Teachers+Share...

=This area of the WIKI is set aside for in-service teachers to share their experiences, best-practices, strategies, etc. for using technology in teaching music to special learners. THANKS to everyone for sharing from your experience!= [NOTE: To add to this page and this WIKI, you will need: 1) a (free) wikispaces account, and 2) to join this particular WIKI. Click "Join" above if you aren't a wikispaces member, then - once you do - click "Join this WIKI" to the upper left.]

__**LASER POINTER (5/17/2013)**__ Today I discovered a great way to help students with a reading learning disability "track" notes in band class. We have IWB's in our band rooms, with which we use SmartMusic and the Sound Innovations (Alfred) band method book. A student was having trouble following the notes, even with SmartMusic (which provides a cursor to show students playback location in the music).

After going over the notes, and a few rough attempts with SmartMusic, I asked the student to use my laser pointer to point at the notes as I played them. He thought it was cool to use the laser pointer, AND (more importantly) - as was obvious by the red dot on the notes I played - he did a good job of tracking with the pointer. After that, we switched and I tracked with the laser pointer as he played. I had to follow his tempo, but his note accuracy was much better!

__**BEHAVIOR INCENTIVE (Fall 2013)**__ This year I've been working with a severely autistic 4th grade drummer. He comes to class with an aide and his aide shared a GREAT way to keep him focused/on task. It's so "low tech" but it's genius is in its simplicity! She begins the class with a laminated piece of construction paper with a word written on it. The word is something he looks forward to during the day, such as COMPUTER LAB or MOVIE. If he gets off task and begins distracting others, she soberly warns him, "I'll have to remove a letter." If he doesn't respond, she wipes away a letter. He really wants to engage in the activity so he usually repsonds to this! You could even do this by writing the incentive word(s) on a chalk or white board, too.

__**STUDENTS TEACHING (Spring 2014)**__ Since I'm delivering instrumental music instruction with SmartMusic on an IWB, I've started inviting students to come up to the IWB to explain to their classmates some element we are working on. They can use colored markers to circle things, write in counts, note names, or whatever they like. Students may not be as efficient with time, but it's neat to see them work through how to best explain to others what they know.