5/4/2022
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
David W. Mundy
|
I am a band director teaching high school students. My jazz ensemble had a hearing impaired drummer who needed special headphones and had to be very conscious of the volume level in the room. Although he was a very talented young man, he was often very insecure of his disability. The other students in the ensemble were very supportive and understanding which helped him throughout his high school career. I learned right away that during rehearsal the band needed to stop and listen to direction, givin Ryan time to take off his headphones and adjust to a speaking volume level. Positive reinforcement and constant cooperation with his needs was very important.
He ended up performing well and graduating. |
5/31/2022
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
David W. Mundy
|
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 I will implement in my teaching is Cubing. The ability to hear and visualize things in music is important to my students. I would have them break into small groups, and take turns developing their perspectives- They would each Analyze, Formulate, Describe, Summarize, and Infer different aspects of a song and then after some discussion, rotate to the next side. At the end of the lesson we could evaluate the song. I would be curious to see how the different instrument sections would hear a song differently, by focusing on the perspective of their instrument, and then from an instrument that they don't play.
I would also continue to use the Breaking Down strategy, where students break down rhythms and into beat subdivisions and melodic lines into actual scales. A melody could come directly from a major scale, or commonly a pentatonic scale, with attention to whole and half step intervals. This can also help bring value to learning and practicing scales. |
5/31/2022
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
David W. Mundy
|
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 had a saxophone student with a brain trauma break down a piece into 2 or 4 bar phrases, as to not overwhelm him. I had recorded each section on piano so he could hear how it went. The process of learning the whole shout chorus of a big band tune became much easier for him to grasp, and he ended up playing it successfully. |