take the test with his peers even though he had a hearing loss disability.
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Rachael Joachim Posts: 3
6/26/2016
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Option #1: I have used the adaptive strategy/accomodation of more time for a response. For example, one of my lessons is for the class, in this example, a 3rd grade class, to show their knowledge of rhythm notation value at the same time practicing writing music notes. Each student had their own individual white board, dry erase marker and eraser. We did rhythm dictation where I would clap a 4 beat pattern using the note values we have been reviewing to write their answers on their own boards, and then show me when complete. I clapped the rhythm as often was needed, and I didn't move on until I saw something from everyone. I was aware of a student of mine who had his own full-time para due to his disabilities: he was on the spectrum, he was a little person with limited physical activity due to encephalitis and a heart defect and he had OT issues with his hands. I allowed him more time to write his answer. Turned out he was able to hold his marker by using strategies he has already learned, and he had a love of music and retained his knowledge of it, and where I thought he needed more time, he didn't!
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Stacy McDonald Posts: 3
6/30/2016
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I have had a few students who had trouble reading and writing but didn’t have trouble verbalizing. When I would give an assessment that involved reading questions and writing the answers, I would make cards with individual notes, instruments, numbers or make a worksheet with matching ect. One example was an assessment on Peter and the Wolf. The assessment was to name and write the instrument that matched the character from the story. I had pictures of the instruments and characters and the student had to put them together. They had to verbally tell me the name of the instrument, as well. This ensured that the same objective was being assessed by everyone. The student seemed very pleased that they could answer the questions and I could get a fair assessment of their learning.
edited by Stacy McDonald on 6/30/2016
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