Projects

 Lesson Plan It is extremely important to make sure sources that we students cite in research papers and any academic projects are reliable and that they present accurate information. Otherwise, using 'fake' sources defeats the purpose of assigning a research paper and learning about a new topic. I think we all make assumptions about credibility based on previous experience and expectations, but we are not necessarily consciously making these decisions. Within the first 5 seconds of looking at a website, a person can decide whether it is credible or not. What are we using to base these instinctual decisions off of and are they reliable deciding factors? I will design a lesson plan that makes students aware of their own instinctual filters and have them self evaluate to see if they are effective or not. Ideally, at the end of this lesson, students will avoid the risk of documenting unreliable information or-the opposite-dismissing a credible website on the basis of an invalid assumption.


 * Class:** 9th Grade Band
 * Class Length:** 1 hour 10 minutes


 * Topic:** Reliable and safe research and how to determine if a website is credible


 * Summary:** Students will tap into what they personal use to decide if a website is reliable and if the information being presented is accurate. Once they are better acquainted with their subconscious filter, they will self-evaluate their own methods and come up with ways to improve them, ensuring that they never are mislead with inaccurate information.


 * Goal/Objective:** Students will leave this lesson with a new awareness and understanding of credible sources. This lesson will enhance their critical thinking and demand for accurate information.


 * Materials:** 2 pieces of paper per student, markers, pens, pencils, chalkboard, chalk, overhead projector hooked up to a computer

0-15 minutes: Introduce topic. Explain to students that not every site is reliable and that we must be careful when 'surfing' the internet. Show some 'fake' websites. (http://www.dhmo.org/ it's just water!) (http://www.malepregnancy.com/ they will find it funny and amusing, but gets the point across) (http://petsorfood.com/) 15-35 minutes: Ask students to imagine they are going online to research J.S. Bach's life and achievements. On paper, they will design a homepage of a website they would come across that they would definitely not trust. On another piece of paper, they will design one that they would. These sites can include the same information, but are formatted differently, have different ads, colors, etc... They must include at least 5 distinguishing features of each website that helps persuade them whether to trust the website of not. Give them time to create both websites, then get them into groups. 35-50 minutes: Students are in groups of 4 and talk about the differences between their two website creations. Examine which features everyone included in their 'bad' website and their 'good' website. 50-60 minutes: Ask the students to raise their hand one and a time and tell what their group came up with. I will write on the board. Likely topics to come up: BAD: annoying or inapprorpiate ads, lots of colors, .com, not organized, formatting out of line GOOD: author credible, professional formatting, official site, cross reference(reliable info), sources from other reliable, well known institutions or companies, a generally professional presentation. 60-70 minutes: Summarize the lesson and explain that, as they just designed, even though the formatting might be nice on a website, the information can be outdated or just inaccurate. Communicate to the class that they must confirm that the information is come from a professional, reliable source, and they can do that by asking an expert on the subject (a teacher), or researching the institution that the information is coming from. Cross referencing the information with another type of source (in print- a book, or journal, or article) is also a way to insure accuracy.
 * Procedure:**


 * Conclusion:** Hopefully, the students have gained a new understanding and awareness of reliable sources and the somewhat deceiving features of an unreliable online source.

Educational Websites In today's classrooms technology is becoming a greater part of the educational system. This is particularly pertinent in the music departments throughout the country. As a music teacher, there are a variety of websites and technological advancements in instruments and computer software to help students achieve their goals in music. While the majority of the learning will take place with hands-on instrumental rehearsals and training in the theoretical and historical practices of music, technology is helping to supplement the necessary hands-on approach to music. Each of these websites can assist students in advancing and strengthening their musicality. I found out about many different resources by way of recommendations from other teachers in the field, and published music journals. Throughout my search into these websites, I not only discovered new resources, but learned how to determine which resources would best assist my future students. The first site specifically, musictheory.net, is especially useful to me. I found it by searching for ear training help on Google. Ear-training is an especially useful skill for musicians and this website aids in the both the beginner and advanced levels of ear training.

[|Music Theory] This site began as just an independent project started by a public school music teacher. He was trying to come up with ways to supplement his lesson plans, and as a result, created one of the most widely used internet resources by musicians and music educators alike. There are not only a variety of exercises students can participate in, but there are also different utilities, like a staff-paper generator for people to print blank piece of music paper. Even tools like this assist students by providing resources in a very efficient and cost-effective manner.

[|Oxford Music Online] The Oxford Dictionary Of Music is one of the most widely reknown music encyclopedias and journals in existence. Its website is a gateway to thousands of articles and sound recordings on a nearly limitless variety of topics including: compositions, compositional styles, performance methods, historical and musicological findings, and ethnomusicology. Students can create a user account and then freely participate in what this website has to offer. I use this often in writing music-literature papers, and to supplement lesson plans that I create. It is very important that I express the history behind our practice, because aside from enhancing the understanding of music, it is a necessity to express the intentions of the time period and of the composer in order to properly perform a piece of music.

