7/12/2019
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
cynthia gaitanis
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Think of a music student with a disability you have now, or have had in the past. Identify their disability. Describe the way in which their disability affected their music learning. Describe at least one or more ways you successfully accommodated or modified instruction for this student. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I had a student in my middle school chorus last year with a speech impairment. I was lucky enough to attend her IEP meeting to discuss her education plan and accommodations. It was very interesting to be reminded of the IPA alphabet from my diction classes years ago, and all of the different types of sounds one can make. It was determined that she had trouble with voiced fricatives and pitch matching and also with the "R" sound. We used a tubaloo to help her better hear herself in an ensemble to assist her with her pitch matching and I worked intensely with her in regards to her consonant formation. Her speech therapist laughed a little when I said that we don't sing the "r" anyway, so she would fit right in. |
7/13/2019
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
cynthia gaitanis
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- Describe how two of the strategies discussed could potentially be implemented in your classroom. Be sure to identify the two strategies by name and describe how they could be used to address a student with a disabilities needs.
- In my sixth grade general music classroom, we often use graphic organizers to take notes. I especially like the interactive notebooks we started using last year. Students can draw their graphic organizers directly into their composition books and then we often fill them in as a class as we move through the lesson. I have found that the use of graphic organizers helps students organize the information presented into chunks that can be better understood.
- In my secondary women's chorus we I use tiered and scaffolded lessons daily. In the same class I have chorus one and chorus 3 students. Some of these students are excellent sight readers while some of them struggle to count basic rhythms and have never heard of sol fege. I typically seat students in such a way that stronger readers and more confident singers are sitting behind or beside students who need more help. Also, during sight reading assessments, students who are more confident are required to use sol fege and hand signs while those less confident are allowed to omit the handsigns for the first three assessments they take individually. By allowing the beginners to master the syllable and pitch before adding the hand signs, they are given small chunks that they can then build on.
- 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.
- I do not have much technology available for use in my room. I did have a student that was diagnosed with a speech disorder and she was unable to match pitch last year, so I bought her a toobaloo, which is a plastic tube that she holds that directs sound from her mouth to her ear. It was revolutionary. So much so, in fact, that she wanted to use it during the concerts. By allowing her to hear herself over her ensemble really allowed her to progress in her pitch matching abilities.
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7/14/2019
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
cynthia gaitanis
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- Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities.
- I had a student with a speech delay last year. One of the symptoms of the speech delay was that she was unable to match pitch, but she loved singing and she was placed in my advanced women's chorus. We had bi weekly sight reading tests that we took on an individual basis. The assessment tested pitch, rhythm, sol fege, and handsigns. Because of her speech pathology and her inability to pitch match, I weighted the other three components of the assessment when I gave her the assessment for the first three assessments. We worked hard on pitch matching with the use of a toobaloo and individual instruction. By the end of the year her ability to match pitch was greatly improved within a 7 note range so long as she was singing in a group and used the toobaloo. The last assessment she took she was able to score 3/4 points for the pitch portion of the assessment.
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