I teach at Bella Vista Elementary School, a public school in the Oakland Unified School District in California. I teach first grade special education class for students with mild to moderate disabilities.
Together with another Special Education teacher at Bella Vista Elementary School, I seek to implement a year-long music program in two classes about drums from around the world. Currently, budget restraints district-wide mean our students receive no music instruction and have no instruments.
We seek to provide our students the opportunity to see drumming presentations through two field trips as well play drums from around the world in our classrooms.
Our students excel in movement and rhythm even while they experience difficulty in other subject areas. We aim to address the lack of music in our classroom and meet our students' needs through this project.
Students will benefit from the materials by learning rhythm; obtaining an awareness of musical connections across cultures; engaging wider community and parents; exercising leadership at assemblies; experiencing delight in musical expression; mastering activities with California State Standards in Language Arts and Math; experiencing the therapeutic and intellectual benefits of drumming.
Our program will consist of one-hour weekly lessons culminating in a school-wide presentation. We will build bridges to geography, reading, history and math around the world. Students will reflect upon their experience drumming through writing and oral presentation. The project is the first in Oakland to bridge cultural and music education in elementary school special education classrooms.
Bella Vista Elementary School is a public school in the heart of Oakland, California. The majority of students are children of immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America. Participating in drum and cultural lessons from our students' native countries will provide a unique opportunity to reinforce self-esteem and involve the students' families. Over 94 percent of our students qualify for free breakfast and lunch.
The Special Education program consists of two self contained Special Day Classes for students with mild to moderate disabilities, including Communication disorders and Autism. The classes are comprised of African-American, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, El Salvadoran and Mexican students. They are bright and curious scholars who blossom with interactive, hands-on learning.
The project will be evaluated in a formal and informal way. Students will be assessed with reciprocal questioning incorporated into every lesson. Students will be responsible, each week, for recording their observations through art work and writing in drum journals. Teachers will be responsible for recording the development of lessons through pictures and written observations.
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