8/19/2017
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Erin Thomas
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I had a very young student who was visually impaired in my classroom. When we had written assignments, I made sure that his print was enlarged. For some projected assignments/lessons, he held an enlarged copy or would prefer to sit close to the screen. He had the option to do what was most comfortable for him that day. |
8/28/2017
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Erin Thomas
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Two strategies that work very well in my classroom especially in my self-contained class is chaining and peer partners. Each day we begin our routine with a mixer activity but a more difficult element is added to it. This demonstrates chaining, where we will eventually get to the "goal difficulty" level of the task. This particular mixer also gives all students the opportunity to work with everyone in their class so 1. they aren't always "stuck" with someone who isn't quite grasping the task yet and 2. they get the opportunity to help each other and work through things collaboratively. This leads into my next strategy...My students love to chat with each other so I use that to their advantage and allow them to chat with each other about the task at hand using the peer partner model. They get the chance to talk about what they understand, don't understand, and work through teaching each other without even knowing it! This builds the comfort level in my classroom because my students with disabilities overcome their insecurities and can go to anyone in the class to pair with and talk to. It's amazing how these activities and strategies work together in the music classroom! |
8/28/2017
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Erin Thomas
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In my classroom, I have a student with autism that comes to my mind first! We have developed an incredible relationship throughout the years in music and he has really come to show how much he loves music and how much he trusts that I am there to make sure he succeeded at all he does! When we were studying strong and weak beats and meter in music, while most students simple had to notate the time signature and where the strong and weak beats fell, he used my strong and weak beat characters and organized them to show me the meter of a song. These characters were taken from a Quaver learning video that he absolutely LOVED and always talked about in class. After completing the assessment I allowed him to keep the character cut outs and he brings them to class every time he has music! |