7/11/2018
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Ian Black
|
One summer, a rising junior brought in his little brother to meet me. His brother had not been in band before, and the purpose of meeting was to find where he would be a good fit in our program. What I did not know until several weeks later was that his younger brother was had an intellectual disability after we already decided that since he liked french horn, he would play that and march mellophone.
I was a relatively new teacher at the time, so I wasn't really sure how to handle the difficulties brought on by engaging in learning an instrument AND moving around. Over time, I worked with ESE staff to find ways to keep this young man involved in marching band while making it more approachable and achievable for him. The easiest answer was to limit his movement responsibilities, but it was my goal to make his involvement meaningful. He ended up having a solo of sorts (unleashing a sail from a giant "boat") that was at the climactic finale of the show. The night of our last performance, however, the knot holding the sail was tied far too tight by an overzealous band parent.
As the boat raced across the field, I watched from the sidelines as he struggled to untie the knot. When it became clear that he could not untie it, he surprised me in the most amazing way possible: He simply turned around and saluted the audience as if he were captain of the ship. We had not rehearsed this possibility. We had not talked of this possibility. He came to that solution on his own. I could not have been more proud of him.
Over the next few years, we transitioned him off of French Horn into Percussion. He continued to have difficulty reading music, so we devised alternate notation for him. He learned all of his 12 major scales on mallets by ear, and was able to approach most percussion instruments with proper technique if he had repeated exposure and hand-over-hand instruction.
The best things about this young man were his attitude and his passion for making music. His ESE teachers consistently told me that he would mention band constantly, and that his behavior was never an issue ("because he knows that if he got in trouble here, he'd be in trouble with you!"). |
7/11/2018
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Ian Black
|
Like many teachers in this forum, I have used SMARTMusic with students who were visually impaired, but it works well for all students. The increased functionality of hearing only their part was helpful for students who struggled to interpret written music. Though some teachers may say disdainfully that learning in that way is "by rote," I would argue that, depending on the student and the disability, it allows them to participate meaningful and still learn many other elements of music. |
7/11/2018
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Ian Black
|
For students that require additional time with assessments as outlined by their IEP, I will frequently make use of the option to have students record their playing test at home. I extend this to all students, which mitigates any anxiety felt by students about being "the only one" to do their assessment in this way. |