[|Naxos] Naxos is a subscription based website that streams thousands of pieces for free via the internet. For instance, if I am teaching a lesson on Beethoven's Fifth Symphony I can redirect my class to the Naxos website for a recording of the piece. It is a very cost effective way to present a huge amount of music without breaking a school budget. Any student or educator can sign up, and be privvy to thousands of classical and jazz recordings. Listening is essential in the understanding of music, and as a result Naxos is one of the most widely used resources available today.

[|Music Lesson Plans] Music Lesson Plans offer many ideas and actual sample lesson plans for all ages ranging K-12 in music. There are so many approaches and variations to educating musicians, that it is impossible to know of each method. As a result an internet resource like this, can pool and categorize each of these theoretical approaches to Music Education. I am a flute player, and there are literally hundreds of methods to teaching flute to beginning students. Some methods may work for certain students and not work for others, so it is important to vary your approach and be fluid and able to adapt to each student both on an individual level and in a group setting.

[|Marching Band Planet] A challenge that every music teacher faces is to decide about the drill, music, design, and general show ideas for their school's marching band show every year. Since marching band is such a big part of a school's music program, it is important to come up with creative and new show ideas. This website helps teachers and students explore different show ideas and music possibilities for their show, as well as learn about different styles of marching band music as a general information tool. I found this site through a google search on marching band methods and realized it's usefullness immediately after clicking on the link to explore this site.

Word 2008 Project I created a calendar with a calendar organizer that Word offers as a graphic organizer feature. I got this idea after playing around with a number of the graphics and organizers that Word had to offer, including charts and graphs- each of which had many different designs. In my own band program(that I participate in as a student), I know it is definitely a problem when trying to organize a lot of events for over 150 people to have to keep track of and coordinate. I thought making an organized and well presented calendar would be a great way to make sure everyone was on the same page about all of the events in the music department. I could either hand out copies of this calendar to students, or hang a copy of it in the band room. Either way, my students would see it and, ideally, be drawn to the excitement and organization that it offers when they read about the events coming up. Attendance and student attitude is a huge component of whether my curricular goals are met. Of course there are many things that I, as a teacher, can do to boost attendance and student attitude- one of them being to present the activities in a fun and lively way, both on and off paper. This calender, as well as helping the kids keep everything in track, will help me communicate with the parents (if I were to send it home) so they know what's going on and can make sure their student is present at the activities that they are involved in. This calendar feature of word helps me present the activities in a great way that students will be receptive to. Of course I could just write it out myself and make it look fun and lively, but then it would lack the organization aspect that can so much better be created on the computer. I could have, before doing this project, just presented it on the computer, very organized, but in black and white- without any exciting characteristics, but then again, it would only have one of the two important components. As far as presentation goes, we have discussed how influential a website's format and presentation is, and I think the same goes for presenting activities and events that a group is going to be participating in. While working on this project, there were many formatting issues that got in the way, such as not leaving enough space for the title, problems associated with putting in clips from the internet, cutting into the margins, etc.. Through working to solve each of these problems and keep my calendar looking presentable, organized, and fun, I learned more and just got more generally comfortable with Word and how it operates. I know that every time I use it from now on, I will still be learning about all of its tendencies and effects, but at least I have made a start!

Excel Spreadsheet Project I am completely new to Excel, so I created a simple grade book spreadsheet, as an example of one that I could use in my classroom someday. I used a new feature that I learned about with the (=average) application that excel performs, and I experimented with different forms of presenting the information (percentage, decimals). I could use this grade book application to keep track of personal information about my students as well as grades, just like in this sample grade book. I know that keeping my information organized like this will help me to be an effective and organized teacher, and make sure there is minimal room for errors. The purpose of this pseudo grade book is just to see how easy it is to stay organized and have excel do a lot of the work (like averaging) for me as a teacher. The grade book enhances my curricular goals because I will be able to spend much less time hand writing and figuring out class averages with this convenient application. Also, it is a great way to be able to keep students updated on their grades regularly, and maybe more importantly, keep the parents updated (we all know that is a requirement!) Communication in the classroom between teacher, student, and parent is crucial to the success of the students. Personally, I know I will have to keep track of grades on tests, homework, and playing tests, and being able to keep all these grades in the same place will definitely help my effectiveness and sanity as a teacher! After playing around with some of excel's different features and trying to figure out how things work, I have a better understanding of the program-though I know there is still a lot to be discovered.



