1/25/2018
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Nadia Sawa
|
I taught a student who was visually impaired. The student did wear glasses but had low vision. I provided several accommodations for this student. The first accommodation I provided, was to seat the student in the front row so she could always see me and the board with ease. I also provided her with photocopies of class notes and that which I planned to write on the board. These copies had enlarged text on the page for her to see. I made sure to print photocopies of our choral music, which I enlarged so that she could see without straining as well. Another very effective way to determine if the student needed assistance from me was to simply ask. I communicated with the students' parents quite often via email and phone, and made sure to check in with the student often on a one on one basis. I also have choral "secretaries," which are students selected to help lead the choral class, take attendance, make announcement etc. These choral secretaries help any student in the classroom that may need help (for instance, if we have a new student in class, the choral secretaries will be sure to help this student with procedures and with music the first few days etc). The secretaries were always on hand to help our visually impaired student, whether it be with reading something to her or obtaining music for her. I'm blessed to work in a school where the kids are good, kind-hearted citizens, willing to help one another. |
1/25/2018
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Nadia Sawa
|
Over the years, I have had quite a few students that suffer from anxiety. Since I often assess my choral students ability to sight-read music, by having them sing a sight-reading exercise alone in class, I knew I had to offer accommodations for the students who struggled with anxiety. Therefore, I offered before school assessment time. The students who could not sing in class because they felt anxious, could sign up to come in before school during my "assessment time" to sing for me individually. I found this to be very effective however, there were a few instances where the student felt anxious even in front of me. Therefore, I allowed him to use his smart phone to record the exercise, while I stepped out of the room for a moment and then had him play the recording for me. |
1/25/2018
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Nadia Sawa
|
Students love to use their smart phones and I have found that implementing this technology in the choral classroom is a "win-win!" They get to pull their cell phones out and I encourage them to use it for an educational purpose! They think it's so cool that I allow them to use their phones in class and don't even realize the phone becomes an educational tool!
I often allow student to take pictures of their sheet music so they can view it and practice it whenever they please. I also play a pre-recorded accompaniment CD that goes with each of our songs. Students can record this accompaniment using their phones to play back and practice with at home. These accommodations are effective for all students including students who are visually impaired, deaf or hard of hearing and those who have emotional behavioral disabilities. For students with speech impairment, the teacher can slowly recite the lyrics of a song and record it using the students cell phone, so the child can practice making the sounds of each word at home. It also helps with memorizing the lyrics of our concert songs! |
4/10/2018
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Nadia Sawa
|
I love using a combination of cooperative learning and peer partnerships in my middle school choral classroom. Students work in small groups quite often to identify notes, rhythms, and sight-read dynamics, tempo and any additional score markings, as they examine and learn new music. They work together to meet the common goal of learning the new music together by implementing their sight-reading skills, rather than having me pluck each note out on the piano. I choose the student groups, by pairing up my more advanced learners with students who may be slower learners or need more assistance. By doing this, the more advanced learner has the opportunity to reinforce his/her knowledge by guiding his/her peer group or peer partner. It's always interesting to see if and how the more advanced learner goes about clearly explaining the learning goal to his/her peers.
Quite often the members of the cooperative learning group make the decision to separate in to smaller peer partnerships to tackle the task at hand. I allow them to make the choice to separate, should they feel they need to. However, before presenting their song to the class or to me for assessment, they must pull the group back together. They cannot present the song to me for evaluation until the entire group feels comfortable with the song. It is amazing how the students work so well together in a group to help one another and the creative tools they come up with to assist each other in learning music. It is a true choral family! |
4/12/2018
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Nadia Sawa
|
I use "Exit Cards" quite often as an assessment tool. Generally used in my classroom as post-assessment, the exit cards help me to see what my students have grasped from the lesson and what I need to re-teach. Once I have determined what needs to be re-taught, I can change my lesson to better meet the needs of the students as well. There's no need in focusing on what they got, rather I focus on re-teaching the little nuggets they simply didn't grasp. I have found this to be an effective assessment tool for all of my students including students with disabilities. |