2/16/2023
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
emily kyle
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I work in an environment where there are many students with varied disorders. To work out a plan for learning requires lots of "trials and errors". It is not only rewarding but fascinating when I am able to open a door of learning for any of them. One of my students was a blind student around 7 years of age. He could not concentrate long enough for any learning to occur and would chatter (talk) on and on which further interfered with his learning. I hit upon the idea of fastening a very large button to the top of his desk and when he would push that button a small fan, off to the side of where he sat would turn on and gently blow wind across his face for about a minute then the fan would turn itself off. The student could turn that fan on as many times as he wanted throughout the day. It was amazing to see how quiet he became while engaged in this small gesture which, in turn, allowed for learning to happen. A very small but very effective tool for this beautiful student. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
emily kyle
|
A few years ago, I had a student who has severe ADHD. He could not sit for any length of time and could not remember what his task was when he got up out of his seat. The first thing that I did was to give him several different places throughout the room that he could sit without repercussions. This gave him the flexibility he needed to concentrate a bit more. I also gave him "jobs" that had to be done everyday. Pass out papers, sweep the floor after lunch, make sure all cabinets and doors were closed, etc. This gave him the chance to remember day to day tasks. Remembering tasks gave him a definite boost of confidence which in turn gave him the courage to learn new tasks to accomplish. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
|
I have a visually impaired student that could not see well enough to draw on a sheet of paper with pens, pencils or brushes however, the student could use legos very well! I would read a story or poem to my students and have them interpret what they felt was the meaning of the writing. While my other students would use, pens, pencils, brushes to interpret the story/poem, the visually impaired student used legos! It was a brilliant move and as we moved through the project, some of the other students wanted to interpret the writing with legos, too which made the visually impaired student feel included in our work. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
emily kyle
|
The school where I work has a Winter Dance every year. We have a DJ that keeps the music flowing during the dance. Our deaf students are always encouraged to feel the speakers (which are on the floor not on top of poles for safety reasons) to get a sense of the vibrations emitted. We encourage them to "feel" at least 2 or 3 songs being played so they would have a sense of the differences in the song's rhythms and beats. I would dance with one of them at a time, keeping the rhythm of the song we had just felt with our hands on the speakers. I also would clap my hands with their hands to keep the beat. Some of them could keep the beat themselves after feeling the music through the speakers and they would notice that they could also feel the beat of the music that was vibrating through the floor into their feet. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
emily kyle
|
Option 1:
The number one strategy that I use in my classroom is to break tasks into manageable chunks. I begin by telling my students what it is we are going to get accomplished that day. I show them examples of the finished project by students from last year's class and assure them that, yes they can get this accomplished today! I assure the students that no one does all of the task all at once. I assure them that everyone breaks up the work in manageable chunks. I ask my students where they feel the breaks should be in the task to make it more manageable. Their answers are always thoughtful and interesting to hear. I write these suggestions on the white board and ask if everyone has an idea in their own heads on how to get the assignment accomplished. I ask them to please come and see me when they get the first bit done so that I can help with missing pieces of the chunk and or suggestions on more to include or take out before moving on. When they are complete in one area, they are then allowed to move forward. Some students write more sentences than others and that is ok with me as long as the messages and/or explanations for their work is clear making sure to move forward so that all can reach our goal. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Assessment Of Learning
emily kyle
|
One of the students in my class is blind and unable to speak. We created and adapted a board of simple answers for the student to use for all of our daily activities and routines. There is a simple "yes" or "no" response button however, we quickly found out that the student wouldn't/couldn't use it until we would say, "Answer yes or no, please." whereas the student would pull her board over and answer yes or no to the question posed. There are other buttons on the bored for a variety of reasons. "I need to go to the bathroom.", "I am thirsty.", "I am cold.", etc. It works well for the student! When it is assessment time, making the questions have a simple yes or no answer is key for this student. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
|
I had a student who had severe ADHD and could not slow the mind down enough to put the thoughts going on in the head down on paper. I truly felt that the student had heard and did comprehend the lesson given however was unable to write those thoughts down on paper. His verbal skills were very good so, I sat with him and asked him about the story that we were reading. I asked him who the author was, who the illustrator was, what the main idea was, etc and as he talked, I wrote things down. His recall of the story was excellent and when we got the assessment completed and I read his own words back to him he was very pleased! I was too! |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
emily kyle
|
In my opinion, all students like to play games. What they really like for me to do is split the class up into teams and they play against each other! I always make it fun for them and I try and play the same game for at least three days in a row in anticipation of an assessment. I choose the game Jeopardy for this reason and the reason that I play the same game three days in a row is because the students build on what they learned the day before and the day before. With the questions being displayed each day, more learning/comprehension is getting done. By the third day, even the slow learners have gained much more knowledge and I feel have a better shot at making a better grade on their assessment. |
2/16/2023
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
emily kyle
|
One of my students in my classroom last year was wheelchair bound and could not effectively use his hands for nothing more than touching an ipad screen. Using his ipad was a critical tool for learning for him. His parents and I worked together to make sure that he had the lessons for the week uploaded and ready for him to use at the touch of the screen. Without his ipad he could not do his work however, WITH his ipad, he was a whiz! |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
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I have been teaching many years and have had students who have behavior issues and I have also had students with physical disabilities. The assessments that I have used to ensure these students had fair and successful assessments began with quiet, comfortable spaces that the student felt safe in. Time needed for the assessments varied widely. Keeping an even, soft, reassuring voice helped a lot. Getting a degree of certainty that the student understood the assignment would also come in various ways. Some by simply answering "yes" or "no" questions, some using their tablets to type out their answers while others would point to the correct answers. Many of the students needed their questions read to them so that they could then answer with the various means written, above. I found that with these students, the shorter the test was, the better results I would receive back. Giving these students multiple ways to answer the questions and me being adaptive, myself was key to better performance for these students therefore, their overall class scores were better. |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
emily kyle
|
The strategies I use to help students with disabilities are cooperative grouping and task analysis. Task analysis helps by teaching the student(s) to play instruments simply by introducing then, implementing routine of musical passages. Learning the intro to a song, learning a phrase in the song, learning another phrase, learning the ending, etc., building on each conquered step/task. Cooperative groups help the students that I teach with disabilities. They have their strengths that they can help other students learn from them and they have weaknesses that they, in turn can learn from other students to conquer. Helping each other goes a very long way to build trust and garner support.
