22 days ago
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Kimi Evans
|
A few years ago I returned to teaching after having been retired for several years. I had a delightful first grade class that loved music with all of the singing and dancing and kinesthetic and visual representations provided for young musicians to internalize music. One young boy would hide under his chair but he felt very comfortable being next to a young girl who became his "learning buddy". I allowed him to hide and kept a watchful eye on him as the children learned various strategies to understand music. One day, I asked him if he would like to sit at a desk right beside my desk and his eyes lit up as he nodded "yes". There he sat beside me and observed the children as they learned. The students loved a particular movement song that we used as a body "warm up" and it was the "freeze" game. Anytime the students were to "freeze" the voice would say, "Freeze, don't move! Don't move, don't move, don't move!" It was not long before I heard his little voice chanting this out each time the students were to freeze. He was choosing to "connect" with music through this activity. I taught a singing game that required the children to sing a short solo as they played and it included a person who was "it" and sang solo and the child he/she would choose to tag to chase him/her. Out of nowhere, this young student jumped into the game and sat with the class in a circle. When he as picked and laughed through the chase and became "it" he skipped around the circle of children and sang his solo in the most clear, perfectly pitched voice. When the game was over, he skipped back over to "his desk" in "his space" and sat and colored a Nutcracker page I allowed him to color when he attended music. I would find as many Nutcrackers as I was able to print out for him to color and I provided him with his own "box" that included scissors, crayons, markers, pencils and glue and I watched him as he "hid" behind his "projects" and listened to what the children were learning. He captured my heart. Totally. When he moved to a different school I did not have the heart to dismantle "his box", it is still in my classroom as a reminder of how some children need to "choose" their time to be involved with my class and looking busy doing something else did not mean he was not "parallel" learning. |
22 days ago
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Kimi Evans
|
Tammy, I love this strategy and will remember it when I have students with visual impairments or limited vision. Fantastic!!
Tammy Voodre wrote:
A couple of years ago. I had a student who not only was diabetic but had limited vision in his eyes. First of all, I have to say he was a inspiration to us all. He worked harder and never had an excuse for not learning or achieving in my music class. During the unit on recorders, we had his music enlarged so that he would be able to see it without squinting. Through the school system, we had someone place rubber O-rings on his recorder for each of the seven holes so he could feel the placement on the recorder better. This gave a him a landing mark for finding the holes and this seem to worked well for him. I also had him sit close to the front of the classroom and assigned a peer helper to help guide him during our class time just in case he had a question. I would also give him one on one instruction when possible.
edited by Tammy Voodre on 4/17/2016
edited by Tammy Voodre on 4/17/2016 |
22 days ago
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Kimi Evans
|
Beautiful outcome for your student. I hope she loves being a music therapist.
Sarah Hamilton wrote:
I had a flute student in a high school band with Asperger's. She took everything literally, had a difficult time with changes in routine, and had a difficult time relating to her peers. I had to be extremely careful in setting an environment where everything was consistent. If anything changed abruptly from her expectations, she would have outbursts and possible meltdowns. She wanted to perform well and I also had to be sensitive in correcting her. Despite her disability, she worked very hard and performed very well. As long as I was sensitive to her needs, helped prepare her for changes, assisted her with appropriate classroom behaviors, she did very well. Her dedication and hard work allowed her to gain respect from her peers, although she did require quite a bit of coaching in interpersonal skills. She ended up majoring in music therapy in college. |
21 days ago
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Kimi Evans
|
I like the organizing information graphics using the 5 Ws. I would use this to help children memorize short songs used in singing games. The singing game I am thinking about is called, "We Are Dancing in the Forest". Lyrics: "We are dancing in the forest while the wolf is far away. Who knows what will happen to us if he finds us at our play?" "wolf, are you there?" (wolf responds with a silly answer) "Yes, but I am brushing my teeth" They sing the song through a 2nd time and again ask the question, "Wolf, are you there?" (Wolf answers) "Yes, but I am combing my mane." 3rd time through and again the Q and Response.......this time the wolf responds, "Yes, and I am coming to get you!"
Listing the 5 Ws
What happened? The children taunted the wolf and on the 3rd taunt the wolf gave chase.
Who? The children and then the wolf.
Why did it happen? The children goaded/teased/taunted the wolf and he finally got so annoyed he chased them.
When did it happen? It could have been Spring, Summer, Fall or Winter.
Where? In the forest, on the edge of town.
I also like "chaining" and for music rhythms it would be reverse chaining. This would be when children are practicing their knowledge of reading simple rhythms to a song. As they sing the song using only the rhythm syllables (Ta, Ti ti Quiet on the Rest) line by line, I would erase the last 2 rhythms and have them sing the rhythms again and sing through to the end "imagining" what rhythms have been erased. I would do this 2 beats at a time from the last rhythm through erasing all of the rhythm and then "check their memory" and see if they can sing the rhythms correctly from the start of the song to the end. |
21 days ago
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Kimi Evans
|
I have some students who are developmently delayed and also have speech or language impairment. I have purchased some brightly colored beautifully illustrated posters of the Families of the Orchestra. I also have beautiful posters with musical terms for dynamics and tempo. When we were learning about the orchestra several 1st graders were allowed to quietly leave their spots to go to the area with the Instrument Families and point to the instrument they were hearing while also naming the instrument. They were having a blast learning this way. Later as they listened to sample sounds of some of the instruments they were able to point and name the instrument they heard. They also did this with music terms in tempo and/or dynamics. |