tion about some of my students through IEP and 504 meet- ings. Through these meetings with other teachers and special- ists, I was informed of the accommodations that I would be expected to provide in the classroom. Later, I also had the opportunity to meet with our school’s DHH (Deaf and Hard of Hearing) teacher. Through conversations with the DHH teacher, I learned that my fifth grade student who is deaf had been deaf since birth, had a cochlear implant and sometimes wore a receiver, would be attending my class with an ASL interpreter, needed to sit toward the front of the classroom, could read and write in English and was learning Spanish, seemed to love looking at music notation, previously studied sound waves and terms like amplitude, wavelength, and fre- quency, had not been involved in the school’s music program since kindergarten, and was being involved in music class in order to continue interacting with peers. Learning all of this allowed me to begin building an understanding of this student as a whole person and, as a result, I began to feel exceedingly excited to welcome this student into the music classroom and continue collaborating with the DHH specialists in our school. Additionally, I realized that my initial feelings of ‘uncertainty and inadequacy’ were not due to the student’s deafness but rather due to my insufficient awareness of the student’s educa- tional past, abilities, interests, and existing accommodations.
Though I believed I was beginning to build a basic under- standing of this student, I understood very little about what this meant in terms of supporting the student’s musical de- velopment in the classroom. Had it been a situation where I would be teaching one-on-one music lessons with the student and the interpreter, I might have felt more confident. But, in a mainstream classroom setting, I was concerned about keep- ing the pacing and lesson content appropriate, accessible, and meaningful for every single one of the thirty students in my room. Though I felt unprepared and inexperienced, I was will- ing and compelled to draw from the existing resources and experience of the DHH experts in order to provide the best possible learning environment for ALL of my students.
Looking for advice and direction from experienced teachers, I started reaching out to my collegiate professors, colleagues, and mentors. Unfortunately, I soon discovered that the teach- ers I reached out to had never experienced working with an interpreter, let alone a sign language interpreter, in the music classroom. Using my best judgment, I continued developing lessons and materials based on my knowledge of music learn- ing and the unique abilities of my student who was deaf.
Action #2: Build Relationships
One of the most important things I initially had to do was build a relationship with the student’s ASL interpreter. Al- though the DHH teacher provided excellent educational guid- ance and insights, I did not work with the DHH teacher on a regular basis or in an instructional setting. I did, however, work with the student’s interpreter every time my student
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came to music class, which was twice a week for thirty min- utes each time. I realized very quickly that the student’s in- terpreter was a person with whom the student had spent all of elementary school; their relationship was far more substantial than any direct connection I could ever hope to build with the student. By establishing routines and building a professional working relationship with the interpreter, I believed that class- room activities and lessons became more worthwhile for the interpreter and more meaningful for the student.
At first, I rarely communicated directly with the student. I am guessing that this is partially because I did not have the neces- sary vocabulary to effectively communicate in a meaningful way and partially because I was someone completely new in this student’s world! However, by building a relationship with the interpreter, I was eventually able to build direct connec- tions with the student, primarily by learning and signing short greetings and phrases in ASL.
Action #3: Implement Appropriate Routines and Accommodations
This fifth grade student possessed a set of unique skills, as all of the students in our classrooms do. However, these skill sets were essential in informing the implementation of appropri- ate accommodations in the classroom. Visual and kinesthetic aids—such as transcripts of spoken lesson content, captioned videos, movement props that physically connected students to one another for movement activities, listening maps, and rhythmic notation cards—were vital in engaging the student in classroom activities. However, it was also important for me to remember that the meaning that this student was bringing to these visual aides was potentially vastly different than the meaning that hearing students might bring to the visual aides.
Though I was becoming familiar with the types of accommo- dations and styles of instruction that worked for this particu- lar student and the interpreter, delivering meaningful music instruction was a continuous process that took lots of time, trial and error, and awareness—on the music teacher’s be- half—during instruction. Over time, the student’s interpreter began bringing a small white board to music class in order to provide further communication, and we eventually set up a routine where I would give all written materials and props to the interpreter at the very beginning of class. Because I could recognize a few basic ASL signs, I made sure to watch the interpreter for pacing cues when I would verbally address the class. Using our classroom projector, I would project all text, notation, listening maps, and visual aids on the white board. For activities that relied primarily on aural skills, the interpreter would tap macro and micro beats or designated rhythms on the student’s body while other students sang vocal warm-ups or echoed tonal patterns. Through trial and error, the interpreter, DHH teacher, and I were able to develop dif- ferent strategies and ways for the deaf student to participate in not only classroom activities but musical rehearsals and per-
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