MusicTeacherBlog

Beaming Teacher

2005-05-05T06:14:00.000-07:00

There are so many things that I could write about and I don't know exactly where to start. How wonderful the class was....How much I learned....How much I enjoyed meeting and talking with the kids....How good the food was....How I enjoyed the other teachers.....How much I missed Tony last week.....

Yesterday at our monthly music meeting we were all writing down the dates for next year's workshops. Everyone had out their calendars and note pads. I was using my Handheld. All of a sudden this other teacher across the room pulled out her Hand Held and was really struggling with it. She said her daughter-in-law from out of town had sent it to her as an early Mother's Day present and she was just starting to learn to use it. Of course I went right over and to check out the situation. She was just pushing buttons. When she saw I had one she handed it to me and said put those dates in here for me. I told her to just hold it out and I BEAMED the dates to her. She was SO impressed. I was BEAMING both literally and physically. I told her you just have to take this awesome class next year. So hopefully she will.

I guess the best way to summarize all this is I am BEAMING. I learned so much from this class. I wish that there was an advanced class that I could take next year.

Thank you to everyone for making it so great but especially thank to Tony for being such a great teacher.

Have a great summer!

Awesome Class

2005-04-27T19:50:00.000-07:00

I enjoyed class last week. It was so interesting to see all the different ideas that everyone came up with for their lesson plans. I was amazed at the different art lessons that were presented.

I was in a staff meeting this week and had my Handheld out. (I was actually playing a the Same Game). A teacher at my table looked over and said she also had a Handheld but she didn't really know how to use it. She had gotten it for Christmas but hadn't really worked with it too much. I was so excited because she asked me if I could show her a few things. I also recommended that she take this class next year.

I learned so much from this class. It was so nice getting together every week and talking to other teachers from the district as well as other schools. The different ideas and topics that came up during dinner always interested me.

I think Sue mentioned this last week about just learning from watching Tony teach. I feel the same way. It is so inspiring and motivating for me to watch someone else who is so well organized and knows the material so well. I never felt threatened or intimidated during class and I will miss the time together. Good luch everyone!

Finally Done!

2005-04-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

Well I am finally done with my lesson plan. I have been thinking about it and working on it all week. I'm not sure it is exactly the way it is supposed to be but at least I've got it done. I spent alot of time just searching for websites that would work in FlingIt. Tony recommended looking for "text only" and those were a little hard to find.

I'm a little nervous about my presentation because I'm not sure how everthing is going to fit together but I know that I'll survive. Hey if I can survive taking our whole school to see the Royals play on Monday this is nothing!

I am going on the Bike Ride Across Nebraska in June and I have been reading the message board where people write in with questions, advice, etc. One person referred to their blog and I was so excited because before this class I had no idea what a blog even was. I have learned so much from this class and I am sad to see it end!

Count Down

2005-04-13T20:36:00.000-07:00

Well here it is a week before the lesson plans are due and I am still struggling with what I am actually doing. I have a couple of ideas running through my head but nothing seems to be clicking for me. I searched for musical programs and found many that have to do with organizing your personal CD collection. I downloaded and experimented with other programs like the one that Becky showed us in class with the bugs crawling across the staff.

For some reason I have in my head that I wanted to do a lesson plan on instruments of the orchestra and their families. For example the String Family, what instruments belong to this family, where they sit in an orchestra, how sound is produced. I already made a quizzler for this subject but I just can't seem to find anything else.

I did find a program called NotePad which does musical notation. I liked how easy it was to learn to use and the many different things it could do. Who knows maybe this will spark a new idea for me!

Back in Business

2005-04-06T21:39:00.000-07:00

Since I left early last week for a concert I feel like I'm a little out of the loop but anyway I did have a little excitment on Tuesday!

I have been experiencing problems with the battery in my HandHeld. It wouldn't hold the charge. I had tried to doing a hard reset in hopes that it would jump start the battery but nothing seemed to work.

After talking to Tony I decided to take it back to Office Max. Tony reminded me to make sure that I did a hard reset to erase all my personal information before taking it back so the people at Office Max wouldn't get all my personal information. So I before I left for the store I did a hard reset and the screen froze! It just had button on it that said Reset. No matter what I did I could not get the screen to unfreeze. Needless to say I was getting a little (actually alot) frustrated. So I found my receipt, CD's and the power cord and sync cord and headed out to return my frozen Handheld. I also took along my wireless keyboard because the left shift key was not working.

The people at the store were great. The were able to reset it by using the paper clip and holding and releasing the power button twice. Then we were able to delete all my perosnal information. They then gave me a new palm, a new keyboard and the best part was the new one was on sale for $20 less. So in the end I got a new Palm, a new keyboard and a gift card for $20! Pretty good deal if you ask me! Now I am back in business!

I am looking forward to class this week. Even though I have to leave early for the Fine Arts Night Concert (last one) I still am learning so much!

