Background Project- 1st Placement

For this project I researched and discussed 2 students with my cooperating teacher and other fine arts representatives that also work with these two students. The goal was to find ways to incorporate elements that the students could connect with in our general lesson plans without isolating those students. The two students I chose were outliers in their classes in terms of ability levels, focus, and preparation.  

Student A had an IEP and learning disability. Their most challenging points in classes tended to be with analyzing instructions and with unmuting during class. Many times during our ensemble class, they would unmute and ask questions, lose focus, get frustrated, and feel isolated. One area I excel in is with having patience.  As I continued to research and inquire about this student, I found that they were a verbal learner. Visuals didn't quite help them but repeating the instructions and guidelines twice were very helpful to them.  To prepare for lessons that they would participate in I created slides that listed the schedule for the day, had a slide where I read the instructions aloud, then demonstrated visually for the rest of the class while repeating the instructions and guidelines a second time for them.  This removed the focus from them needing to hear instructions twice and placed an emphasis to students to listen first watch second-- for them- they listened twice and caught on very quickly.  One issue that they faced in the classroom was that they always wanted to ask questions.  In google meet you cannot direct message someone so that class either had to see their question in the chat or they would randomly unmute and ask aloud.  To address this situation, I added in a check-in every 5 min during class when new material was being presented so that anyone who had questions could ask them at that time.  This allowed them to ask without interrupting the entire class. They also slowly began asking fewer questions because of the repetition I had focused on in presenting the information. 

Student B was an english language learner and had an IEP due to a learning disability.  This student regularly did not follow instructions, would repeat the correct instructions vocally but then would move to do something completely unrelated or incorrect.  This student regularly would try and change the subject when asked to play for the class or even one on one for a breakout room.  This student also never turned on their camera.  A big challenge for this student was that they loved playing the saxophone but HATED practicing and hated the repertoire that we were playing. I would ask them what notes were used in a song, they would play them fine, and then when we moved onto another song that used the exact same notes they would ask how to play the notes.  In talking with them and other colleagues I found that they really enjoyed songs that had a groove to them.  Some things I included in my lesson plans for them were- switching up the repertoire to more relatable songs like "Seven Nation Army", presenting material in a visual, verbal, and auditory manner, and finally expanding time in class for questions. Seven Nation Army also has two phrases that are very similar and use the same notes.  When teaching this song, I was able to connect the two phrases and show how the same notes are used but the rhythm changed.  I think they began to understand the connection but definitely needed more repetition of that idea to really master understanding the relationships with notes. Finally scheduling more time for questions and clarification really allowed them to pace their questioning throughout the lesson plan.