5/15/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Don Zentz
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I have had many students with disabilities over the years requiring accommodations. The most significant was in my very first year of teaching. I had a remarkable young man in the band program with extreme intelligence and a passion for music. He did not have use of his legs or arms - accident. He was a junior percussionist. He had learned how to play bells with the mallet in his mouth and bobbing his head. It was the most incredible thing I had ever seen - not to mention his level of determination. He wanted to march, not be in the pit. And so I worked with his Dad and we came up with a way to mount the bells elevated up on his wheelchair with a specially made bracket-type contraption. I wrote him into the drill so that he was on the field, albeit with limited movement - but he was on the field "marching". I could not believe the number of kids that offered to give up their spot to be his "pusher" (as they called it) on the field. I had to rewrite a part for him to keep the musical content within as narrow a range as possible. This was all a very heart-warming, incredible experience to see happen in performance! |
5/27/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Don Zentz
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With regard to technology, musictheory.net has been a valuable resource for me in my music theory classes. You can set assignment content. Students may work at their own pace. Practice is provided in order to ensure success and ultimate mastery. The ear training component has been huge. Rather than going around the room in front of others asking students to name intervals and such, this platform eliminates students from feeling behind or even incapable. There's no feeling of not belonging because particular students are not as quick or accurate as others. Students submit assignment results so I can monitor their progress. Of course, I serve as a "guide from the side" during these tech times. |
5/28/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Don Zentz
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Last semester, I had a clarinet play with a right hand ailment where she couldn't play. For her semester scale test - all majors, I had her write out the scales on manuscript paper using key signatures. She also had to recite the scales to me from memory around the Circle of Fifths. For the instrument piece, I arranged for a middle school clarinetist to come over after school on the activity bus and I had her teach him E major on the clarinet with correct LR/RL pinky fingerings three octaves. |