Zachary Robinson
May 2020
MUS 664
Submitted to: Dr. Alaine Reschke-Hernández
Reflective Analysis Essay
Before the shift to online classes, my service-learning experience took place at an elementary school in coordination with a special education teacher. This teacher served as the service-learning community partner and worked with me to coordinate details such as meeting times, volunteer clearance, and goals for the placement. The setting primarily took place within this teacher’s special education resource room, but occasionally extended to other parts of the school as student participants transitioned throughout their daily schedules.
In this classroom, the teacher served 6 students ranging from 2nd grade to 4th grade. All 6 of these students had autism, each presenting unique academic and social needs. During the initial weeks I was able to visit the school, I met with, observed, and worked with two different paraeducators and a student teacher who also assisted in this setting. This team worked together to manage the shifting rotation of the 6 students’ different daily schedules.
I was able to observe the educators and paraeducators as they worked with each student and was given opportunities to assist in smaller daily tasks. From the time I spent observing, I worked with the community partner to identify two areas of need in which I could potentially assist:
· Providing structure to certain aspects of each student’s routine.
· Varying and enhancing the means through which academic and social concepts were presented.
By becoming more familiar with the service-learning environment, I planned to develop interventions and activities which could best address these goals while also accommodating the unique needs present. In doing so, outcomes for myself involved creating music therapy that provided multiple means of representation, action, expression, and engagement. This service-learning experience would serve as a valuable experience, practicing skills related to the development of applicable goals and objectives and the implementation of a variety of intervention techniques.
However, due to public health and safety precautions and closures in response to COVID-19, in-person service-learning had to be suspended for the remainder of the semester. Despite this, I was still able to meet service-learning outcomes through the development of an online portfolio. For this portfolio, I gathered reference resources to guide my understanding of special education principles and practices. Reviewing these references allowed me to build foundational knowledge on inclusive music practices and special considerations for working with students with autism within a special education setting.
After communicating with the community partner, I worked to develop music interventions which could be completed from home with the help of parents or guardians. This included the creation of activity plans that could be printed or viewed on a computer, phone, or tablet to be worked on outside of school. Though I wasn’t able to work directly with the students due to extraneous circumstances, developing these activities gave me valuable practice for future work. I could have done a better job creating a wider variety of instructions or adaptations to each activity. However, incorporating feedback from the community partner definitely helped me to further personalize and individualize the objectives for each activity I created. I intend to take into account each of these considerations in future work.
One of the main concepts from service-learning I continue to consider is the importance of cooperation and collaboration. The paraeducators, teacher, and student teacher each brought different skills and ideas to the students’ education. Even in the first few visits to the site, I realized just how crucial each team member was to the students’ success. Each student had an incredibly wide array of academic, social, and sensory needs. Through the smart use of space and resources, each adult played a key role in addressing these needs. I observed how the teacher and student teacher effectively managed to juggle the constantly shifting student routines by allocating resources and delegating personnel. I observed how each paraeducator practiced sensitive and careful attention to each individual student. Though I did not get many opportunities to practice this team collaboration, simply observing the team dynamic was very educational. In collecting references, I made sure to broaden my understanding of collaboration within special education settings.
I have worked with students with autism before. However, while I’ve had several experiences working with and observing music therapy in educational settings, this was the first time I had spent a prolonged period in a group setting. Much of my experience in special education has been in 1-on-1 or 2-on-1 settings. I suppose that many of my assumptions of slightly larger special education classrooms came from knowledge gained through textbooks and video descriptions. Upon arriving at the setting for the first time, I was able to observe and experience this group dynamic (for an extended period) for the first time. During this, I was able to see the wide range of considerations that teachers manage on a daily basis. Seeing how this teacher managed the group and transitioned from each section of the day was very informative, and I hope to use some of the strategies I observed in the future. I learned the importance of creating educational environments which promote a more Universal Design for Learning. As the range of routines, goals, and needs of each student was wide, this was made very apparent.
Many of the concepts presented in the course were illustrated and demonstrated through this service-learning experience. I was given the opportunity to broaden and deepen my understanding of inclusive music practices. I gained insight into the tools, techniques, and collaborative strategies that educators use on a daily basis. I learned the importance of the framework of educational design, and how barriers to inclusion can be overcome through a variety of means, chiefly, the broadening of knowledge and values regarding diversity and equality. By working with multiple students, I was able to get a real-time sense of the range of considerations for students with autism.
Personally, this service-learning experience has emphasized the importance of two major concepts: inclusion and flexibility. Practicing inclusion and learning about the ever-shifting societal landscape regarding disability is key to providing quality therapy, education, and care. Through a carefully internalized set of inclusive values, we build a foundation upon which to provide the highest quality of service to all people. Additionally, the varied and ever-changing needs of every special education environment has illustrated to me the importance of being flexible. This includes flexibility within a collaborative team and flexibility with the shifting needs of each student. The importance of flexibility has been doubly emphasized with the shift to online learning.
For future service-learning students, I would definitely recommend the importance of accountability. Coordination, communication, and punctuality are all vital skills to successful work, regardless of the setting. For this setting, flexibility and a willingness to learn are both skills which will set anybody up for success. Before this experience, I wish I had been more proactive with scheduling earlier observations and visits, so that I could have spent as much time as possible physically in the setting before extraneous circumstances prevented me from doing so. By spending as much time as possible in community settings such as this one, we as future professionals gain a wider awareness of the people we will one day serve. We can experience firsthand the needs of those we work with in a way that a textbook could never comprehensively illustrate.
This experience has motivated me to seek out further knowledge surrounding inclusion, disability, and techniques for incorporating music into the development of essential skills. Armed with a deeper understanding of a population I may work with, I plan to continue practicing skills related to providing service to them. Using these skills, I plan to continue creating, collaborating, and connecting.