5/9/2018
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Greg Urban
|
I had a student with cerebral palsy while teaching high school band. She transferred in her junior year after having a horrible experience at another school. At her previous situation she was told she couldn't participate in the marching band due to the lack of a bus to handle her wheelchair ...... and in concert band she was regulated to minimal parts in percussion. Her mother found out through other students parents that the band directors plan was to get her to quit. After 2 years of that situation she had her transferred to my school. At marching band camp we found out she was actually a very gifted percussionist who excelled at mallets. My student leadership and I vowed that what happened at the previous school would not happen again. Buses were available for all events that we travelled too and in one situation the wheel chair access bus broke down......the drumline decided to ride with her in her parents special van so she would not be alone on the drive to the band competition. She performed in our symphonic band and top percussion ensemble (performing grade 6-7 music) with NO problems. We adapted many of our mallet instruments to lower to her wheelchair so she could perform with correct technique. She currently has gone on to get her bachelors degree in college and also her masters too ....... she attributes her success to her experience in the band. |
5/12/2018
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Greg Urban
|
One use of technology I have implemented is for a legally blind student that I currently teach. She is a beginning band student who choose euphonium. We started making PDFs of the beginning band book and uploaded it into the largest iPad available. Once in the iPad we create individual files of each lesson (#) and increase the view size to a comfortable size for her. This presented a problem.....how to get the music to move when she performed? A foot pedal system (like a keyboard one) is linked to the iPad via bluetooth and as she performs she taps the foot pedal to move 2-3 measures at a time. She has become quite a good reader as she can now anticipate what is coming up next. |
5/12/2018
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Greg Urban
|
When giving our computer based EOC for band 1, we have read aloud for several students - an assistant will read the entire test (word for word) to the student. We also administer the test via paper based for a student who can not use the computer. |