2/4/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Janine Schenck
|
Several years ago I had a student with ADHD in my elementary choir. He was 9 years old. Many children in the choir did not like being near him because he was such a disruption. I teach at a very small private school. This child was exceptionally musically inclined, was not afraid at all to sing in front of his peers, and delighted in his natural ability in my class. However, he simply could not attend for more than two or three minutes at a time, and when his attention wandered he created a disturbance for the rest of the class.
I gave him jobs to do. Before class, I would pull him aside and tell him that I needed his voice to help a certain area of the choir, so I would ask him to stand in that area. Throughout the class, I would move him around the ensemble. I would also ask him to help pass out and collect papers, as well as sing in small groups. I also learned not to take too long explaining a particular concept to the entire group, as an explanation of more than a minute or so would cause him to go off task. By the end of the year, I saw him not only improve his musical ability, but also start to make friends in choir.
edited by Janine Schenck on 2/4/2019 |
2/4/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Janine Schenck
|
Linda Steffen wrote:
I have had many student present and past with autism. I have found that there is no one solution that works for all students on the spectrum. I have had to get to know what works specifically for that individual. Aides and classroom teachers have always been a great resource to help work out a strategy for each student. Since they have them all day and I only see them once per week, they have spent more hours with a student and can help work out an issue, strategy, or even how to work through frustration. I had a student in third grade playing recorders and was doing great. In the middle of the school they changed the schedule and the entire class was moved to another music teacher on staff. This only promoted frustration in the student and he would get violet and throw the instruments. The administration decided to move that class back to me and take a different class and the student settled back in with no violet outbursts. Change was not good for that particular student.
Linda, I also had a couple students with Autism who were overstimulated by the activities in music class. I would encourage the classes to keep volume to mp, (play quiet enough to hear your neighbor) but what really hooked these two young men was when I brought my own instruments to class during our unit on the orchestra. They were particularly interested in the flute and clarinet. One told me after he liked how shiny the keys were and all the mechanisms for the buttons. (His words, not mine.) After that, they joined circle instead of hiding in the corner of the room. |
2/27/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Janine Schenck
|
I am quite partial to graphic organizers but as a music teacher, I don’t use these tools often enough. I do not have a room, however I most certainly can draw a Venn diagram on a white board or, better yet, use a felt-board version that students can move around. I can also use a semantic map for, let’s say, grouping the types of instruments in the orchestra.
Each semantic map can begin with a circle on the board, or a circular piece of felt on the felt board. In the middle can be the word “woodwinds” or “strings.” I like the felt board better because individual children can move a picture of a violin to the “strings” category while they may not yet be able to write the word. This can help students with disabilities such as hand/eye coordination or developing fine motor skills. I could also use magnetic pictures on the white board if I can find them.
The other strategy I could easily implement in my classes is cooperative learning. Since I teach in a Montessori school, there are no grades and the classroom is already set up for such a learning style. I would be careful to group children together who work well together, and to a certain extent I already do this in where I ask children to stand for singing. I unabashedly put stronger singers next to those who need a little help from their neighbors. I can take this a step farther by arranging groups so that no one or two students overpowers their whole group, and those students with disabilities can easily be included in a group with a gentle leader. Indeed, some students with disabilities could lead their groups as well. |
3/4/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Janine Schenck
|
Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities:
I have a student with Selective Mutism who, for many months, would not make one sound during music class. Most of my assessments are frequent and ongoing, but as this child was silent, I could only assess visually what he was doing. At first, he would not participate, then he would sit and stand when I asked the class to do so, but not include the motions to the songs. Right around Christmas he started participating in the movements but would not sing. He was the last child in the class whose voice I had not assessed. Most of my other students were eager to sing solos. I started changing seats around, putting my stronger singers near him but also making sure that those who stood next to him were not overpowering. Then I had students echo sing by threes, so three children would echo a melodic pattern. He participated, and the very next class volunteered to sing on his own.
The adapted assessments I used were adequate time and grouping for a cooperative learning environment. |