2/20/2022
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Devin Bieber
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Think of a student with a disability you have now or in the past. Describe ways in which their disability affected their learning in your class.
When thinking of this prompt, a current student of mine comes to mind. He has an Intellectual Disability and thus has a lot of trouble with written assignments, as well as online assignments I've created in their class portal. Furthermore, this disability extends to reading music as well. It takes him significantly longer to learn a line from our method book. In years past (when I wasn't as experienced as a teacher) I thought reading /processing written music didn't present the same challenges as normal text would to those with Intellectual Disabilities. Of course, now realize how wrong I was. |
2/25/2022
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Devin Bieber
|
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.
Two years ago I had a student with an auditory impairment. She had earing aid implants, but still had extreme difficulty hearing in loud environments (like a band room, with multiple noises and auditory distractions). She actually became very proficient at clarinet but had issues with tempo (speed). I had a metronome with a vibration function (Soudbrenner Pulse). It essentially is worn like a wristwatch. She was able to enter in the desired tempo and is pulsed it. This immediately helped her. |
3/3/2022
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Devin Bieber
|
Dede Darby wrote:
I had a student in a piano class who had an orthopedic impairment on one hand. He was only able to use his thumb and pinky. This became a challenge when we began learning chords. I started by encouraging him to play the notes of the chord that sounded the best to him, which encouraged his ear, and that he could reach with those fingers. When he felt discomfort in his thumb, I encouraged him to play some of the chord with his right hand or just one note of the chord. He adapted each piece to what sounded good to him and excelled beautifully. He inspired me as his teacher!
Describe an example of adapted assessment you have successfully used in the fine arts classroom for students with disabilities:
I've had a similar situation with a student in band. He had an orthopedic impairment and couldn't use his index and middle finger on his right hand. He really wanted to play trumpet, but since the valves are operated with those two fingers, he was having a very difficult time. For playing tests, I had him bubble in the fingering below each note on the sheet music, just to have him illustrate that he knew all of the fingerings. He later would sing the melody as well as aurally identify the notes. We later got an attachment for his trumpet so that he could use his left hand instead, and hold the instrument comfortably. |