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Teaching Students with Disabilities discussion forum for Secondary (Middle and High School) Music teachers

Assessment of Learning Messages in this topic - RSS

John Reeves
John Reeves
Posts: 3


4/20/2023
John Reeves
John Reeves
Posts: 3
I currently have a student that has a 504 plan. This student is allowed to go to another classroom to take her written
test. The student is also allowed extra time to take the test. I do not have to provide any additional accommodations, but I would allow her to retake a test if she did poorly on it.
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Tavares Nottage
Tavares Nottage
Posts: 3


4/24/2023
Tavares Nottage
Tavares Nottage
Posts: 3
A student with Tar Syndrome was given an ipad to play the music assigned to the recorder class. The only difference was the method used to play. Student was able to do all of the formative assessments leading to the summative assessment.
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Kent Lambert
Kent Lambert
Posts: 3


4/25/2023
Kent Lambert
Kent Lambert
Posts: 3
I have not had many students with disabilities since starting teaching, but whenever I do I will stay within their IEP or 504 plan. I have given multiple students extra time or worked with them in small groups. A lot of time I end up catering a lot of my assessments to a specific student's needs. No student is exactly alike so I feel like I am consistently practicing multiple types of assessment.
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Christina frierdich
Christina frierdich
Posts: 3


4/27/2023
Having a student wanting to play the violin but physically incapable due to a deformity of his left hand, I was able to teach him conducting patterns instead. He learned the musical phrasing and with his knowledge of note reading was able to rehearse an assigned piece while reading the score. Through the use of technology, he videoed his performance and was able to demonstrate all appropriate tempo changes, expressive motions and stylistic interpretation.
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Daniela Restrepo
Daniela Restrepo
Posts: 3


5/1/2023
I had a student who had a visual impairment in the past. I implemented assessment accommodations to benefit this student in assessing their fine arts learning. I enlarged this student's music for all rehearsals and performances. I allowed this student to have extra time in sectionals to learn the music for playing tests. I also allowed this student multiple attempts to complete their playing tests.
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Dan DuBay
Dan DuBay
Posts: 3


5/4/2023
Dan DuBay
Dan DuBay
Posts: 3
I have a student who was visually impaired. This student needed tests written in braille or read aloud. I had to make sure district wide testing was available to him in braille and assisted him in taking tests. Tests that involved writing music notes on a staff had to be taken verbally to see if the student comprehended the material.
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Jennifer Adams
Jennifer Adams
Posts: 3


5/5/2023
Jennifer Adams
Jennifer Adams
Posts: 3
A student with Autism in band is allowed to use his tablet to respond to questions either with words or pictures as opposed to having to speak - something he cannot do typically. The same student is allowed to make musical sounds and rhythms using a music app. He can count out beats in a measure and even identify some note values creating the correct rhythms.
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Kristen A Bowne
Kristen A Bowne
Posts: 3


5/8/2023
Kristen A Bowne
Kristen A Bowne
Posts: 3
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.


This year I have a student with a 504 plan who has extreme anxiety when they are asked to perform in front of the class in either solo or small group settings. We worked together to come up with an alternative plan for this student to perform in front of the group. This student would prepare the performance project, record themselves performing it live at home, and then their class period would watch the video the next day. This was a way for the student to perform "live" without having to physically stand up in front of the class.
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Rebekah Chambers
Rebekah Chambers
Posts: 6


5/12/2023
I have a student in my guitar class who has dyslexia, so I have modified his assessments and tests by allowing him to choose the way to organize and demonstrate his knowledge of chord positions/placement. He would not have success if I required him to use the same charts and systems as those without dyslexia use. His assessments are more demonstration based, than paper based, but when he does write I allow him to use whichever method of notating chords he prefers and as long as I can understand it, and it is showing mastery of the content, then the skills is graded as proficient.
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May Couey
May Couey
Posts: 3


5/12/2023
May Couey
May Couey
Posts: 3
I really enjoyed using “task analysis” as a daily approach to new music with my students as a middle school band director.
  • Clap/count it
  • Sing it/finger along
  • Play it
  • This worked across the board with a variety of ages and ability levels of students. Breaking one line out of the book down like this gave me more opportunity to work the room, and see if we were lacking in any one category or section.
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    Rad Bolt
    Rad Bolt
    Posts: 3


    5/15/2023
    Rad Bolt
    Rad Bolt
    Posts: 3
    I had a student with ASD who struggled with the anxiety of our standard playing test format. To accommodate his struggles with anxiety, I provided a laptop for the student to record himself during the class period in a practice room to turn it in for full credit. He had no problem performing as part of the group, but when he needed to perform individually, he frequently struggled. This adjustment allowed him to show his performance mastery while not triggering his anxious response.
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    Katie Aucremann
    Katie Aucremann
    Posts: 3


