Hi here is an update on my musical xylophone journey!
I have been working on my xylophone and practicing daily. Something that I realized is that I have been really favouring my dominant hand and have difficulty using my left hand. It has also been challenging for me to not grip the mallets, but but instead use loose wrists as my past experience with dance and gymnastics have trained me to do otherwise, Overall, I believe that there is still room for improvement but I definitely feel as though I am improving and adjusting.
Throughout this past week, my focus has been on my second song Amazing Grace. The line (I once was lost but now I am found) in this song has been particularly challenging for me as it includes notes that accentuate a certain letter when trying to sing while playing. For example, please see picture below the line “I once – was-s”.
I began by first following a tutorial on youtube, then I decided to write out the notes (this step helped me start to memorize the notes and become a little more fluid in transitions between notes). Then I thought to take it a step further I should write what is being said during each note, as I found myself singing in my head anyways, but could not quite put it to the exact notes. Therefore I wrote out this to help me understand the relationship of notes to the words.
The third line is still very difficult for me to play and sing at the same time, but with more practice I cannot wait to update my progress. I also think that the following video is slower and not super fluid, but shows a good demonstration of my practice and will be useful to see for progressions when I upload my midterm video later on in the term.
There are many health benefits of dance. Notably there have been numerous research around how dance helps people with Alzeimers, Dementia and other medical disorders. Click here to view a study by Stanford that supports this claim.
Knowing this we as educators can expand on the long term benefits for our students. When students are empowered and inclined to dance from early years on, it supports their mental and physical health. Dance allows students to be creative all while showing a willingness to participate and learn through movement. Since dance is supported by movement and music, the brain is engaged in numerous ways. Dance and movement allows the brain to release dopamine (the feel good hormone), which supports various learning styles. As such, students who may be suffering from depression or anxiety can benefit from this, as dancing activates sensory, motor and emotional responses.
Here is a video that describes how dance supports students with anxiety and depression.
Since, anxiety and depression are becoming more and more common in todays day and age, it is important to address resources to help students and people learn. As stated in the video, the benefits of a dance class extends beyond just the time of following the class. Therefore, starting children off younger can benefit them in their adult years. Dance can serve as an outlet much like singing. As a result, we can conclude that the performing arts can help students feel more confident and be more healthier, both physically and mentally. The use of dance in the classroom can thus help students have the opportunity to dance (as dance classes are expensive and not always widely available). The more opportunities we as teachers provide the more we can support the diversity of learners in our classrooms. This is why I believe that dance is important to include not only in Physical Education but also in the daily classroom and cross curricular (as we learned in the last blog).
Quizlet is a free website which provides learning tools for students of all ages. It includes a flashcards section, learn section, write, spell and test section. It makes learning fun! It is a digital take on the simple Q cards, which allows for students to think and share to learn.
Below is a link to a Youtube video, which explains what Quizlet is.
Did you know?
That 90% of students receive higher grades when using a quizlet to study.
It is an American Company.
It was invented in California.
It has seven study modes.
You can share your Quizlet’s with your friends.
You can include Quizlet diagrams.
Study Modes and Games:
Quizlet lets users create sets of terms and their definitions. These sets can then be used with several study modes
Flashcards: this is the most commonly used mode and it simulates paper flash cards. Users are shown a card for terms and they can flip it over by clicking it to see the definition
Gravity: In this mode definitions move vertically down the screen like asteroids. Users must type the correct term before it reaches the bottom of the screen. Gravity is one of the ‘Play’ study modes
Write: in this mode users are shown a term or definition and must type the term of definition that goes with it. Users are graded automatically
Long term learning: In this mode users are given a study set that has been recommended to them based on whether they answer study set questions correctly. Terms are repeated if answered incorrectly. A dashboard shows learning progress. This mode focuses on spaced repetition to stimulate long term retention and mastery rather than short term memorization
Speller: in this mode the term is read aloud and students must type the term correctly. Correct responses are rewarded with a video of a monster truck using a flip
Match: In this mode users are shown a grid of terms in random order. They must drag terms on top of their definitions
How is Quizlet Used in the Classroom? (Pros and Cons)
Because quizlet is a public website, anyone can go on and create a set of study notes. However, this freedom can lead to the spread of misinformation. Educators can combat this by creating study sets for their students and encouraging them to work with their peers to create concise notes. Another problem with quizlet, is that if one word is out of place, the website will mark the answer as incorrect.
Quizlet Live is an in-class tool similar to Kahoot for quizzes using devices. The students are shown a question on the board and must choose the correct response on their device (phone, laptop, or tablet). It is important to weigh the pros and cons of Quizlet, to decide whether or not it will work in your class.
Pros
Free
Allows students to share and create their own quizzes using various forms (MS, short answer etc, matching)
Cons
Could be used to encourage cheating, as students can copy/paste material and find answers to online quizzes.
