Within the first two meetings of service learning, the student MT completed the following tasks in order to gain a foundational understanding of the site:
Prior to in-person meeting, the student MT communicated with the special education teacher and coordinated important logistical information regarding dates, times, and the specific location of the community site.
Background checks and volunteer registration procedures were completed in accordance with district policies and safety measures.
Student MT met with cooperating teacher and discussed additional foundational information including class size, student schedules, and disabilities present.
Meeting times were decided, designating Thursday afternoons from 12:20 - 2:00 to be the meeting time that worked best for the teacher, student MT, and class schedules.
Student MT spent two visits observing, taking notes, and getting to know each of the students as they did completed daily activities. Students and paraeducators expressed excitement and anticipation of future music activities.
Service learning occurs in an elementary special education classroom in cooperation with a special education teacher who fills the role of community partner. 2 paraeducators assist the teacher with daily instruction, activities, and various individual needs. The class contains 6 special needs students, grades 2-4 aged 7-9. All six students have autism. The class follows a mainstreaming model; the students receive the bulk of their academic instruction in general classes, but also receive specialized time in the special education classroom with the assistance of paraeducators. Percentage of integration varies for each of the students, with all 6 having unique daily schedules.
The service learning site is an adequately staffed, properly structured, and well funded educational setting. As such, needs of the teachers and professionals are centered mainly around enriching the quality of and potency of certain educational practices and developing the social needs of the students. In addition to providing additional support on general classroom materials, certain specialized IEP goals for each student are translated into academic, cognitive, and social concepts which receive special attention within this particular setting. Additionally, the students all have a variety of needs which require a depth of educational tools and supports to reach these goals. Music has the potential to act as a flexible means of providing new opportunities for representation, action, expression, and engagement throughout the development of these goals and objectives.
To help develop further understanding of the needs of each student and educator, the student MT could spend time shadowing the teacher and paraeducators as they address individualized needs of each student and travel throughout sections of their school day. For example, when a paraeducators pulls a student aside to work on an activity, the student MT could observe as they give 1-on-1 instruction and note the range of social needs present for each student in the class.
Each of the students has a fairly dense and constantly rotating unique daily schedule. As such, I believe that one potential activity could include the writing of songs which help the students remember their class changes. This could include physical directions, memorization of names and numbers, and the writing of self-instructions that help provide structure as each student goes about their day. To provide tangible evidence of this, physical copies of the "schedule song" lyrics could be saved and shared with other teachers, paraeducators, and other school professionals.