EDT 500

 Potential Materials Needed for ID

• SmartBoard for presentations and aural interaction for instruments

• Access to 25 computers with internet and Garageband software
• Pictures/Audio of musicians and music.
• TV broadcast of Elvis in a Live performance.
• Quizzes/reflection sheets
• Webquest about musicians of early rock era and/or music of the era
  

Summative Evaluation ideas for my ID project  (Music/Rock and Roll project)

• Listening Evaluation - Play select music from the Rock and Roll era at the beginning of the unit to see how many songs/artists are recognized by students. Then, play the same songs at the end of the unit to see if students recognize more songs/artists.

• Visual Evaluation - Display pictures of the artists and instruments used in this era to see how many are recognized by students.  Before and after would be beneficial to see the students knowledge.
  

• Tech Evaluation - Students will make a short early rock recording on Garage Band.  They will use sound samples from garage band to create a short recording using only instruments/style used in the early rock era.  By listening to this recording, I will be able to determine if students recognize the sounds of the era.

• Reflection Evaluation - Students can write a reflection at the end of the unit using guided questions.  What did you enjoy most about the early rock era? Who was your favorite artist and why? What was your favorite activity we did with this unit?  Student reflections can offer a general feedback on what the class enjoyed, what worked and didn't work, what sticks and what was forgotten.
  

Assistive Tech Consideration

1)    Identify one individual student. Provide description of student based on observations and discussion with teachers.

a)     Cognitive abilities - Student "S" has a very limited attention span.  He is able to comprehend directions and information at about 50% of the words spoken to him but significantly more if it is visually presented to him on a computer.  He is autistic.  He is fixed on geography, countries and cities around the world and capitols.  He has memorized more all the information on the most current world maps.  All Countries, capitols, rivers, major landmarks, oceans, rivers, etc.  When I teach him an international song, he is able to point to the country of origin.  He is also fixed on memorizing CD cover songtracks and minute numbers of each song.   He loves using word and number games on the computer and is successful in most games.

b)    Sensory abilities - "S" has very sensitive taste buds.  He eats the same food every day, Chicken pieces sprinkled with a special mexican seasoning.  His reward for good work is skittles.  Once, I put one M&M of the same color in his reward container and he spotted the M&M instantly and threw it across the room.  He greatly enjoys listening to music and is mesmerized by it.

c)     Physical abilities - "S" does not speak much.  His statements are 1-2 words at a time.  He has a hard time sitting still.  He physically looks like most children his age.

2)    Identify two environments in the classroom/school where the student learns. Identify 2 tasks/demands placed on the student or on students in general within those environments.

a)     Environment 1 - Music Room

                                               i.     Play the Piano using labeled piano keys

                                             ii.     Read/dictate music rhythms

b)    Environment 2 - Self-Contained classroom

                                               i.     Complete Math Worksheets

• Benefits of Story Telling - Storytelling in instruction is extremely beneficial to the learner because it offers a relate-able situation and an mental image that helps the learner remember the information.  Storytelling has been used for centuries and is an important tool for teaching.
  

• Chunking - Chunking is used to organize items into familiar, manageable units.  It is very beneficial to learners when trying to relate and remember information such as a series of numbers or letters.  By arranging the information in a particular order or group, it can significantly increase the learners ability to remember the information.

• Coherence - The use of coherence is used to reduce the amount of non-related information that goes into instruction.  By putting on what is needed in terms of text and images, the learner will remember the information clearly.  If non-related info is added or unnecessary amounts of text is added, the learner may not know what is important.

• Typography - Typography is the art of printed text.  The use of Typography can convey a particular mood if the following is addressed... Contrast, Color, Form, Structure, Weight.  By paying attention to these elements, typography can make the information more appealing and easy to read.
  

 5 Instructional Strategies I never used before

I have tried many instructional strategies in my years of teaching.  Some work very well and I continue to use them, some don't and I drop the idea in 3 minutes.  Here are 5 that I read about that I have never tried, but perhaps would work well in my classroom.

Feedback and Emerging Technologies - I could see feedback after a unit as a wonderful way of having students tell me what they learned, had trouble with, and would like to know more about.  By incorporating the feedback to an online form that students submit, I could receive feedback in a speedy fashion.

Webquests - I have read about webquests but never actually had my students use one.  I believe it would be much more beneficial for the students to perform a webquest on composers instead of listening to a lecture about the composers of the classical era.  This would give the students more ownership of the information they are learning about and they dive deeper into topics they choose in the quest.

Minute Papers - because I see my students once per week, I must give a lot of information in each class.  A great way to help them retain the information and reflect on what we learned in that class would be a minute paper where students could answer a few short questions about the lesson they just participated in.

Newscast - I write a newsletter for the parents to inform them about what is happening in music class and upcoming events.  I believe a wonderful idea would be to have students write the newsletter about what they are learning in class.  This would make the newsletter more interesting for students and parents to read.

Lunch with the Teacher - I have never done this because I value my quiet time at lunch, but I believe it can be a great strategy with certain students.  I have a select mute in one of my classes that refuses to talk during class, but will in private.  Perhaps if I eat lunch with her once per month, I can get a greater sense of how to communicate better with her in class.

The Frustrations of Charlotte - Prezi 

Making it Happen

This story took place in over the course of a year in Will's life.  He was presented with one challenge that ultimately turned into several challenges, (or projects/assignments) I believe that the way the content was delivered, in the form of a real life story, was a great way to learn about project management. I didn't always understand everything that Martha was saying, so thankfully Will demonstrated the skill that she was trying to teach.  I actually found that I was thinking that if everything could be approached in this organized manner, everything would be successful, but as stated near the end of the book, not everything is a project and needs this type of approach.

