Grace Lathrop

Dr. Rodriguez

MUED-355

8 December 2020

Final Reflection

Coming into ‘Music for Exceptional Children,’ I’ll admit that I was nervous. I assumed,

incorrectly, that teaching students with special needs would be an overwhelming topic and would

be difficult for me to grasp. I cannot recall many experiences from my own academic career

where I was learning alongside my peers with special needs, and I think not having that personal

context made this class initially seem foreign and daunting. However, that has all changed and I

can confidently say that this course has made me more certain of my career path and my abilities

to teach students of varying abilities.

Starting the course with learning the laws that impact the education of students with

disabilities and special needs was a necessary step in my success in this class. Knowing the

baseline of the rights that are protected by the law is important because those laws impact the

classroom and student’s learning experiences. Our discussions have made me more interested in

legislation that surrounds public education and has made me more likely to vote for legislators

that focus and promote the ideals surrounding free and accessible education for all. While

learning of how to best serve my students, I learned how to use that knowledge to inform and

impact my community, which I think is a beautiful thing. Once I am employed as an educator,

and in the time leading up to then, I will have to keep up to date on changes in the laws that

affect me as a teacher and my students as well. It is my goal to seek out professional

development opportunities that help me better understand these laws and be an advocate for my

future students.

One of the biggest takeaways I have from this course is that if I write strong lesson plans,

the UDL principles will already be within them. Before this semester I would have thought that I

had to adapt every lesson with specific language from IEPs and 504 plans and would have a big

rulebook to follow in making my lessons and classroom more accessible. While I will still have

to apply criteria from student’s IEPs and 504 plans, the UDL principles are there to help me

include everyone. They also are a tool that I can now recognize and use to increase student

engagement and make learning experiences more meaningful for all involved. These principles

benefit every learner and are an important component of lesson planning. As a future educator it

will be my responsibility to keep using UDL principles, but I will have to make a conscious

effort to use the principles that come less easily to me or that I cannot identify as well.

Another hard but crucial thing for me to learn was how to be a collaborator and part of a

student’s education team. While I love working with others, I am very much an individualist by

nature. This course has helped me realize that I don’t have to have all the answers, I just need to

know my resources and reach out to the colleagues that can provide help and support. I have also

learned to view my colleagues as specialists. Their input is an integral piece in making sure that

students’ needs are seen, valued and met and it can only be gained by collaborating. It is my

responsibility to my students to collaborate for their own wellbeing, and I now look forward to

doing so. I will go forward with a positive outlook on collaboration. As a future educator I will

be able to understand my role as a collaborator and the benefits it provides for students and

faculty alike and will be likely to seek out opportunities for collaboration.
 I think one of my biggest takeaways from this semester, but this course specifically, is

that I don’t have to have full control and make all of the decisions for my classroom. It is safe to

say that one of my favorite UDL principles is allowing for student choice and autonomy. It is so

rewarding to see students making their own decisions about their learning in the classroom, and

as a student I enjoy when I am given opportunities to make personal decisions about my learning

as well. For example, seeing Mr. Axler use this principle with his students would have definitely

overwhelmed me in August, but since learning of the benefits of its use for students and teacher

alike it is something I am constantly looking for in my observation experiences. It is my goal to

continue including an element of student choice in my lesson plans and give students a say in

their learning experiences.

I am grateful for the experiences we had in terms of getting to look over 504 plans and

IEP samples. Those documents are hard to navigate, so being able to have classroom discussions

around them and practice on our midterm with adapting plans has given me confidence. Once I

am an educator, I would like to be included in 504 plan and IEP meetings where appropriate and

guide my students in having musical goals on top of their general learning and classroom goals.

This class has honestly changed me for the better. Before this semester, my viewpoints

were limited in terms of including all students in my classroom and it was a topic that I could

have told you very little about. Now, however, I can tell you that it is simple. All I have to do is

value my students and the content in my lessons, I have all of the tools I need to find and remove

the barriers that my students face to create inclusive and meaningful music making experiences.

My biggest goal as a future educator is to keep the peace of mind that I have the tools,

knowledge and resources that I need to serve my students and school while simultaneously still

seeking opportunities to expand my toolkit and available resources.