4/14/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Wallace Rahming
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During the 2004-05 school year, I had a student in my choral program who was visually impaired due to albinism. The student would wear special prescription glasses and use various magnifying devices in order to read. Even with these items, it was virtually impossible for the student to read the sheet music for class or read anything written on the board and/or projected on the overhead. As an accommodation, I would use enlarged hand copies of the music as well as enlarged hand copies of any music theory information I intended to project on the overhead to the class. Because the use of the magnifying devices was a slow process, I used a practice CD with a slow and uptempo performance of his vocal part to help assist the student learning longer pieces of music. In addition to the CD, I also partnered him with other students individually and in small sectionals to help him develop a music learning pace comparable to the other students in the choir. If any written assessment was undertaken, I would allow him to verbally answer or use an enlarged copy of the assessment with additional time. |
4/16/2019
Topic:
Students With Disabilities
Wallace Rahming
|
[Question: Describe at least one way you have used technology to meet the needs of a student with a disability in your classroom. Be sure to describe the specific technology and how it assisted the student with a disability.]
For two years I taught a student with autism in a chorus class. During his first year in the program, I introduced basic rhythmic and melodic sight singing to his class. He grasped the concept of rhythmic sight singing very well and was able to make connections with note values and rhythm patterns. Melodic sight singing from a written page was very challenging to him. I couldn't seem to come up with a strategy to help him decipher the notes upon the staff incorporating pitch as well as note value. I often use Finale Songwriter to create short arrangements for my beginning choirs. One day as I was finishing up an arrangement, I hit the play button to listen to the song in order to make sure there were no errors. As I listened to the arrangement, I noticed the moving line with the green arrow moving across the music on the monitor. It suddenly dawned on me that I could create a very basic melodic sight singing piece, project it on the large screen in my classroom, hit play and he would be able to follow the music by sight and sound. I could also make my content as basic or advanced as necessary with unlimited control of the tempo (speed) of the exercises, the number of different pitches in the exercises, the difficulty of the rhythmic patterns and the length of the exercises. Within a matter of days, he was able to understand the process of melodic sight singing. The really cool thing about the Finale program was that I used it with all of my students (both advanced and those needing more practice). Through using this program several times weekly I was able to narrow the performance gap between my students who excelled in sight singing and those who need more practice. I didn't have to single out my students who needed more practice and at the same time reinforced the skill with the students who demonstrated mastery. |
4/16/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Wallace Rahming
|
I originally placed my response under the wrong topic. I copied it here to make sure you receive it. ~ W. Rahming
For two years I taught a student with autism in a chorus class. During his first year in the program, I introduced basic rhythmic and melodic sight singing to his class. He grasped the concept of rhythmic sight singing very well and was able to make connections with note values and rhythm patterns. Melodic sight singing from a written page was very challenging to him. I couldn't seem to come up with a strategy to help him decipher the notes upon the staff incorporating pitch as well as note value. I often use Finale Songwriter to create short arrangements for my beginning choirs. One day as I was finishing up an arrangement, I hit the play button to listen to the song in order to make sure there were no errors. As I listened to the arrangement, I noticed the moving line with the green arrow moving across the music on the monitor. It suddenly dawned on me that I could create a very basic melodic sight singing piece, project it on the large screen in my classroom, hit play and he would be able to follow the music by sight and sound. I could also make my content as basic or advanced as necessary with unlimited control of the tempo (speed) of the exercises, the number of different pitches in the exercises, the difficulty of the rhythmic patterns and the length of the exercises. Within a matter of days, he was able to understand the process of melodic sight singing. The really cool thing about the Finale program was that I used it with all of my students (both advanced and those needing more practice). Through using this program several times weekly I was able to narrow the performance gap between my students who excelled in sight singing and those who need more practice. I didn't have to single out my students who needed more practice and at the same time reinforced the skill with the students who demonstrated mastery. |
4/21/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Wallace Rahming
|
Three years ago, I had a student enrolled in my choir that I assumed had dyslexia (I'm not certain because our system did not test for dyslexia at that time). Whenever we reviewed music theory items in class discussion (identifying symbols, notes and values), she would answer with 100% accuracy. When given a written assessment, she would score extremely poor - and this was with the accommodations listed in her IEP (extended time / fewer test items). I decided to use accommodations for the testing directions through simplification and repetition of the assessment directions. I added response supports and accommodations by recording the directions, questions and answer responses which were repeated three times. There were three answer choices (A, B & C). These were enlarged slightly on the page for her to easily decode (and other students not to notice). Not only did the student's assessment scores improve but the scores of many others in the class as well. In addition, her confidence in performing vocally went to a higher level. |