3/22/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Miranda Stewart
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Two years ago I had a student who started the year with me healthy and full of energy and by December had missed weeks of school and no one knew why. I finally got a hold of mom and the situation was completely devastating and confusing. Apparently the student went in for some kind of vaccine and a couple weeks later kept falling. Mom and daughter laughed it off thinking it was just middle school clumsiness, but it only got worse. They finally took her in to see the doctor after she complained about the loss of feeling in her lower extremities. Long story short, her body reacted in such a way to that injection that now she was experiencing nerve loss from her feet to upper thighs and her entire arms. She would have to go through full body transfusions and physical therapy but there was a happy ending. People who have experienced this were able to walk again. But at the moment, this student would need to be in a wheel chair for the foreseeable future.
When mom explained all of this I asked if she would be coming back to school. Mom very quickly said that her daughter was steadfast in the fact that she would be at school as much as she could physically handle. I was so ecstatic to know she would continue singing with me. But this brought many difficulties to the table that I had never gone through.
Singing requires full body support, especially from muscles and this student really struggled controlling all of these things now due to the inability to control much. She would also be sitting for everything: concerts, rehearsals, shows (she was in the show choir) and I needed to think of ways that wouldn't leave her out or make her feel isolated because of her wheelchair. One thing that stuck with me from earlier on in life was a video that made the rounds when I was in high school of a choir singing and the student in the wheelchair on stage, but all the way over to the right away from the rest of the ensemble. He practically looked like he wasn't in the group.
I remember feeling outrage at that director for not accommodating that student in a way that allowed the student and audience to overlook the wheelchair because of the physical set up on the stage/standing formation failed to provide an equitable environment. Now having a student who would not only need wheelchair access at any performance but inclusion with the ensemble while singing was something I needed to think through thoroughly.
The first thing we did was assigned multiple students in the ensemble with making sure the student had help getting wherever she needed to go. I was lucky to have 4 or 5 students jump at the opportunity to help out. The next obstacle was standing formations when singing. I decided to ditch risers because that made it so much harder to have any kind of chair/wheelchair feel apart of the group. Having the students stand just on the floor allowed this student to be right next to her fellow singers and not off by herself. The final major obstacle was dancing. And this one actually worked itself out way easier than I thought it would. Each girl had a boy partner. So I asked her partner if he would be willing to still dance with her but could think of ways to modify the choreography to fit both of their needs. He was so excited to do this that he came to school the next day and already had the entire dance mapped out. Everything was so natural and they ended up completely stealing the spotlight from the rest of the group because of how much fun they were having together.
I learned so much that year from my students it was one of my most memorable years teaching I've ever had. I wish I had an entire classroom of students like this student who overcame so much in some of the most difficult years growing up. |
3/22/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Miranda Stewart
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Students struggle immensely with reading music in my classes. Sight reading is a skill that is so important to teach, but takes the most time to refine. One thing I've noticed recently is how changing up instruction with the use of technology really helps when it comes to sight reading. I start with simple things that I write myself up on the board. I allow students to come up and help write in counts and solfege syllables. This helps with engagement. Unfortunately some of my students who struggled with writing and don't want to go up in front of the class, won't participate. I then switched to independent work during the first couple minutes of class. Students would complete a 5 minute assignment but we wouldn't make much progress because a lot of what sight reading is is the ability to not only do it, but listen to those around you do it. Here's where sight reading factory comes into play. Not only does it help with engagement but it also allowed my students who struggled with writing and confidence the extra support to participate. It allows every student to start at a level they're comfortable with. They each have access to it on their own time and can listen back to what the example they read should have sounded like. It takes out the fear that many students experience when it comes to sight reading because there is so much support in the technology with writing in counts and solfege. |
3/22/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Miranda Stewart
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I had a student who was in a wheelchair in my Show Choir. We would have choreography pass offs where small groups of students would perform portions of their song for me and the rest of the class. When her and her partner would perform for their pass off, they would have modified choreography they would need to showcase. It was their job to make sure they informed and performed those modifications to me beforehand so I knew what to look for when they performed. As long as what they did matched, they received full credit on each choreography pass off. |