Explaining My ISM

My Individualized Studies Major is Music in Special Education. It is composed of the discipline’s Childhood Education, Special Education and Music. Originally, I was a Childhood Education/ Special Education Major with a Music Concentration, but I shifted my focus and changed my major to my ISM when I learned about how I could improve education for students, especially students with disabilities, through music. The interdisciplinarity of this major will give me the ability to help children learn and grow in a more unique way than other educators.

The different disciplines I learned about each adds something to my major and my abilities to help children. My general education classes taught me how to create and implement classroom activities. My special education courses taught me about how different students have different needs, how to accommodate for those needs and how to push all students for success. My music classes taught me about how music is used by different people and how it can be an important part of the lives of those who engage in it. All these pieces come together to create my ISM.