Could provide false info because anyone can make a quizlet
History:
Quizlet was first created by Andrew Sutherland while he was studying for his French class to help him memorize words. The coding for this program took him over 420 days to create, and was then posted to the public in October of 2005. Over the years Quizlet has been revamped and restructured to grow with modern day technology. Quizlet was then developed into an app available for iphones and androids so that students could view their flashcards anytime, anywhere.
Privacy Policy:
Information from Quizlet is stored in servers in the United States, which as we know, have different privacy laws than Canada. Quizlet keeps the information as long as the account is active. The information Quizlet can gather include: login information, google and Facebook accounts, language, and local time zones.
This week, we will be focusing on some helpful tips and tricks on how to use Kahoot as a resource in the classroom, as well as Kahoots anonymity. In reference to our question; how can Kahoot be used as a resource in the classroom & how does it connect to formative and summative assessment?
Tips and Tricks on how to use Kahoot as a resource in the classroom:
Use the results to direct classroom activity
Assess student understanding.
Zero in on the needs of individual students.
Conclude class with a quick round.
Use it for review!
Warm up the class with a game (good for Mondays, when the students are tired in the morning)
Assess students’ knowledge, to see where they are at before starting a unit.
Include a game, in your teaching.
One of the many benefits of Kahoot is that it has an option to be anonymous, therefore children are not as afraid of making a mistake. As such, this encourages motivation and willingness to participate as they are just playing a game to help them learn. Motivating our students is key to support their learning as they need to be engaged and motivated to be involved. This anonymity helps students not compare themselves to others learning but instead learn from each other. Additionally, this reflects the idea that the classroom is a safe and open space and because of this anonymity there is no judgement and instead only learning. Here is a link that supports this idea
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1524/4ecd307ab706cbb394cb5e4ccd045b3c2d6f.pdf. Furthermore, students can download this app on their phone or play via web version and so we can say that Kahoot can extend beyond just the classroom, as children can also make their own and study while using this surface. Kahoot is an interactive, fun and engaging way to learn!
In music we have the opportunity to create a learning plan. A learning plan is beneficial as it supports the diversity of learners by allowing each child to create a course of action based on their levels and abilities. It provides students with a choice and voice in their learning. As such, I was able to choose an instrument the xylophone and learn how to read music. My action plan consists on trying to learn how to read music and then learning the 3 following songs, while following my designed criteria and timelines.
Hot Cross Buns
Amazing Grace
A Thousand Years
Since this is my first blog post I wanted to give a little outline of my inquiry project and now I can move on to the start of my learning journey with the xylophone. To put into context I have never really done music, so a big goal of mine was to learn to read music during these first three weeks. With the help and guidance of my instructor, I was able to learn tricks (which are demonstrated in the picture below).
I also was able to effectively learn how to hold the mallets. I also had the opportunity to use different kinds of mallets (rubber, fabric and wood). When we had the time to practice during our personal learning day, I was able to play Hot Cross Buns more smoothly with the slight adjustments to my hand grip and continuous practice. By the end of this practice day, I was able to play Hot Cross buns without following a video tutorial but instead read the notes and finally without just by memorization. A similar manner will be for the other 2 songs as well, except I will also be adding an additional step which will be playing the song while singing. Stay tuned for more updates on my learning journey of the xylophone! I quite enjoy this instrument as I believe it is a great opportunity to learn this instrument as it can be beneficial for my future classroom and daily classroom activities.
This week we researched the learning platform of Kahoot, in regard to, our question of how can Kahoot be used as a resource in the classroom & how does it connect to formative and summative assessment?
Kahoot: What is it?
CREATE PLAY SHARE
Kahoot is a game based learning platform that makes it easy to create, share and play learning games or trivia quizzes in minutes. This interactive game allows for students to have fun while learning. It also acts as a form of assessment, whether it be formative or summative assessment (depending on how the teacher decides to use the game). Kahoot is available, easily accessible and can be used for all ages. Students may work independently or in teams to answer the questions posed by the teacher.
Kahoot is known as a formative assessment tool as children are involved in a game that evaluates their understanding and learnings. However, unlike an essay where a student can get individual feedback, it is a competitive model that evaluates the classrooms understandings as a whole. There can be feedback, however it is done based on the classes results rather than the individual project. This method allows to check students understanding and typically enhances what is being learned as they occur throughout a unit rather than just at the end (summative assessment). Although, Kahoot can also support summative assessment as children are able to create quizzes for their pears based on their learnings.
Kahoot may not be the most effective formative assessment tool but serves as a good means to support learning as it encourages students to learn and see where their classmates are at, without singling out one child (as they do not know who answered wrong). Another digital platform that came up in our research was “Formative”. This digital platform is similar however it also provides students with more options to respond (drawing, short answer and multiple choice). As such, this platform can be an extension to Kahoot and learning. Visit the following video to learn more about assessment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTGnJnuVNt8
This week in relation to my inquiry question on how does dance support learning, I did some research around how dance can benefit cross curricular subjects. As such, I learned how dance can support students learning whether that be learning math, literature, science etc, dance is able to help students. You may wonder while how? While the reason is primarily because dance allows students to be actively engaged and instead of just listen they can do. The action of doing allows students to be successful and supports them as they are able to better understand and visualize concepts as they are working them through movements. As a result, dance effectively demonstrates the idea of learning all while support diverse students needs and learning styles (kinaesthetic, auditive and visual approaches).