PowerPoint Project I created a sample 'music theory jeopardy' game as a review tool for a classroom that I might have. I fondly remember playing many types of these review games in school- it is a fun way to make sure you are prepared for a test/quiz. The technology involved is purely power point- and it directly enhances my curricular goals of creating a fun and stimulating learning environment with still teaching fundamental theory ideas. I originally had the power point done without the 'answer' slides(envisioning myself just verbally telling the students if they are correct or not), but as Mr. Wilson pointed out, putting the answers in makes this a presentation that a substitute could give, so I wouldn't have to worry about providing students with extra work if I was going to be out of class. It is a great tool to have fun and teach at the same time. I can monitor the students' understanding of these concepts by their responses, and review a certain section if need be. The technology makes it very easy to flip back and forth between the answers and the main board without wasting any time, and keeps the students engages. It is also, I think, appealing to the eye, with some color/font variation, but not too much going on at one time. This jeopardy game could be used for really any class (with different questions) but it is great for this basic level of music theory because the questions and answers are very straightforward (and memorization is necessary for a more complicated understanding and ability to analyze). I experimented with the technology for a while before starting on the jeopardy game, so I figured out how to create links back and forth from slides, and was therefore able to use it in my project- something I had never known you could do in power point. At times it got confusing with all of the different slides to keep track of, but I figured out how to keep it manageable and the very advanced technology helped a lot. I experimented showing this presentation on different computers, and although it shows up and works on all the types (2 versions of Mac and a dell), the font and color selection is limited on other programs, so it looks different. That is just a minor detail though, and it is still completely effective on all of these computer types.   Desktop Manager Software I designed a sample concert program that I could use as a template/basis for a program I might have to create in the future. Although I could have included some of these features in Word, I know that using 'pages' was definitely an easier and faster way to go about designing this program. The main thing that I struggled with was just getting to know the software- it is similar to Word, but definitely has different features and different ways of manipulating the document (i.e. drag-and-drop, changing opacity, creating text boxes rather than just typing freely, etc...) My personal favorite feature is the 'center line' to let you know, while you are formatting the document, if you are centered or not. Included in my program is a little 'band news' section, because I know a concert is a great time to address all members of the band community (including parents) about events, or to provide recognition, etc. By including this section, I also got to experiment with linking the text boxes (in the news section) and just creating some appealing word-artwork. I also really enjoyed playing around with the 'opacity' effect, to create fun/interesting backgrounds for my text. The purpose of my program/newsletter is just to communicate with students and parents and present material in a fun and organized way. The technology completely enhances my goals because it makes it much easier to organize my material (with the center-navigator, and linking boxes) and MUCH easier to make it fun and appealing with all of the different features that this software has to offer. I experienced some trouble at first, just because I didn't understand the concept of 'text boxes' and linking them, and expanding/contracting them to make room for other things on the page. However, after learning a lot about how this software expects you to create and organize a document, I know that I could use it again with an effective outcome (and hopefully, faster productivity).



 Gaming Project Dear Dr. Barber, I would like to take this opportunity to propose a unique learning experience that I would like to present to my marching band students. Although often looked at as trivial and time-wasters, video/computer games can be used to enhance specific skills that will help students in academic areas. A crucial skill that my marching band students must develop is the ability to play and march in time. Without this skill, my students will not be able to focus and coordinate their movements to the level that is required to produce an effective and entertaining show. I invite you to look at this amazing marching band performance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noMBQW0iznU&feature=related A show like this built on an impeccable sense of timing from every member, and could not be as effective without every member's supreme sense of rhythm and time in relation to what is going on around them. Of course this band does not use computer games to help build up their sense of rhythm- they just run drills all day long- but since I am working with younger students, I want to be able to keep their attention while helping them build up a sense of rhythm. I have come across two games that are free for play online that are great for building up rhythm in a fun way that appeals to high school students. They are: "Dance Dance Revolution Online" and "Guitar Master Online," both of which challenge players to hit a multiple series of keys at the right time to fit in with the music playing. As the games progress, and the challenges get greater, the focus and skills required to succeed become much greater, so moving throughout the levels of these games will undoubtedly provide my students with fun challenges they will want to work at achieving. Links to the games: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/FFR_the_Game.php and http://www.addictinggames.com/gamefiles/GuitarMaster/GuitarMaster5.html. These games address key aspects of rhythm and organized timing such as syncopation, changing meters, coordination between physical and mental activity, etc... This game will make my students excited about rhythm and meter and I am excited to see the skills they develop transfer onto the marching band field. Thanks so much,Allison Winstein

1. //My kids play enough video games at home, school is for developing skills through an academic means, not a recreational means.// While your children may play an excess of video games at home, they might not be of the rhythmic genre, and therefore, are not strengthening their musical skills. While I agree that school is primarily a place for academic-based lessons, these two particular games will motivate students to work at developing these crucial skills, and will insure their interest and drive will continue as necessary. With some activities in school, it is easy for students to 'check out' mentality if they lose interest, but these games make that possibility next to impossible.
 * FAQs for Parents**

2. //My child is not a 'gamer' and will not know what to do in class during this lesson, he/she will fall considerably behind.// These games start on an extremely elementary level and give students of all different ranges of ability a chance to start at the appropriate level. Since we have been working in marching band a little bit on rhythm and timing, the students already have somewhat of a basis on the subject, so I don't anticipate many problems starting out. The students won't be graded on what level they reach in these games, just on their effort and approach, and I am more than willing to work with students who seem to be having any sort of trouble with the assignment.

