Have you ever been apprehensive about trying something new? Most of us are nervous when it comes to giving something new a try. We often downplay the importance of what we are doing, we get great anxiety at embracing the change, or simply turn our heads and resist the change completely. What if the most important part of your class was not about giving instructions or finishing a worksheet? My students with special needs have reminded me that trying something in a new way can be the most rewarding change of all!
Most children love to sing, play instruments, and move to the beat. At the beginning of this school year, though, our special needs class wasn’t so sure about exploring the music room. I’m sure when they first came into my classroom it felt like a strange new space and they weren’t quite sure what they thought about it. After discussing how I could make their music class the best experience for them with the administration and their teacher, Ms. Fox, I set out to make a class time to which they would look forward to coming each week. As we began to set a weekly routine, students began to adapt to this routine and explore the instruments we brought out.
The more the students enjoyed coming, the more I began to look for unique items that would help them enjoy moving to and experiencing the music! Young children explore music through play and I found that the eyes of these students of mine truly would light up when we began using different instruments in our classroom. I began to look for toys that I could utilize to help students move to the beat, to help them count, or even to help them find their body parts. We started using scarves, puppets, streamers, and countless other toys that brought joy to our classroom.
Watching the glee on the faces of my students as we moved to the music of a song they had heard in a movie at home turned my face into a smile with theirs. Seeing students move seats four times in the same song to have an alligator puppet “attack” their arm or finger again made me burst into giggles. Watching students move a spider to the correct body part or stop playing their instruments at the right time reminded me just how brilliant these students are!
Needless to say, watching the power of play in the music classroom is a joy any day of the week, but the sun seems to shine ever brighter on days when I get to see the joyful smiles on the faces of my sweet students in this classroom. Routines in our classroom are important; they leave students singing the songs they know so well. Exploring might feel uncertain at first, but soon you will discover that a new, rewarding musical pathway can be paved in your classroom, too!
Valerie Durham
Hopkins Elementary School
Somerset Independent School District
K-4
