Well, folks, I finally have a few minutes to sit and compose a blog post! It’s been a crazy past couple months with a successful performance and lots of state testing going on. Things have returned to “normal” and I can finally make music in the music room again! Lately, though, I’ve been using my new WiiMote Whiteboard for a lot on interactive activities and I thought I’d share a little bit about the perils and successes of this project.
First off, I got the WiiMote Whiteboard stuff out of a need to explore IAW’s (Interactive Whiteboards) as our building has been gathering Promthean Boards and we have lots of training with those. We hope to one day have every classroom outfitted with a Promethean Board, but lo, the days of budget cuts are upon us, and the WiiMote system seemed to be the way to go for now. I went to Amazon.com and bought a used(but new in box) wiimote for $30 and bought a nice infrared pen off of penteractive.com for $25. There are several websites and videos out there showing how to design and make your own pen for no more than $10 worth of Radio Shack parts, but I decided to splurge and let someone else do the work:) I have a nice clip mic stand that I use to mount the wiimote and downloaded the free software for the WiiMote Whiteboard and ActiveInspire from Promethean. They have a trial version and I was lucky enough later on to get a serial number to unlock the full version when our Promethean rep came by recently. You can project the WiiMote Whiteboard system on to any surface and due to lack of space in my room, I originally had it pointing to my projector screen which, due to lack of space in my room, hangs from the ceiling on the side. With the sensitivity of the WiiMote however, I kept losing calibration whenever the screen would move or swing, so I ditched that layout, rearranged my entire space, took down my Signs and Symbols wall, and now project the system on the back wall of my room. I also put up the FlipForm risers so we have a more intimate atmospere for working at the board. Everyone can see, and despite some behavior management problems on the risers, it works for now.  With everything running, now I can do so much more than project PowerPoints! My favorite site this week has been TheMusicInteractive.com where I found 8-10 FREE interactive games for use on IAW or individual computers. This has been the gem of the week with testing time going on in the room next door (can’t make noise!). I also bought 3 of the $5 apps and am using them as well. Yay!

The cons to the WiiMote Whiteboard system are twofold. First, the IR pen works with about 80% sensitivity, so clicking and dragging becomes a tedious process and writing is virtually impossible. The IR pen actually works best when held a few centimeters away from the surface instead of actually touching it and kids have a hard time with this concept. I really don’t have time to let the kids do anything interactive with the board, but it’s fun for me to be up there clicking and watch the kids ooh and ahh over my “magic pen”! The second disadvantage that I’ve noticed is that it takes a lot of patience and time to get the WiiMote calibrated and pointed in just the right angle to “see” all parts of the screen. Most of the time, time is at a premium in my school, so the 5 minutes before a class comes in just isn’t enough to get this thing working, then I will just ditch it and sit behind the laptop and use the mouse. My ideal situation would be to have a giant ACTUAL whiteboard that I could project onto so that I could write over the slides in case my WiiMote wasn’t working. It wouldn’t save, of course, but I would have the capability to use my ActiveInspire software to ‘copy’ the text when we were done.

So, more will be said in another article, but for now I’d like to know if and how others are using the WiiMote Whiteboard. If you use it, what are some favorite things you do? Favorite sites? Feel free to share a comment below and thanks for reading!

~S

PS. images coming soon!

Sadly, it looks like the days of safe video keeping are over as my Fliggo site has disappeared and has been replaced by Vidly.com. I heard rumors through my Musick8 mailing list that this was about to happen, but it has been months since the supposed turnover was supposed to happen and my videos were still up. Logged on today, and it is all gone:(
So, I’m wondering now what is a music teacher to do? I need a safe way to collect and store my frequently watched videos in my classroom. YouTube has ads that are too risky and unpredictable to show to kids, and TeacherTube is too limited. Need to research Vidly some more to see what I can actually do with it. So, any suggestions readers? Now begins the grueling process of finding my “Musical Oddities” videos and re-collecting them somewhere…

ETA: FOUND A SOLUTION!! VodPod.com has a video collecting service similar to Fliggo and for only $25 per year I can hold up to 20 different video collections! (Perfect for different subject areas!) Check out my first collection at http://musicaloddities.vodspot.tv/ or click on the “Videos” page above and follow the link inside!
Cheers,
Sarah

If you haven’t seen this little simple flash synthesizer yet, you have to try it out. I was addicted after the first try and have to share this with my students upon return to classes in January! Merry Christmas to everyone reading the blog and I hope 2010 brings health wealth and happiness to all! ~ Sarah

21st Century Music Education Advocacy

In these times of unprecedented financial instability, it’s more important than ever to have strong, visibly active, and well-organized music education advocacy groups that will support and defend the arts in our schools. Parents, teachers, and administrators need to be armed with resources and information that will help bolster commitment to a well-rounded curriculum that provides all students with the opportunity to unleash their creativity as well as develop their intellect. In an open letter to school and community education leaders written in August 2009 (http://www.doe.mass.edu/news/news.asp?id=5039), U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan espouses the importance of arts-based education. In it he writes:

At this time when you are making critical and far-reaching budget and program decisions for the upcoming school year, I write to bring to your attention the importance of the arts as a core academic subject and part of a complete education for all students. The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) defines the arts as a core subject, and the arts play a significant role in children’s development and learning process.

While it is imperative that high-ranking government officials recognize and embrace the arts as a crucial curricular component in educating the whole child, it does not change the reality of music programs across the country being crushed under the weight of draconian budget cuts, entrenched testing requirements, and scheduling complications. Our role as music educator must be juxtaposed with being a highly visible, proactive, grass roots organizer. We must be able to communicate effectively in order to leverage parental, and local and statewide community support that is needed to not only sustain, but also enable our music programs to thrive.

