Music Project Success Story

I experienced an amazing turn around in the way my General Music kids felt about class. This was my first year doing General Music and I was looking for some cool ideas for projects. The kids were used to being bystanders in the process. They worked on worksheets and listened to various music genres, but we’re missing being more hands on. They thought class would be boring…

We began studying the different music families and it struck me. Have the students present to not just me as the teacher but the world.
So…enter Google Slides student used Chrome Books to create their own presentation on any instrument family they chose, percussion, string, brass, or woodwind. Once they built their show they used writing skills to creat a script to read for each slide, and by the way, convincing them to stop putting a lot of text on a slide was a chore.

Then the final step…They used MoveNote and brought in their Google Slide Show and read the script, creating a video presentation. They turned out well in many cases and not so good in others, but the students are learning valuable skills on how to properly present…Skills that are easily transferable to any profession.

For me after some front end work, everything was done by the kids. As it should be…

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from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1My1NXu
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Music Project Success Story

I experienced an amazing turn around in the way my General Music kids felt about class. This was my first year doing General Music and I was looking for some cool ideas for projects. The kids were used to being bystanders in the process. They worked on worksheets and listened to various music genres, but we’re missing being more hands on. They thought class would be boring…

We began studying the different music families and it struck me. Have the students present to not just me as the teacher but the world.
So…enter Google Slides student used Chrome Books to create their own presentation on any instrument family they chose, percussion, string, brass, or woodwind. Once they built their show they used writing skills to creat a script to read for each slide, and by the way, convincing them to stop putting a lot of text on a slide was a chore.

Then the final step…They used MoveNote and brought in their Google Slide Show and read the script, creating a video presentation. They turned out well in many cases and not so good in others, but the students are learning valuable skills on how to properly present…Skills that are easily transferable to any profession.

For me after some front end work, everything was done by the kids. As it should be…

http://ift.tt/1gAEuxU

from Tumblr http://ift.tt/1My1NXu
via IFTTT

YC seventh grader playing the national anthem at the Gaston arts...

YC 7th Grader plays National Anthem at Gaston Arts...

YC seventh grader playing the national anthem at the Gaston arts...

Great Idea from 7th Grade

So very proud of the YC 7th Grade Team. They have had several challenges with students. The discipline numbers were not where they wanted them and they chose to do something.  For remediation, instead of kids staying in their seat they got creative.

They allowed the students to chose form several activities like: club turned up, coffee house, study hall, library and several others. Students filled out a Google Form for their top 2 choices. They were in a room of their choice for an appointed time. They are able to move around and collaborate on information. They drank hot chocolate and soda as all of this went on.

Kids were great and even some of the students who have discipline issues participated and were no problem in the process. This gives our students something to strive for, because they truly enjoyed it. Way to go 7th Grade!!!

Let's Assess

I have really enjoyed using a couple of assessment tools, in particular. When looking for a tool for assessment, I want something that is intuitive in its use, easy to log in for students, and easy to disseminate data and with multiple ways to share data. I have found 2 great tools.

Kahoot is a fun tool that really gets students excited. It is great for formative assessments, and students love the speed element. I like the fact that I can determine how fast we move from question to question and the constant update to who is in the lead. Having that feedback drives the students. It really is a gamefication of the lesson. Students often ask if we are going to use it when preparing for a quiz.

Another tool that has some robust features is Socrative. I use this tool for more formal assessments. It can be used in several different manners, but I mainly use it at the end of a lesson. Students log in with first and last names and then they start into the test. I allow Socrative to show students their grade after they have finished. I can then drop scores write into Google Drive. I monitor the percentage correct for each question and focus on the questions that presented the most problems for students in upcoming lessons.

Both tools are great and I love to use them to drive my instruction. They are assessments made easy.