Furthermore, below I have included some articles and a video that demonstrates how dance can be effectively used in the classroom to support the learning of diverse subjects.
Today we had the opportunity to visit Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry (PSII). This school is designed by Jeff Hopkins on an inquiry based learning approach to education. This idea extends beyond just meeting the curriculum, as it supports learners needs and pushes them to learn more as they are choosing an inquiry project based on their interests. Each learner develops a project at their own pace and learns subjects within their research. Therefore, there is a lot of interdisciplinary and cross curricular learning. This design and way of learning is very powerful, in my opinion, as it allows children to access the mastery aspect of learning and empowers them to be the expert in their projects, all while learning skills such as collaboration and planning.
In an elementary setting, this idea can also be powerful as it allows students to be self motivated. However, for younger students I think there is a need for more guidance in this type of learning environment, as they may not know how to go about a project that is free range. I do believe this can be done, but it may look different in the elementary classroom. In the high school setting and even middle years, I think this idea of independence and ability to work in more of a learning journey rather than outcome based (graded) work, is beneficial for the learners. As such, I also value the idea that students all work collaboratively and are not working solely with their grades and singular subjects. As this collaborative model of crossing grades represents what life looks like and the ability for the students to have a choice and voice in their learning and daily schedules. These are life skills that can be transferable and useful. Therefore these students aren’t just getting the core competencies they are working outside the doors of the school, collaboratively, independently all while mastering and exploring various questions and learning from others.
Something that stood out for me was the opportunities that come from this school experience, children are coming out with great results and experiences. One person published a book that she wrote for her inquiry at PSII, others are attending university classes and finally one learner created a portfolio website. These are all valuable experiences that are beyond just the curriculum and with the field trips and opportunities this school provides, it benefits the learner and supports them by adding to their tool box. As a result, I wish all students in the future can experience these diverse learning experiences.
My inquiry subject will be how does performing arts help students learn and grow? I have started some research and would like to focus my inquiry on dance specifically.
Here is a video that demonstrates responses of children towards their experiences and thoughts about dance. These children suggest that dance has empowered them to succeed, as such it demonstrates the importance of dance!
This video is an advertisement for a Canadian program that is called Sharing Dance by Canadas National Ballet School. This Sharing Dance program shares various resources for teachers and is a program that supports the use of dance in different settings notably in school classrooms. The following is the link to the website incase you want to take a look: https://www.nbs-enb.ca/Sharing-Dance/Sharing-Dance-Kids/Sharing-Dance-in-the-Classroom
Dancing serves as a means for students to move and learn valuable skills that extend beyond just dancing. It allows students to visualize, get up and move as well as listen all while cooperating with others. It also has many health benefits that can help support children. If you want to find out more about this subject, stay tuned on my blog for more soon!
Today we learned about various online resources and how these can be useful to help students succeed both in the classroom and at home. With the use of internet and the rise of online educational resources in schools, online educational resources play a huge part. An OER is known as open educational resources; these help students be able to learn effective searching strategies as they provide people with direct access to information. Some may say that OER’s have their purpose and are effective resources, while others may believe that they took away some aspects of creativity and critical thinking; while others may believe that they help push these ideas as it provides access to learning and worldwide views and situations. Even though we are moving towards everyone having a computer and internet including school, we still need to consider opportunity and how some may not have access to these resources; therefore schools can help provide these experiences to provide an equal access. With the use of internet people today are informed about situations happening all over the world as they have access to the internet.The following article addresses the pros and cons of free open educational resources https://opensource.com/article/18/2/open-educational-resources-drive-teaching-renaissance.
As children, I know I can say I used Wikipedia which is a website that anyone can modify. However moving through elementary, we start to learn that the effectiveness and reliability of various resources and how some may not always share realistic information. As such, if this is taught in the early years of a child’s development, this can lead to a very important lesson as students start to evaluate and learn while approaching things with a critical lens (being not everything is valid on the internet). Resources like Khan Academy, for example can help students learn at their own pace as well as learn from another teacher who may have a different teaching strategy. As such, allowing children to learn from various sources can serve as an asset if it is properly framed about all aspects of the internet, so children can explore and think rather than just find one thing.
In relation to the use of online resources, there is also the need to teach about copyright. As stated in the video RIP -A Remix Manifesto, is that even though it is online and commonly known such as the Happy Birthday song, you need to be aware of who made this and give them credits. This made me think about all the covers and creativity behind people and artists who want to make remixes which can be considered copyright. Someone may accidentally copyright something as everything comes from something, therefore this is an important conversation.
Here is a video that sums up the idea of why open educational resources matters
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