6/14/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Christopher White
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I have a new 4th grade student transfer, with partially developed arms, join class right in the middle of recorder season. I was at least three weeks in so the majority of my fourth grade is getting quite proficient in their pedagogy and scales, so I can't double back and change the expectations, and with him acclimating to a new school and friends, I can't partner him with just any other proficient student and let him catch up. He very quickly assessed the situation as well, so with no confrontations, he volunteered to play everything the students on recorder were working on, on the xylophone. Because of his physical impairment, he actually doesn't have the mallet pedagogy issues that most students display, elbows up in the air or pushing stick in to xylophone with whole arm. He is an excellent percussionist and can play just about all of them very well, and also quickly recognizes rhythm errors in himself and classmates when playing ensemble pieces. |
6/15/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Christopher White
|
Option 1: Describe how two of the strategies discussed could potentially be implemented in your music classroom. Be sure to identify the two strategies by name, and describe how they could be used to address the student's disability.
I am definitely going to implement the Learning Contract for all my students, but specifically to address the issues of time management I have with my 5th graders. Our 5th grade is considered our "majors" that we see everyday, and this generation of students hates, to practice just for practice and pedagogy sake. With the "testing generation" that we're in now, our students are conditioned to view every assignment as a test, or test prep. Unfortunately, I don't need to "test" in the classic sense, in the music classroom too often, either you can play the song or you make mistakes. So a lot of days when I try to do sectionals and small groups, my students end up regressing because they take more opportunity to play around, rather than correcting their errors and figuring out how to prevent them in the future. Unfortunately, "going down the line," during ensemble rehearsals is the only thing that "makes" them focus on the task at hand, but I hate resulting to making everything "a test."
The other strategy I must make more use of is the Computer-Assisted Instruction in the classroom. I typically use the web to show examples of different instruments, ensembles, voices, performers, etc, or play the "standard" of the song I want my students to aim for. But there are quite a few programs, that would help my younger students get more involved in the music theory process. Instrument pedagogy is never a problem with my younger students because of course they love to make noise, but learning the rhythm note tree becomes another boring mundane process because right now I'm limited to lecture and typical classroom worksheets that becomes just another routine completion tasks for them, but no learning or reinforcement takes place. If I could use a fun colorful interactive program, I know, my students would retain much better because then the lines of the treble clef would be associated with "that funny game we played on the computer" yesterday, instead of another worksheet with X's and a grade on the top of it. |
6/16/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Christopher White
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Think of a music student with a disability you have now (or have had in the past). Identify their disability. Review the Alternative Assessment Checklist and select two or more options that could potentially benefit this student in assessing his or her music learning. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I have a kindergartener with autism. For assessing his performance capability, his one on one offered to have him test separately from the ensemble just reciting as many words as possible as speech production is still limited. For the instrument classification test, I have students color in worksheets of the instruments and a symphony, but lots of color options is not optimal for his attention span. Instead of coloring, we have a small white board with small magnets of the instruments. I write one of the families on the board and he has to choose the appropriate instrument for the family. |