    5/16/2023
    Katie Aucremann
    Katie Aucremann
    Posts: 3
    I have a student with hearing loss and some cognitive impairments. He does really well when we're playing together, but doesn't focus well on individual practice or assignments. I've found the best way to adapt his assessment is to have him play in a group. I keep the group small so I can still hear him, but he doesn't have to play by himself or practice alone.
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    Ashley Ajpacaja
    Ashley Ajpacaja
    Posts: 2


    5/19/2023
    Ashley Ajpacaja
    Ashley Ajpacaja
    Posts: 2
    When a student broke his arm when we were having play-offs for scales, the student was able to color in the fingerings for the scale with the musical notation. If it were his non-dominant hand, I could have had that student solfege the scale.
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    Alejandro Navarro
    Alejandro Navarro
    Posts: 1


    5/23/2023
    Option 1: Many students today are affected by anxiety. Like most music educators, we have scale tests, or other forms of assessments to keep our students engaged. One option that is given for all students, is to make use of recording devices to record themselves performing the scale or section of a piece and submit for a grade. Another option is to assess them after school when the attention is not on them.
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    Amber Turcott
    Amber Turcott
    Posts: 4


    5/23/2023
    Amber Turcott
    Amber Turcott
    Posts: 4
    • Think of a fine arts student with a disability you have now or in the past. Review the Assessment Accommodations Checklist and select two options that could potentially benefit this student in assessing his or her fine arts learning. Discuss how they would benefit the student.



    I have/had several students use extra time as an accommodation. These students may take extra time to turn in an assignment or complete a test. I taught a student who was visually impaired and required large print music, paper tests, and preferential seating. All of these benefitted the students and allowed them to master the standards.
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    Yeniffer Velasquez
    Yeniffer Velasquez
    Posts: 4


    6/9/2023
    I had a piano student with disabilities that had difficulties learning how to match the notes on the paper with the right key on the piano, and I used the color system for each note. He had a lot fun coloring the notes and adding colorful stickers on the piano keys as well. This was the perfect method for him and he learned how to play the piano in no time.
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    James Cochran
    James Cochran
    Posts: 3


    6/23/2023
    James Cochran
    James Cochran
    Posts: 3
    This works great for all students but especially those with specific disabilities. On woodwind instruments - where to put the fingers and which keys are alternate fingerings. I use color coded stickers so they can remember where to put the fingers and which keys are the alternates.
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    Maeanna Callahan
    Maeanna Callahan
    Posts: 4


    6/27/2023
    • Think of a fine arts student with a disability you have now or in the past. Review the Assessment Accommodations Checklist and select two options that could potentially benefit this student in assessing his or her fine arts learning. Discuss how they would benefit the student.


    I know that accommodations can be made in four areas: (1) Presentation, or how students receive instruction, (2) Response, or how students show what they know, (3) Setting, or how the classroom is set up for instruction and assessment, and (4) Allotted Time, or how time is adjusted for students to work or be assessed. Most often I have students with behavioral disabilities such as ADD or ADHD in my classes. I would provide accommodations in Allotted Time, Setting, and Response. ADD/ADHD students get distracted easily, so increasing the amount of time during assessment could give enough time for a distracted student to get back on track if I gave a written assessment. I also know that these students will better succeed in an organized and familiar space. If I was preparing an assessment performance of any bow strokes/pass-offs/scales, I would offer Setting options. Students can (1) submit a recording from home or (2) perform for me in class within a window of time that they would sign up for. Because these students can feel easily overwhelmed when performing in front of others, I could also provide options for Response that a student can choose from. If I were preparing an assessment of the C Major scale I would give students the option to (1) Perform the scale on their instrument, (2) Dictate on staff paper the note names, fingerings, and location of whole or half steps for the scale in first position, or (3) Have the student listen to 3 different sound samples of the scale where two are incorrectly performed and the student must choose the one that is performed correctly and describe why the other two sound samples were incorrect. All options would allow me to understand what the student understands or does not understand about the C major scale.
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    Eloise Evans
    Eloise Evans
    Posts: 11


    6/29/2023
    Eloise Evans
    Eloise Evans
    Posts: 11
    I had a student with autism who was gifted at the piano but learned primarily by ear. Her final exam was to accompany the musical theatre class singing "We Are the World" in our final showcase. She created her own arrangement to which the class sang and performed choralography. She created the arrangement by listening to the original recording on YouTube.
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    Eloise Evans
    Eloise Evans
    Posts: 11


    6/29/2023
    Eloise Evans
    Eloise Evans
    Posts: 11
    I had a student with autism who was gifted at the piano but learned primarily by ear. Her final exam was to accompany the musical theatre class singing "We Are the World" in our final showcase. She created her own arrangement to which the class sang and performed choralography. She created the arrangement by listening to the original recording on YouTube.
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