1/30/2017
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Natalie Epstein
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I find that students working as Peer Partners is a very effective strategy for all students. It allows students who have not mastered the content to work with those peers who have. Students often feel less threatened and therefore more focused and engaged if they are working with a buddy. I use this often with my students who are struggling on recorder.
I have also used Discovery Learning. My second graders learn about the different instrument types and I purposefully include several that they have never seen before, or are difficult to classify. This is a very useful strategy because it really gets the kids thinking about what is in front of them and to analyze what they do know, and to draw conclusions based on their knowledge. |
1/30/2017
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Natalie Epstein
|
In one of my classes I have had a student who is autistic and is very sensitive to sound. I would always make sure that any musical examples that I played were a little softer than I usually would. One day I dug out some headphones for him to use to cover his ears when it was appropriate and this was great. When we would play drums as a class, it would get very loud and overwhelming for him, so whenever possible I tried to keep the music that we were playing short and to provide him with some "quiet" breaks in-between. Sometimes I would just have the class play quietly as well, when possible. |