One point that was mentioned that I thought was important was that when something is successful, we tend to apply it to the same thing over and over again.  Every situation is different, therefore every project must unique qualities to the genesis, design, execution, etc...

I thought it would end with Martha found dead on her chair with a pipe hanging from her mouth.

 Content Analysis

For my main topic of Learning about Early Rock and Roll, the content analysis that I want my 5th grade class to be focused on is being able to identify music and musicians of the Early Rock period in America and ways that this music changed the culture of America. Content will be broken into different ideas for instruction such as The artists of the period, the instruments used in the period, the music style that influenced the development of Rock and Roll, Sights and Sounds of early Rock and Roll, and creating a Rock and Roll sound on Garage Band.  Within each of these content areas, I will have the students listen to stories of the period, lecture, view visuals, listen to sound clips and have open discussion for students to review music as well as read real reviews from the period.

Task Analysis

Breaking my content into smaller components, I would first need to understand what the students already know about the topic.  The main skill I want the students to leave this presentation with is the skill to identify the music of the period, be able to discuss the main artist of the period, and create a similar sound.  Some prerequisites of following these tasks will be that students need to have basic computer skills and be able to function on a computer with teacher instruction. Also, I will need access to 20 computers with Garage Band installed. For the most part, student tasks will be to listen and observe the presentation.  Students will also be required to write reviews for music, and students will use the Garage band program to create a short sound clip that uses all the instruments of the Early Rock and Roll period.  To do this, the teacher will need to identify the instruments to the students, then students will need to identify them on their own, recognize the sound that is associated with that instrument, then create instrument tracks on Garage Band to create a sound from this period. The teacher will guide students by first showing the process, then having students try on their own.

 Idea for Presentation (Topic and lesson content)

The topic I would like to use for my presentation project is The Early Rock and Roll period.  The main ideas I would like the grade 5 students to get out of the lessons would be a better understanding of the musicians of this period, the sights and sounds of this period, the instruments used in this period and the affect of this music on the American culture.  In each lesson/presentation, I would like to include one focus topic that will include visuals of the musicians, instruments, sound clips for listening examples, and reviews from critics at the time.

I would incorporate class discussion into the presentation by asking student opinions on the topics and if available have sound clips for students to compare and contrast.

Audience for Presentation Project

The audience I will have for my presentation project will be a Grade 5 audience.  The characteristics of this audience will be of the elementary level of music education.  Their eduction will consist of 5 years of general music education once per week. Their knowledge and experience on the topic is unknown and will depend on the background and musical influence at home. The audience will all know and understand the English language so there will not be any language barriers. This particular group of 5th grade students has specific needs and objectives that these presentations will help them meet. Students are expected to recognize music of, identify artists and music, and be able to discuss the qualities of early rock and roll music and musicians.

Slideshare.net 

2 Examples from Slideshare.  One bad and one good.

Good - Using Visualizations for Music Discovery 

The reason I thought this slide was good was because it was very well organized, visually engaging, and blended information about music from hundreds of years ago through modern day.

Good  - How the Love of Music has changed our business world

This is another good slide because it is very concise, visually selective and not too long and drawn out!

Bad - Audio Production Software

This is just terrible.  It has no visual stimulation, it's written in essay form, and does not appear organized in any fashion that would help the reader focus on anything.

Taking Learning Seriously 

Taking learning seriously discusses taking a serious approach to teaching and seriously think about how and what students learn, remember, know, think they know, and sometimes forget that they learned.  Learning is not always done from the outside in, but can also be done from the inside out. Three Pathologies are discussed; Amnesia, Fantasia and Inertia. Each of these pathologies can create major obstacles for the learner to achieve thorough learning of an idea.

Amnesia is when the learner simply forgets what is learned.  At the end of each school year, I have each student complete an "exit exam" which is a test compiled of music topics/questions that were discussed during the year.  Each year, a large amount of students will leave questions completely blank and state that they never learned this topic.  In reality, I made the test personalized for each class and made sure I only put topics that were covered for 4-6 lessons.  I have students with amnesia every year in every class.  Each year that I give this test and see the results from this amnesia, it inspires me to design the question differently to stimulate their memory.  This year, I plan on incorporating more visuals or technology to each topic on the test in the hopes that the use of technology and visuals will make them not have amnesia.

Fantasia is when the learner has a misconception or "illusory understanding" of an idea. I agree with Shulman that this can be dangerous. If learners continue to believe false ideas and they teach these false ideas to others, then lots of fantasia is spread creating lots of misconception. An example of fantasia in a music class would be when students listen to any music performed by a symphony, they instantly classify it as "classical".  The Classical period of music is music that was written from 1750-1830ish. When I have my students listen to music written by John Williams, they call it Classical music all the time.  Once again, I feel that visuals and/or a virtual field trip to a John Williams concert, then comparisons, may aid students to see and hear the difference.

Inertia is when ideas just lie around and do nothing.  It is learned but nothing is being done with it. As part of my curriculum, students must learn the rhythm syllables for all the rhythms in music. (do, do-day, do da de da).  Students learn many ways to pronounce these rhythms, but rarely use more than just do and do-day. They know the others, but none of the music they sing ventures near those rhythms, so it goes into inertia.  A great way to use Ed. Tech. to over come this inertia would be to have students work on a software program that allows students to practice using multiple rhythms at different levels of difficulty.