3/19/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Hannah Bergstrom
|
I have a 4th grade student who seems to have some disabilities with fine motor skills and has difficulty playing recorder and understanding how it works. I have tried multiple strategies to help him either grasp he concept better or at least be more successful and less frustrated. First I tried to allow him to just play one note (A, for example) every time it came up during the piece of music. I even circled them on the board so he could see them coming. Then I purchased a Nuvo Recorder+ in hopes that the physical feeling of pushing buttons down might help more than just covering a hole. It helped relieve his stress for a couple of weeks, but then he went back to frustration. Finally I tried giving him a different job altogether. Instead of having him play recorder, I let him play a steady ostinato on the bass xylophone, and he seemed to be much more successful and happy to be participating. |
3/19/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Hannah Bergstrom
|
I love this idea! I will keep this in mind if I ever have a student with sever impairments such as these. Nathan Johnston wrote:
I had a student who had a significant hearing impairment and was also wheelchair bound. Hearing assistive technology helped a little but didn't help the student quite enough to understand lyrics or pitches to our songs. That student became out steady beat helper. It was a job that all of the other students fought over. His job was to use one of several different percussion instruments and keep the beat with the song. I had some wonderful help from our schools ESE teacher during class to make sure he was staying with us. |
5/14/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Hannah Bergstrom
|
There were many strategies discussed in this section that I found interesting and potentially useful for my classroom. One strategy that I particularly would like to implement is self reflection. This would be helpful for all students, regardless of disability or no disability, to make sure they are actively paying attention to the music they are making and product they are creating. With self reflection, the students should will listen more actively and hopefully desire to improve as musicians or at least figure out what they need to do to improve.
I would also like to implement more learning centers. This is something I've always been wary of as an elementary music teacher, but this would allow for small group work and differentiated activities for each group. Additionally, I could take a small group of my own or roam from group to group, helping and encouraging where needed. |
6/16/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Hannah Bergstrom
|
I have had several students with specific learning disabilities in the last few years. For each of them I was able to provide extended response time and preferential seating, allowing the opportunity to alter their environment and response time. I also read questions out loud and repeat them when necessary. |