7/1/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Jennifer Tippett
|
I taught a student with cerebral palsy a few years ago. She was in my general music class as well as my elementary choir. In the music class setting, she had a desk for her wheelchair and was able to put her book on it. She also sat next to a peer who helped her if she needed it, but she was able to turn pages herself. When we played the recorder, she was able to hold it with her left hand and she was able to blow into it, but she was not able to cover the finger holes. I had her blow the rhythm of the music. When the class had progressed and I determined that she was reading the rhythm accurately, I gave her a triangle on a stand so she would be able to play an ostinato with the class. She was also able to do this with a hand drum and/or a shaker. I often let her choose what instrument to play and she was able to make great choices for each song. She did any written work/assessments verbally and often had a peer scribe her responses.
The same student sang in my elementary choir. She came to me with significant problems controlling the pitch and volume of her voice but I encouraged her to keep singing and she made huge strides. The other students were so encouraging. In rehearsal, I would sometimes need to have help adjusting her in the chair so she had optimal singing posture. When we performed our musical at the end of the school year, she did participate with choreography and one of her peers moved her chair around the stage. We also had fun decorating her wheel chair for these performances! Since I teach at a private preK-8th grade school, I have the opportunity to teach my students and watch them grow over a longer period of time. When she was in the 8th grade, she even sang a solo and even had a speaking part in our musical!
Although some days were a challenge, she was an absolute joy to have in class and she loved music so much. Just making small changes to include her in everything we did meant so much to her and her family and when she left our school to go to high school, she felt confident in her new school to sign up for music electives! |
7/21/2016
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Jennifer Tippett
|
I had a student with cerebral palsy who was confined to a wheelchair and could not write. However, she loved to utilize technology. I'm very blessed to teach elementary music using the Quaver Music Curriculum, which is a web-based music curriculum that comes with lots of tools to help a student just like the one I'm describing here. She was able to zap the QR Code to her iPad for one of the composition activities we were doing as we created various rhythm patterns to demonstrate the concept of meter. The activity that was shown on the IWB appeared on her screen and she was able to participate by dragging notes to the staff to create her own rhythm. The other kids are able to come up to the board to participate but she cannot. She has also used the iPad to take assessments since she cannot write. This is so much better than having her take the test orally after class or using a peer who also needs to take the test as well. It makes her feel just like one of the other kids as she can take the assessment from the iPad at the same time her other classmates are taking the assessment. |
7/21/2016
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Jennifer Tippett
|
I recently had a student with ADHD who rushed to answer questions on assessments and often missed them simply because he rushed through it. I closely monitored his responses as we progressed through a lesson and I knew that he grasped the material but he wasn't able to demonstrate it on a written test. His parents shared with me that although he had been recently diagnosed with ADHD, they chose not to medicate him, so together, we came up with different accommodations to help him. I gave him preferential seating near me and when I gave the class a written assessment, I held his pencil until after each question was fully displayed on the IWB as I read the questions aloud. When I finished reading the question, I paused for about 3 seconds before giving him the pencil to fill in his answer. The other students weren't even aware that I was taking his pencil so he wouldn't rush. Ever since we tried this technique, he was able to significantly increase the scores on his written tests. |