Battery and Quizzler

2005-03-30T20:02:00.000-08:00

I feel a little behind because I had to leave early last week and didn't get to spend any time looking for programs to use on my Hand Held. I did however find the checkbook program which I have started using for my own personal checking account. I am also using the Quick Tip program which easily figures out the amount of a tip depending on a percentage.

I made a quizzler using families of instruments. It was so easy to do and would be so useful for my kids to practice and review the instruments if we only had Hand Helds for my kids. I'm also trying to come up with a way to incorporate this into my final lesson plan.

I have charged my battery when it gets down to about one half left. I think I made a mistake and let it charge too long (like overnight) and the next day when I went to to it own it was completely dead. Has anyone else had this happen???? See everyone Thursday!

Moving Forward

2005-03-20T14:43:00.000-08:00

The last class we had left me feeling a little overwhelmed. Everytime I get an assignment or project I always get a panic feeling. Why, I don't know. But it has happened to me since I was in jr high.

I really enjoyed all the Sketchy designs that everyone did. Mine was pretty simple compared to some of the other ones. Art is not my forte. I wish I could draw better!

I'm thinking about my final lesson plan. I have an idea but first I need to learn Quizzler to see if it will work. My plan is to do a lesson on instrument families and create a quizzler to help students learn the different instruments and their families.

The next three classes I am going to have to leave early because of music events. The High Ability Music group I help to direct is performing a Family and Friends Concert and the next week they are performing at the Fine Arts Night. This Thursday I have a church committment because of Holy Week. I am so glad that we have the Roving Reporter taking notes so I don't miss too much. See everyone on Thursday!

Dessert

2005-03-20T14:40:00.000-08:00

Here is the recipie for the dessert I brought to class.

Ooie Gooie
Yellow Cake mix with pudding
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1 pound powdered sugar
1 8oz cream cheese

Mix yellow cake mix with 1 egg and melted stick of butter. Press into 9 x 13 glass baking dish. Mix 2 eggs, sugar and cream cheese. Pour onto cake mix. Bake 300 degrees for 50 minutes. ENJOY!

SKETCHY

2005-03-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

Sketchy is AWESOME! I messed around with it alot over the last couple of days. Since I missed most of last week's class I had to figure out how to use it by trial and error. I could have read the instruction that I found online but it was much more fun just to experiment! I wish that I could draw better but with the use of the straight line and circle buttons I was able to do pretty good. I can see many uses for Sketchy in my classroom. When I teach song using recorders or Orff instruments I usually simplify the patterns. I gradually add more notes and rhythms as the kids are ready. When I do this I have to write out the simplified pattern on staff paper and then keep adding paper on top as I add more parts. It works but I think it could also work on Sketchy. You would just add another frame. When using it in the classroom I probably wouldn't use the play animation but rather just advance it one frame at a time as we were ready for it.

I can't wait for class tonight to talk to some people about the things I missed last week with the word processors. I liked reading some people's blogs that talked about doing lesson plans on them. I look forward to having all my plans right in my hand.

I'm so glad that we have the Roving Reporter taking notes. It was a great help to read online what I had missed last week!

Where does the week go?

2005-03-02T19:33:00.000-08:00

Thinking back over class last Thursday I am starting to feel a little on information overload. I thought all the information on ebooks was interesting but I'm not convinced how I could incorporate those into my classroom. I wish that there was a way that I could put in a music notation program into an ebook format. Also if lyrics to songs could be downloaded and then shown on an Elmo it would be a great help. I especially liked how you could have the text scroll.
Lyrics to songs could be beamed to students and they could sing right off their hand helds. This would save on time and paper for teachers who make song sheets for their students. I also agree with what other people have said in their blogs about the illustrations. I'm a visual learner and I would really miss the pictures.
I am using my hand held all the time but mainly just for the calander, to do list, note pad and checkbook. I still have the feeling that I could lose all the information I have stored on it so I find myself backing things up on paper! Just a habit I will have to break! I know that I should be doing so much more but the time just seems to fly by and before I know it the week is up and I haven't gotten out my hand held just to experiment and try the different programs.

MusicTeacherBlog

2005-02-22T18:19:00.000-08:00

Note Pad
My third graders are beginning to read notes on the staff. We begin with just a two line staff instead of a five line staff. I came up with several different patterns of using the three notes B, A and G. This was a handy way for me to have several different patterns of notes ready to go, as the students were able to read them. The students also made up their own patterns of notes using B, A and G. I had them write them out on paper. If we all had hand helds then they could have beamed them to each other so they could practice the patterns.

This also worked with reading rhythms in first and second grades. We worked on quarter notes, half notes and eighth notes. The students could draw the rhythm patterns on Note pad and them beam them to each other and me as well as to a printer so they could be printed out.

Address Book
This could be used to keep track of each student’s progress and would be handy at Conference time.
Examples would include such things as behavior notes, pitch matching skills, recorder skills, note reading ability. I think there should be a way to customize the fields in the address book to have certain categories ready to go.

