Facing the Last Week of School

I just don't want to go to work this week, but I know that I will regret it if I do not go. It is Spirit Week and the last week before winter break, so there are so many things that are happening that will just fan the flames of hyper-emotion that is already simmering in the body of each and every one of my students AND all of my co-workers AND, of course, in me. Staying home would be a cowardly act and would not do me any good at all.

So, I will be heading out into the world to go to a job where there isn't much that can be done as far as education is concerned. I need to figure out how to keep my students engaged in something that is not extremely taxing to them but that still offers some of the things that I want them to be doing. It is Musician of the Month and center week, so I want clients to choose things to do, but I also need them to be active and moving, so the centers need to be something that will keep them busy.

The major problem that I have when putting together my session strategies is that my classes are not organized by interest, skill, academic level, or really, anything at all. We put kids into classroom groups with little to no regard for how kids learn or think or what they need from a school-based therapeutic program. So, I have kids who process information verbally sitting in a group with other kids who do not process verbally at all. This makes for challenges when trying to provide equitable access to information and ideas.

I have been studying the concepts of Universal Design and Universal Design for Learning recently. The tenets of Universal Design resonate deeply with me, so I am trying to make my music therapy environment more inclusive in ways that benefit all of my clients. I have increased the amounts of pictures and words available in the room to help clients request the instruments and materials that they want to use. 

Unfortunately, this is the type of quest that never ends. Every step forward shows me five other things that I want to do.

This is a good type of quest - one that really never ends. How do we make music therapy more in line with the ideas of Universal Design for the clients we serve?? These are the things that I am thinking about right now.

Something to think about while I am driving to work today. 

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