The cube method of tiered instruction is an assessment that I would like to implement in my teaching as it seems to me to fill the needs of each of the tiers. It seems to put a finger on the students strengths and weaknesses and shows not only me, the teacher where help is needed but the student can see this, also. |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
emily kyle
|
I had a student who was very bright however was wheelchair bound, unable to walk and had limited use of his arms. He could however use his arms in a limited capacity. He could lift his arms and use one finger to tap/click and drag on his ipad in my Art class. We found a free app to include on his ipad for drawing. I adapted my class to include the images that were on the app that this student had on his ipad. This small adjustment made all of the difference in the world for the one handicapped student and bonded him with everyone else in the class as they were all working on the same pice/study in art. He was able to animate his drawing which made everyone in the class smile and tell him what good work he was doing. |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
emily kyle
|
I had a student with EBD in my music class one year. This student was afraid to do anything on her own. I paired her with another student who was a natural "helper" and this made all of the difference in the world. My EBD student felt like she had a friend and when I asked the class to demonstrate what I was teaching them that day/week/month it was very natural for the student with EBD and her new friend to come up with a plan to demonstrate the lesson together. This gave the EBD student a much-needed boost of confidence and her "friend" would leave my class, everyday feeling proud of herself. It was a match made in heaven! |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
|
I have a student in my classroom this year who is unable to speak along with other disorders. I have made a touch board for her to use in response to my questions. I change the images on the touch board sometimes daily but mostly weekly to teach the lesson. I assess her knowledge by placing two images on her board, ask an assessment question and ask her to point to the correct answer. She touches the touch board then I change the images before asking the next question. Sometimes, I will put three images on her board so if she chooses an incorrect answer I can take that wrong image off of the board and ask the question, again with the two remaining images, one of them, of course being the correct answer. In other words, I give her a second chance to get the answer correct. |
2/28/2023
Topic:
Tools And Strategies
emily kyle
|
Describe at least one way you have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in your classroom. Be sure to identify or describe the specific technology and the student's disability. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I work with many disabled children on a daily basis. Their disabilities vary widely and many of the students' disabilities overlap. Our team has used blocks to lift a desk for a boy that needed extra leg room. We have used velcro to secure writing tablets to desks for our students who have issues with their writing tablets slipping and sliding around. We have used pool noodles to soften the edges on various pieces of furniture for our beautiful students. We use smart boards to communicate and do lessons with those students who are able. We supply our ADHD mentally impaired students with various "landing spots" which allows them to occasionally move about the room but within some sort of structure. |
3/2/2023
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
emily kyle
|
I have a deaf student in my music class. One of the ways I try and accommodate the student is to utilize a metronome in the class. The metronome gave a visual of the beat for this student. I coupled this with him playing a triangle. The student could feel the vibration of the triangle in relation to seeing the metronome. This worked well for the student. Being in the percussion section of the classroom with other percussionists gave the deaf student much needed support. The other percussionists learned a few ASL signs so that they could keep everyone involved learning and working together. |
3/2/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
|
I have a student with mobility issues however he is a very quick learner. When I want to assess his knowledge of the notes on a scale or in a song, I have him hit the notes on a xylophone to show that he knows what notes I am testing his knowledge of. Having him work with a fellow student who is struggling with notes makes for a good combination as he knows his notes very well! It's a win - win! |
3/2/2023
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
emily kyle
|
My strategies would be to have peer partners and graphic organizers. As I am instructing small groups, I also have peer partners working together. Students like collaborating on musical scores, critiquing each other. I put a time frame out to the students with a common goal to hit by that time frame and let them work it out together. Usually the time frame is not very long maybe, 20 minutes. After that time frame, I like to see how much they have progressed, making amendment suggestions, setting the timer again and so on. I also find that graphic organizers are a quick reminder for the students. They can quickly see where they are in the lesson, how far they have gotten and what are the next steps to success. |
3/2/2023
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
emily kyle
|
Think of a music student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability. Describe the way in which their disability affected their music learning. Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
Last year I had a profoundly deaf student in my music class. Being deaf might lead you to believe that the student would not be able to be in the band. At first, it seemed as if it was going to be quite challenging however, with the help of the student herself, I quickly realized that it wasn't a problem at all! The use of a metronome was key to her success and quite, frankly kept me in check, too as far as keeping the beat! Being a percussionist in the band seemed like a great fit and indeed it was. Her fellow percussionists were on board with helping keep the beat. Everyone worked well together. |
3/2/2023
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
emily kyle
|
- Describe an example of an adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities. One of my students has a weak left side. Mounting her glockenspiel on a stable mount allowed her to use the mallet with ease. This made it very easy for her to play the songs throughout the year and during her assessments.
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