Franklin Military, although a magnet school that requires an application and interview, is still a

Title I school, so there are many accommodations for their diverse student population. Some of these
programs include, but are not limited to, free lunches for all students, regular classroom visits from
paraprofessionals, least restrictive environments for students with disabilities, regularly scheduled grief
meetings for students to gather and share, and more. The students at FMA were looked after very
closely be every teacher, administrator, and even custodial staff member to ensure they were doing
alright- in and out of the four walls of the school. That also carried into the music classrooms; my
cooperating teacher was not only more than understanding, but he also reinforced the importance of
being adaptive to the diverse needs of students several times throughout my student teaching block
there.

The most frequent adaptation made in the music classroom was that students were not
required to bring their instruments home every day. Many students did not have space on their
methods of transportation; for some this was lack of space on school busses where others it was that
they rode their bikes to school and couldn’t carry both a backpack and a saxophone. This small
accommodation did slow music classes down a lot and many of them became practice sessions,
however students were willing to put in the hard work during these rehearsals to make up for it. This
year also happened to be the first year that students were back in school after the COVId pandemic, so
the bands were not required to participate in District Assessments as another accommodation. After the
pandemic, my cooperating teacher found that he was getting brand new students every semester (and
now RPS is on a semester schedule rather than an even/odd schedule as they previously were) which
meant he had to start band from the beginning every semester. Going to assessment would not be
conducive to the learning of these students, so it was decided that they waited to go until they were
adjusted.

Another school practice that aids in equity for their diverse student population is universal free
lunches. This not only benefits these students and their families financially, but this program keeps
students from feeling left out for having free or reduced-price lunches when their peers don’t. I
remember in my own school how students were teased for having free or reduced-price lunches and the
impact it had on those students, so this program is very beneficial to eliminate that social barrier.

Most of the students I worked with at Franklin Military Academy had IEPs or 504 plans, so many
accommodations were made in the classroom to adhere to those plans. In addition to these classroom
accommodations, these students were included in the general classroom and received frequent visits
from paraprofessionals no less than twice a week. There were also professional development meetings
once a week for all staff members to learn news ways of helping the students in various ways;
sometimes it was to learn about how to create a more welcoming and student-centered environment,
and sometimes it was a about how to discipline students while still making them feel engaged (the
principle’s words were “I don’t suspend, I extend.”) There were also programs offered to help students
with trouble in their lives outside of school, for example regular grief meetings. These meetings were
offered every month to provide a space for students to share about their grief if needed, and it also
served as a hub for resources for grief management and healing. All in all, students of all backgrounds
and varying lives outside of school were looked after through the practices and policies both in the
music classroom and the school as a whole.