3. //Shouldn't you be working on your marching band half-time show and playing instruments during class time?// Yes- and we will continue to do so. I am planning this activity for one class period just to get the students excited and motivated about timing and coordination. These games are not replacing instrumental activity in any way- your child will still continue to develop on his/her instrument after this lesson is implemented.

4. //How will you distinguish this activity from pure recreation?//Of course this activity will be enjoyable for students, but they **will** also be learning. The idea is to make the development of these skills appeal to the students and they will not be able to avoid getting better at rhythm and timing by playing these games.

5. //How many hours a day do you expect them to practice these games? I don't want my child playing games on my home computer all the time and giving me the excuse that it's "for school."// I will communicate with the parents and make sure you know exactly what games these are so the students won't be able to pass off other games for "school work." Also, there aren't many levels in these games, so after we spend a class period playing these games, the intrigue of the game will have worn off, as the students will have worked their way through the games.

Audio Project Looking at garage band for the first time, I didn't know what I could possibly create that would help me as a teacher. I thought it was jsut a way to blend different musical textures to create some funk-beats. However, as I experimented with recording and 'play back,' I got an idea that would help me be able to someday manage my music classroom more efficiently. I created a tool that I could use to evalute students on their progress and use for grading. Unilike most teachers, music teachers cannot easily evalute their students by reading in-class work or giving a written test. Since the progess of individuals in music classes (especially a big class) is so hard to evalute, I thought that having this tool where students could record an assignment one-at-a-time, and then I could go through and listen to them. This is a great way that I can respond to indivual progress and give feedback without havign tin interupt and ignore the rest of the class. I have an idea that while we are rehearsing in class, students will go into the practice room (that has garage band on a computer) and record the given assignment. When they get back, the next student will quietly leave and record his/her assignment. Then later, I can go through the different tracks and listen to my students playing the assignment by themselves, and have a better idea of what instruction to give to the class to make more efficient progress and improvement. The class will benefit from this system because I will have a better idea of general problems in the class, as well as more individualized problems, so from then on I can take the necessary steps to fix them. This technology completely enhances my cirricular goals. Instead of me having to set aside tiem during the day and finiding time to hear each student come play their instrument for me individually, I can record them, and then listen to them anytime I can. This technology makes it much easier to asses my students' progress. The students will have to get familiar with this technology too, but my explanation will hopefully help them navagate their way around simple garage band. I experimented with garage band for a while before developing this project, and tried to think of likely problems that could arise as students are recording, and I tried to counteract those in my vocal explanation by being extremely specific and clear with directions.

Explanation: media type="file" key="explanation.m4a"

Example: media type="file" key="project.m4a" Example2: media type="file" key="hhh.m4a" 

 Video Project

This was my second experience with imovie, and definitely my most extensive. I've used it a little bit before in high school, so Iw as distantly familiar with some of the features, but it took a while to re-familiarize myself with all the features. It was fun to experiment with different features- especially titles and colors and different ways to make the titles appear (and disappear). I found it challenging to switch between different scenes and music sessions..I experimented with a few different options and eventually settled for the best I could figure out, even if it's not perfect...

This video is supposed to function as an introductory video to five band instruments. Typically, elementary school students are not aware of the full range of band instruments. They might know about trumpets, for example, but have not been exposed to different families of instruments and their full capabilities. When it comes time to pick an instrument, the more information that music teachers can provide, the greater the likelihood for success. This video explains some of the features of several band instruments, namely the flute, clarinet, drums, trombone, and trumpet. We selected different types of music to illustrate the powerful effect that music (using these instruments) can have once one has mastered the instrument, hoping to inspire students to want to get involved in band. The dramatic beginning and ending is meant to draw students in and keep their excited attention, and hopefully, the information about each instrument will be appealing to the students too, as it will be one of their first experience with most of them.

This video is meant to be a precursor to a session where students actually get to try to play on instruments and select one. In my experience, students coming in to this session without prior knowledge are so inexperienced that they sometimes cause damage to the instruments and don't benefit from looking around, since they have no previous exposure to these instruments. Hopefully, when students watch this video, they will gain at least a minimum understanding of each instrument/get to see it being played so that they can benefit most from trying out the instruments themselves.

media type="youtube" key="c_2zUAm7lvE" height="344" width="425"

EDUC2040 Projects