The special education laws in the United States of America compared to Trinidad and Tobago revealed that such laws reflect the accommodations needed to help guide and improve students’ progress in the music classrooms. These laws accommodate special music educator’s appropriate plans to help teach music to the pupils with learning disabilities on a daily basis. Moreover, looking at the status of special education in Trinidad and Tobago, I realized that some appropriate policies are in place for children with learning disabilities, but not yet practice. There is no policy to provide support for classroom accommodations and academic plans to assist students with learning disabilities in the music classroom.
Through the Literature reviewed, I discovered a number of ways to teach children with learning disabilities from a number of known and experienced special music educators and authors. They highlighted effective teaching strategies, techniques, innovative approaches and methods for teaching students with learning disabilities in vocal and instrumental, music literacy “Receptive and Expressive Language”, with music and reading, to improve math scores with music, to have a positive impact on behavior, to help with auditory processing problems and to assist with “perceptual-motor development through rhythm and motor activities” (Colwell, p. 11) through the teaching of music. All these authors have highlighted some of the content that has been written on how to teach music to children with learning disabilities, which can help improve my skill for students in Trinidad and Tobago
Reference:
Colwell, M. C. (2002, November). Learning Disabilities in the Music Classroom: Implications for the Music Educator. Retrieved from http://upd.sagepub.com/content/21/2/9.full.pdf+html
From my observations and practice with certified and experienced music educators throughout the New York City area, Trinidad and Tobago should expose this sound knowledge through organized workshops and monitoring of practice in special schools. Since there is a lack of sufficient certified and experienced special music educators in Trinidad and Tobago the government should seek assistance from international professionals to visit the country to help spread this study’s goals and aspirations.
Although the study has already highlighted the best practices for teaching music to children with learning disabilities in Trinidad and Tobago, the international special educators hired by the Ministry of Education in Trinidad and Tobago will recognize that the country has already set its own best practices, but help is needed with proper implementation and mentoring of new special music educators. The Trinidad and Tobago government should use this study as a guide to improve the overall development of special music education in Trinidad and Tobago and to help the growth of children with learning disabilities throughout the country. I am looking forward to be the teacher leader in this field on my return to Trinidad and Tobago.
Ultimately, we must not see music as putting correct notes together for performances; instead we must explore ways to transform the information in meaningful ways that would benefit the practice of educating and to benefit our lives. If we as music educators refuse to discover ways to modify the information in telling ways to our students then we would have fail to educate each pupil through music. It is time that the music education profession restructures itself so we can move away from musical instructions that lends itself to training and not educating. We need our students to get a respectable education, but we need stronger educational standards that reflect ethically guided teaching and exemplary performances from teachers. This is the only path for our pupils to become educated with advanced thoughts and to become worthy individuals.
Where can we begin with this restructuring center around topics like cultural identity and beneficial learning assessments? But, I believe we can begin with an appreciated music curriculum with an input from the music teachers in the classrooms. This curriculum should involve the input of the teachers because they are professionals and their proficient progress over a period of time is valued towards our children. A curriculum that would have wide-ranging strategies reflecting educated students that is what all music educators’ should hope for. It must show what they would have accomplished at the end of the school term, school year and their entire time in school.
We must begin engaging our young university students while they are in the field practicing or even before. They must occupy their minds with beneficial learning assessments, cultural identity, and a valuable music curriculum with their input; exemplary performances, ethical guided teaching and they must pay close attention to the differences between education and training. The longer we take as a music education profession to aim at introducing these topics to our inexperienced, but talented future educators we would still be using musical instructions to train our students. Parents allow their children to go to school with the hope that they are being educated through music, rather than trained. How long will it take us to begin educating our students through this blessed thing as some people refer to music, I hope it will not be much longer.
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