Memo Pad
For our upcoming musical this is handy to keep track of who plays what instrument on what song. I could also put the narrators lines into a document to go and them beam them the script, which would save on paper.

I’m not sure where to find the To Do list but when I do find it I will use it all the time. Right now I am using the memo pad as my to do list just to keep track of the things I have to do!

I have found so many uses for my Hand Held and I don’t know how I ever got along without it. One of the programs, which I downloaded, is called Quick Tip. This is so handy in restaurants when you want to tip your server. You just put in the amount of the check and it automatically figures what the tip is according to whatever percentage you want to use. There is an area to add a new percentage but after you put in the percent you want to use there doesn’t seem to be a way to get the program to figure the tip using the new percentage.

I am still looking for a calculator to add to my hand held but I haven’t found one yet. Hopefully this week!

Article Review

2005-01-19T21:50:00.000-08:00

Rick Jacobi
Article Review
January 16, 2005

I read the article, “Handhelds Motivate Teachers and Students in Oklahoma Schools.” This article by Elizabeth Crane told of the positive effects that handhelds are having in different schools in Oklahoma. The article can be found at www.districtadministration.com

The article first looked at Shawnee High School who received a federal grant for $211,000. With this money they were able to purchase enough palmOne handhelds, printers, and software licenses for its freshmen class in the fall of 2003. With the support and enthusiasm of the teachers the program was successful. The students took ownership of their handhelds seriously and became motivated to complete their assignments. An interesting point mentioned, was that many of the students had an improved attitude, which they believe is due to the use of the handhelds.
The students have gone beyond what their teachers expected in the area of technology. Mentioned in the article is one student who programmed his unit to assist him with his Debate Team. Other students have purchased extra memory cards to increase their ability to save class work to a portable format in order to use any palmOne handheld.

Parents were also been surprised at how their students became more responsible in taking care of their handhelds. Through an application called Palm Artifact and Assessment Manager (PAAM) teachers are able to review a student’s progress and to check on assignments. Parents are also able to log in through a password protected Web page and view their child’s work. The school has found that students are taking fewer shortcuts and issues such as plagiarism and cheating have decreased due to the PAAM putting their work on a public site. The school hopes to have enough money to purchase palmOne handhelds to the sophomore and freshmen classes.

In the Putnam City Schools the goal was to give its students access to technology 24/7. They also wanted their school to be a model for other schools nationwide no matter what technology was already in place. Over a four year time span, with federal grant totaling over a million dollars, the school was able to give students in grades 9-12 their own handhelds that were checked out to them. Eighth graders at two schools were provided with units that stayed in the classroom and faculty members were also given their own handhelds.

I found it interesting how students in Special Education Classrooms were also motivated to focus on their school work when they had the handhelds to keep track of assignments and complete class work. A list of homework assignments kept on handhelds were better communicated to parents who in turn were able to read what their child needed to be working on at home.
In the middle schools handhelds were implemented due to the ease of managing such a large project with less number of students. An interesting fact mentioned was the socio-economic status of the schools. Both of the middle schools where the project was implemented had over 50 percent of the students receiving free lunch and the population was described as transient, largely minority and at high risk for dropping out. Even though there was no data to support that the handhelds were helping with the academics there were signs that the handhelds were helping. Such signs included the students performing as well on an eighth grade statewide test as students who attend a more affluent middle school. The handhelds have helped to build confidence and competence in the students and this in turn will creative positive outcomes in their schoolwork.

The reoccurring thought in this article that I feel is important is that the handhelds motivate both students and teachers to better master their schoolwork and tasks. As the Science Curriculum Specialist for Putnam Schools Bob Melton summarized, “Handhelds enable quality teaching. They’ve helped us to deliver better and richer teaching and learning experiences.”

Music Teacher Blog

2005-01-16T19:02:00.000-08:00

As I write this I am looking at my new Palm. I purchased a Tungsten E and I am really excited about learning how to use it. I was a little disappointed when I opened it for the first time and it had no battery charge. I was just like Christmas morning when Santa forgot the batteries. But it is now fully charged and ready to go. I have played around using the Note Pad and just made a list of things to do for this next week. I tried to use the calendar but I had trouble with it recognizing my writing. I also found the Graffiti button where you could practice writing with the stylus. I don't understand how to correct mistakes. I keep looking for a delete key but I just can't seem to find one.

I really enjoyed class on Thursday night. There is so much to learn and I feel like a sponge just soaking it all up. I appreciate having Tony recommend which Palm to buy and I'm also glad he can teach me how to use it.

I also purchased the keyboard but cannot figure out how to use it. I haven't taken the time to hook the palm to my laptop yet but I have a feeling the CD that came with it will help.

I am looking forward to Thursday night and learning how to use my Palm.

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2005-01-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

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