6/6/2016
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Sara DiPardo
|
I have a wonderful student with cerebral palsy. The student is in a wheelchair but also has a very nice walker. The student usually comes to music in the chair though. The student also has a paraprofessional that helps. the student sits on the end where I can get to them more easily and help. The student is very rigid and stiff and has limited use of the left hand but can more easily use the right. I do accommodations with mallet instruments with by having her play the larger ones. I still help with my hand on top to guide. Recorder is something I am struggling with accommodations for. I try to cover the students hands but it's difficult having to use both and not very successful.
I repeat directions although the student doesn't have any problems with hearing but with speaking. I have had the most success with dancing/motion that only requires the upper body. The student LOVES this especially if it's a game where if you move robotically or can be "silly" the student is more successful and obviously has more fun too.
This has been my first student with Cerebral Palsy and I have already learned so much about accommodations. I am embarrassed honestly in how little I feel I have done. I need to work on SO much. This course has made me so aware. I look forward to using a lot of these ideas next year! |
6/6/2016
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Sara DiPardo
|
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. |
6/6/2016
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Sara DiPardo
|
With my student population I think using the exit ticket and exit response will be very helpful. I hesitated to use it that much this year because honestly of copying paper! But index cards and sticky notes are things I will be using more of. My students LOVE to brag about what they've learned in my class and I think this will be a good way to keep that excitement. My ESE students will benefit from this. Although for some I will need to take down their answer verbally but all the same. I also anticipate on using more tiered instruction to better accommodate. |
4/4/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Sara DiPardo
|
I had a student with Osteomalacia. It's pretty rare, there's a lot of stiffness, curved bones and weakness in muscles. My student was wheelchair bound. She was not able to walk. She had NO other developmental issues. When she was in primary grades it took me being a bit more inventive with song games. We would still do them but her aid would hold her up or I would. I would also let her play something for a steady beat for us if she was just too weak that day. When she was in the upper grades with recorder I just let her use whatever hand/fingers she could. She got through all of the recorder karate belts too. I did offer her a bell set instead or hand bell but she refused. She wanted to do everything the same as her peers as much as possible. |
4/4/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Sara DiPardo
|
In the past I had a student with a hearing impairment. He wore hearing aids and had a microphone for the teacher to pin to their shirt to help increase the volume as well. I always wore it and if he forgot it I would use a wireless headset and speaker. I also wrote out as much as I could on the board, spoke as clearly as possible and had students or myself do a trial/practice of what we were doing first as well so everyone not just my hearing impaired student could benefit. |
4/7/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Sara DiPardo
|
Whenever we test our knowledge to see if we've met our goal I use a few different strategies. We do 3 different assessments and they need to pass one. I do a four corner response with physical movement, my student that is wheelchair bound loves this one. Then I do a written response like an exit ticket, for my student that cannot use her hand, I just discuss it with her. We also do a class challenge with my smartboard, usually by where they are sitting they play teams against each other testing their knowledge. They have to come to the board and select and answer after discussing as a group. Offering the assessment in different ways allows ALL of my students to show they understood the lesson at some point. |
4/7/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Sara DiPardo
|
I use Venn diagrams for instrument families so we can compare them by what material they're made of and the shapes and so forth. I also use mnemonic instruction for treble class and discovery a ton for instrument families. We do cooperative learning, peer partner work as well with composition and singing. I also use a lot of technology whenever possible using my smart board. I really like the task card idea and plan to implement that once we get back to school. All of these offer different advantages for all of the disabilities I come across. I always try to offer many different modifications to my lessons to reach students that just need it explained or practiced in a different way. I did not have a disability growing up however I had a hard time understanding bass fingerings. My instructor said something that changed me, something that made me ALWAYS offer different ways to explain my teaching and that was "It's not your fault Sara that you don't understand. It's mine. I just haven't found a way to teach it to you yet." |