Logan Blatt

blattlm@dukes.jmu.edu
Students with Special Needs or Exceptionalities Background
November 4, 2022
Block 2 – High School Choir & Music Appreciation

Student A

Student A is a first year in our Music Appreciation class. They have a 504 due to ADHD,

and they have minor physical conditions such as asthma. In the classroom, Student A has

difficulty staying on-task or following along with the lecture unless it is music or material that

they are directly interested in. In middle school, this student was sometimes included in different

classroom settings or given additional tools; however, it was determined that they no longer had

need for this, and they now follow the standard block schedule that allows them flexibility and

comfortability in their time at school. While in our classroom, this student also likes to chatter,

and they are often caught with headphones on or browsing their phone/laptop instead of taking

notes. Per the 504, my CT and I prompt them to redirect their attention when necessary, and

that tends to work for a little while.

The 504 also suggests placing this student near a positive peer that they get along with;

however, they do not often have positive interactions with other students except for one, and

said student is a contributing factor in the distraction. I have found that by engaging Student A’s

friend in class, I can more easily draw both of their attention to the material, rather than directly

grasping for Student A’s attention. This lines up with information in the 504, stating that Student

A is easily influenced by their peers and may follow positive behavior if someone they look up to

is modeling. In the Music Appreciation class, I continue to direct attention to Student A and their

friend as necessary, and have confirmed that most of the time, directing the friend’s attention to

the front will cause Student A to do the same. Alongside classroom behaviors, the student does

struggle academically, and often misses questions on tests that most other students will get
correct. I do believe that this is a factor of Student A’s frequent distraction, as they do well on

questions pertaining to specific topics of interest. As I continue teaching Music Appreciation, I

will focus my energy into engaging Student A as best as possible, encouraging them to remain

focused while providing positive feedback when they do well.

Student B

Student B is also a first year in our Music Appreciation class. They are an ELL student

with an LIEP and has greatly documented history surrounding their progression with the English

language. Their LIEP states that they are at Level 2 – Emerging as of the summer before this

school year. At this level, Student B understands general language related to the content areas,

and they can communicate with phrases or short sentences in oral interaction or written

paragraphs. Their oral and written language will often have phonological, syntactic, or semantic

errors that often impede communication, but still retain much of its meaning. Their scores show

that listening is their strongest component of the English language, while writing is the most

difficult.

In our Music Appreciation class, my CT and I will do what we can to facilitate success

with this student (as well as another ELL student in the class). Unfortunately, I am not well-

versed with the Spanish language, so my own ability to accommodate is rather limited, and

there are not strong resources for translations or other accommodations within the school

building that we have access to. I will always translate tests into Spanish using Google

Translate, doing my best to fix errors that it causes; however, it can still cause some issues. We

also give a slight curve to Student B and their friend due to the difficulty in understanding course

material through lecture. In future lessons with this student, I will try to create clear Spanish

versions of the PowerPoints and create guided notes that can be filled out as they listen to the

English lecture.
 This student, while somewhat disengaged in class, is very respectful. When they are

paying attention, they can be seen taking brief notes and listening to any music that is played for

the class to listen to. We also rate music as we listen, and they frequently participate by

showing a number from 1-5 on their hand, and they give honest responses based off what they

hear. I believe that with better resources to provide accommodations, it would be far easier to

adapt lessons to the benefit of Student B. In the meantime, I attempt to speak slowly and clearly

enough to provide time for Student B to understand what I am saying, and their test scores

seem to reflect moderate success with this.