11/2/2017
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Alicia Coon
|
A few years ago I had an elementary general music class with 6 non-verbal autistic students. During the first two weeks, I found it challenging to know what activities to do with these students since each of them had such varied needs. I met with the teachers and we discussed my concerns and they offered suggestions such as providing activities where they could touch and feel objects related to things in the song. That afternoon, while I was shopping at Walmart I noticed some kids books that had touch activities such as fur on the animals, scratch and sniff smells, and press for sounds. I bought a few and tried them the next week in class. I read them the book and let them touch, smell and listen to the sounds. Then I moved to an activity that went along with that story. such as: tossing scarves to the beat, shaking little maracas to create the sound of the snakes to a song that went with the story. That was so successful that the following week I purchased velvety, large pole stick horses at a dollar store and and had the students move around the room to the horse song. Galloping was not an option for most but the students enjoyed dragging the horse while the music played. What started out as a challenging class, ended up being one of my favorite classes to teach simply by thinking outside the box and becoming creative in meeting the needs of the students. |
11/21/2017
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Alicia Coon
|
Last year I had a student with Cerebral Palsy. He was confined to a wheelchair and had limited control of his hands. In order to assist him with playing the recorder, his teacher helped him hold the recorder, we taped the thumb hole on the back and he used just his first three fingers to play BAG. When the songs became more difficult with more fingers needed, we added a tabletop to his chair and, with the assistance of an aide, he would play the songs on a xylophone while the other students played it on recorders. |
11/21/2017
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Alicia Coon
|
As a whole group assessment, I use an interactive white board to allow students to answer questions about music units. These assessments are read aloud and usually include visual aides and gaming to assist students with Specific Learning Disabilities and to engage students with Emotional and Behavior Disabilities. Students with visual disabilities are seated closer to the board. |
11/21/2017
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Alicia Coon
|
I have a fifth grade student who took a written test about the symphony where she was required to read information about each family of instruments and answer questions. When she failed the test, I talked to her teacher and found out she has a learning disability that affects comprehension when she reads. I met with the student one-on-one and asked her questions about each family of instruments (as discussed in class) and she verbally answered the questions, thus resulting in a passing score. |
11/22/2017
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Alicia Coon
|
While studying a unit on the symphony orchestra, I divided the class into the four families of instruments. Each student was given a laptop to use in their group. Each group had to go into an assignment through Quaver Music and explore the various instruments in their family. The students had to listen to each instrument and look at the parts of the instruments. Each group had to then come up with three things that each of the instruments had in common and write these down on their group assignment sheet. The next class period, each group had to explain the three similarities to the class. This assignment was an example of Cooperative Learning by Grouping. Each student gave input in the small group as the students discussed the instrument similarities. As students reported to the class the following week, I implemented Self Evaluation and Reflection by asking questions to generate discussion about those instruments and how they were related. Students with disabilities in these classes were successful with this assignment as it increased student participation and social skills.
edited by Alicia Coon on 11/22/2017 |
11/22/2017
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Alicia Coon
|
I had a student who was Visually Impaired. Two strategies I used with him to assist with learning to play the recorder were in the areas of presentation and setting. Even with moving the student closer to the board, he still could not read the notes. I had the music enlarged and put the enlarged copy in his music folder to practice with at home. During the test, I slowed the tempo down and allowed the student more time to play the song. |