11/18/2020
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Michael Zelenak
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I had a student with an Intellectual Disability (Down Syndrome) in my high school choral class. She loved to sing, but unfortunately could not match pitch. To accommodate her disability, I placed her between strong singers and asked her to listen to them as she sang. I also instructed her to use humming as a way to practice pitch matching. The student's parents were very interested in her development as a singer and I provided them with practice recordings that she could use at home. Overtime, I saw some improvement in the student's ability to match pitch, but when she got excited she would lose control of her pitch. The other students appreciated her enthusiasm for singing even though her performances were not perfect. |
11/23/2020
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Michael Zelenak
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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 would implement is the Task Card strategy. Before class, I would organize learning centers around the perimeter of my classroom. Each center would have a Task Card and students would explore different aspects of a common theme. One example of a theme would be exploring music in the Classical period. I would differentiate the level of difficulty and complexity for each Task Card. Students with disabilities will be able to complete some tasks easily and be challenge by others. Since the students will be moving through the learning centers in a group, other students would be able to provide peer-support in completing the more difficult tasks.
The Letter Strategy is be my second strategy. I would use an acronym such as STARS to label each step in a procedure to sight-read a piece of music. The letters stand for S - sharps & flats, T - time signature and tempo, A - accidentals, R - rhythms, and S - signs. This strategy would help students stay on the task and also provide an opportunity for students to reflect on, and self-evaluate, their abilities. The students would be able to identify which step in the procedure gives them the most difficulties and then what assistance they need to request from the instructor. |
11/24/2020
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Michael Zelenak
|
I taught a keyboard class which had a variety of students with special needs. At the end of each card marking period, I would have the students perform a piece of music as part of their summative assessment. There was one student with Asperger's Syndrome in this class. This student was a hard worker but not willing to conform to class expectations. For the performance test, I asked the students to choose between two recommended pieces. This student was adamant about performing a third, and more difficult, piece. To accommodate this student, I allowed the student to perform the third piece rather enter into a confrontation with the student. In the same class, I had a Down Syndrome student. To accommodate this student, I simplified my assessment rubric from 5 points to 3. With a simplified rubric, this student was able to understand the results of my assessment and the feedback I presented. The rubric clearly identified elements that she did well, elements that were satisfactory but still needed some work, and elements that needed her full attention. |