4/21/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Russell Mofsky
|
I currently teach a middle school student who is in recovery from brain cancer. Her experience with the disease and treatment has left her weaker than her peers and left her with somewhat impaired fine motor control. During her first year in Beginning Band, last year, she played the baritone horn, reading in treble clef. We had to work very closely together throughout the year as she learned the fundamentals of scales, arpeggios, and how to read music. Her impaired fine motor skills have made learning valve fingerings more challenging for her than I think would normally be the case. This child is now in her second year of Beginning Band, and over the summer she switched to trumpet. Even though the fingerings are the same, she has struggled somewhat to adapt her embouchure. Prior to this quarantine period, she and I would work one on one after school so that I could give her the support that she needed. Accommodations and modifications I continue to make for her include re-writing or re-arranging the music we learn to help her master tricky rhythms and notes that are currently outside her range. A side effect of her illness and years long treatment/surgeries is that while she clearly is resilient, she is easily frustrated by her level of ability and it shows in her self-esteem. I offer her lots of pep talks and remind her of just how far she has come and how hard she has worked to attain her current level of ability. Even yesterday, during online extra help, we worked together for nearly an hour on the music she is currently learning in class. We went through the music measure by measure and made changes so that it felt doable for her. Once she masters the modified piece, we can try the next step which would be to see if she can play the high 'D's or syncopated rhythms that challenge her. I find that the extra time she and I spend together help reassure her that she can indeed learn to play the trumpet and hopefully learn to see herself in a new light. |
4/24/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Russell Mofsky
|
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. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
One strategy that I routinely employ in my middle school band and orchestra classes is mnemonic devices. We use them for memorizing lines and spaces of the treble, bass, and alto clefs. We also use them for memorizing the order of sharps/flats in the circle of fifths. While it is easy to supply the mnemonic device to the students-something 'ready'made' it is often fun and more personal to ask students to create their own mnemonic devices. I have found that any step where the student's input or decision can be implemented to aid their own learning adds (a) buy in and (b) makes the learning more permanent. I learned the treble clef lines as Every Good Boy Does Fine. But that leaves out the girls, something I don't want to have happen. One of my students came up with Every Good Burger Deserves Fries. Awesome! For bass clef, a student came up with Good Burritos Don't Fall Apart. Gotta love that.
A second strategy I use is that of tiered instruction. I can make subtle adjustments to my lessons to challenge students at a level that is individually appropriate. This allows me to adjust the content, pacing, vary the lesson structure, or provide aids and help students who need extra support. Sometimes we use sectionals during rehearsals to allow for similar instruments to have time to be in homogenous groups. Sometimes I'll have the students rearrange the seating so that everyone sits next to someone who plays a different instrument. This scenario allows students to (a) physically move (b) listen in a novel fashion (c) hear themselves and their neighbor students in a new light (d) builds empathy--"Wow, I never realized how tricky that percussion part is," said the clarinet player when seated next to the percussionist. |
4/24/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Russell Mofsky
|
Option 1: Provide/Describe one or more examples of adapted or alternative assessments you have successfully used in the music classroom for students with disabilities. Be sure to identify the student's disability. Share your response in the threaded discussion.
I find that I adapt and refine assessments all the time, even now with online learning necessitated by the coronavirus. Here are a few examples that pertain to both live/on-campus learning as well as the distance learning in which we are now all engaged:
1. Students may have the option to complete a playing test in class in front of their peers OR they may have the option to record a video and submit it by email. NOTE: All students in my classes may re-take any playing test at any time during the semester to improve their grade. I want them to succeed so I emphasize that how they play any given exercise or excerpt on the day of the test is just a snapshot. I encourage them to come to extra help and re-take as needed. I have one student who is recovering from brain cancer treatment that has affected her fine motor skills. I always allow her the option to submit playing videos. I also modify her test with regard to required tempo, etc.
2. I often get student athletes in my ensembles. When someone gets injured--sprains, broken bones, etc., I am always willing to offer accommodations that will enable students to continue to participate to as full an extent as they are able for the duration of their injury. For example, a violin player broke her left wrist but she could still participate by playing her melody on glockenspiel. Often, it is possible to allow wind and string instrumentalists an opportunity to play percussion if they cannot play their own instrument due to injury. Of course, every situation is unique and may require adaptation and or modification of arrangements as well. |