5/22/2018
Topic:
Students with Disabilities
Richard Sorey
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In my first-year teaching high school music I had the pleasure of teaching two visually impaired students. After speaking with both students about their musical goals I made an accommodation plan for each student. Student A was going to have to learn to read braille music; which was a new concept for her. Student B would be performing in a typical band class and therefore would not be able to receive visual cues from a conductor.
Student A was eager to learn to read music and we spoke with the school vision teacher to have the piano text book brailed for her. Student A did great with understanding the content but would need physical guidance on hand placement at the piano, hand shape, and finger patterns. Student A did really well with these accommodations and excelled at the piano.
Student B was in my percussion class. Student B did not know how to read braille music and was not interested in having the music brailed for him. With Student B we did a lot of audible testing (checking understanding of terms, listening and describing), and echo teaching. Often, a peer or myself would play a rudiment for him and he would echo it back to us. We would describe the technique, physically guide hand shape and stick grip, and coach through the learning process. He would regularly perform with the schools Wind Ensemble after learning his part through coaching completely by memory and with subtle cues from his peers. |
5/23/2018
Topic:
Tools and Strategies
Richard Sorey
|
Differentiated Assignments – Could be used in teaching scales. In a multi-level classroom, you could teach the same scale in a variety of patterns depending on a student’s level/ grade. 1st year students play the scale in straight eight note patter, 2nd year in thirds, 3rd year in returning scale patterns, 4th with relative minor. This could also be used in a point system of grading. Students can customize their learning to achieve the points necessary for their grade. For instance, a scale in straight eight notes might be 10 points. If you require them to earn 100 points a semester that’s 10 scales. If scales in thirds are 20 points, then they would only need to learn 5 at that level. It would also allow students to mix and match levels.
Peer Partners (peer tutoring) – in a multi-level classroom the peer partner model works great. Instructor can pair students by instrument, learning type, level (high with low), or by similar level (low with Low, high with high). I prefer to pair my high level students with my low level students. This allows for my higher level students to learn by teaching, demonstrating, or explaining; and allows my lower level student to get one on one instruction with someone of the same instrument.
Both of these strategies would work well with students with disabilities. Differentiated assignments would allow students who are of different learning types to select assignments that engage and challenge them. This year we did a peer partner percussion lesson with my schools drum line and Access Music Class. Each percussion student was paired with a student with disabilities and they worked with them on hand drums on a lesson on steady beat. |
5/23/2018
Topic:
Assessment of Learning
Richard Sorey
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A few years ago, I worked with a student who had a vision disability. He was not fully blind, but it required us to have his music blown up to double size (if not larger) in order for him to read it on his stand. He played the euphonium, so we adjusted his seating to as close to the front as possible so that he could see visual cues from me. He ended up sitting second row in the center so that I was directly in front of him when conducting.
Weekly we would have sight reading/ rhythm of the check/ quiz. To accommodate him we would allow him to take pictures of the rhythm on a tablet to enlarge them quickly. He had to delete them post to ensure they were not being shared with other students. Additionally, he would get additional time to review the rhythm before performing. |