What tools and resources do we have at our disposal that will infuse our collective voice with qualitative research and support information? There are several organizations and coalitions dedicated to music advocacy, some of which SoundTree plays a vital role in promoting and supporting.  While some of the organizations in the following list are obvious and prominent voices in music education advocacy, I hope this list, albeit brief, will serve as a reminder of the importance of our membership dollars in helping to sustain their outreach and influence in the political sphere.  These websites are filled with information intended to help guide and support music educators, parents, school administrators, and local, state, and federal legislature arts advocacy efforts.

MENC
http://www.menc.org/resources/view/music-education-advocacy-central
MENC’s powerful lobbying efforts have helped shaped arts-based education goals and standards on state and national levels for many years. MENC is currently working in conjunction with the Partnership for 21st Century Skills to develop a 21st Century Skills Map for the Arts based on other maps that have already been established for other subject areas. “The entire arts education community is invited to review and provide comments on this draft of the 21st Century Skills Arts Map. All comments must be submitted through http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=p7IKPP0l7CmzWFIv1Tkp8Q_3d_3d, which contains a survey designed to enable the entire project team to review all of the comments. The review and comment period will end on Friday, December 11, 2009.” Go to MENC’s website for more details. Let your voice be heard.

NAMM
http://www.namm.org/
NAMM is the largest industry supporter of music education and provides ongoing representation in Washington, D.C. on issues that impact music education and education reform legislation and funding. Once again the NAMM Foundation is inviting all K-12 and Higher Education music educators to attend the third annual “Music Education Days” event during the January 14-17, 2010 NAMM Show in Anaheim, California. “The music industry honors the remarkable contribution that music teachers make every day to the lives of their students; our invitation to music educators to be our guests at the NAMM Show is but one way we would like to say THANK YOU!!”

Support Music
http://www.supportmusic.com/
Support Music is a national effort spearheaded by MENC and NAMM. “Each month the SupportMusic Coalition holds a teleconference to share current advocacy actions and ideas from communities and schools nationally and abroad.” Following his August 2009 letter, US Education Secretary Arne Duncan participated in the August 18th SupportMusic teleconference where he affirmed the importance of parents in ensuring arts education.

VH1 Save the Music
http://www.vh1savethemusic.com/node/46
The VH1 Save The Music Foundation works with school districts all over America. They provide resources and tools for music teachers and administrators to use in their school music programs. “The VH1 Save The Music Foundation Advocacy Toolkit is a place where community members, teachers, and administrators can come to find the resources they need to keep music education strong in their community.”

AMC
http://www.amc-music.com/advocacy/toolkit.htm
“The American Music Conference is a national non-profit educational association founded in 1947. AMC is dedicated to promoting the importance of music, music-making and music education to the general public. AMC’s goal is to build credibility for music and music education, especially at an early age, and to expand that portion of the population that enjoys and makes its own music.”

Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education/kcaaen/
“The Kennedy Center Alliance for Arts Education Network (KCAAEN) is a coalition of statewide non-profit Alliances for Arts Education working in partnership with the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to support policies, practices, programs, and partnerships that ensure the arts are an essential part of American K-12 education.”

Americans for the Arts
http://www.artsusa.org/
“Americans for the Arts is the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America. With 45 years of service, we are dedicated to representing and serving local communities and creating opportunities for every American to participate in and appreciate all forms of the arts.” Americans for the Arts is focused on three principal goals:
1.    Fostering an environment in which the arts can thrive and contribute to the creation of more livable communities.
2.    Generating more public- and private-sector resources for the arts and arts education.
3.    Building individual appreciation of the value of the arts.

Arts Education Partnership
http://www.aep-arts.org/
“The Arts Education Partnership’s mission is to demonstrate and promote the essential role of the arts in enabling every student to succeed in school, life and work in the diverse and global economies and societies of the 21st century.”

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Along with national organizations there are also myriad private individuals and companies that offer insightful perspectives on the importance of music education. The following are just a few examples of the strong impact arts education has had on these individuals and their commitment to a strong music and arts education for all in America.

La Dolce Vita Enterprises
http://www.ldv-enterprises.com/Music-Ed-Advocacy.htm
Craig Cortello is the owner of La Dolce Vita Enterprises and the author of “Everything We Learned About Business We Learned Playing Music.” His primary objective for writing the book was “to positively impact music education by providing a unique advocacy tool.”

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee
http://www.americanprogress.org/events/2008/09/musiced.html
In 2007, Former Governor Mike Huckabee was presented with the Music for Life Award by NAMM for his commitment to music education. On Sept. 18, 2009, the NAMM Foundation announced the launching of the Wanna Play Fund (http://www.wannaplaymusic.com/) in which Huckabee will be the national spokesperson.

A Missing Piece in the Economic Stimulus: Hobbling Arts Hobbles Innovation
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/imagine/200902/missing-piece-in-the-economic-stimulus-hobbling-arts-hobbles-innovation
Psychology Today is host to a blog entitled “Imagine That!” written by authors and educators Robert and Michele Root-Bernstein. This above link takes you to their February 11, 2009 blog entry. If you are interested in sharing their perspective with others, the authors state they are happy to send copies to individuals who send their addresses to rootbern@msu.edu or rootber3@msu.edu

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As always, we have a lot to do. I hope the informational support, guidance, and expert resources you find at these websites will help you navigate the challenges of the current financial and political climate and serve to energize your own grass roots campaign.

From Remarks by the President at Reception for Kennedy Center Honorees -
Released yesterday 12/6/09
*
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-reception-kennedy-center-honorees

"In times of war and sacrifice, the arts -- and these artists —- remind us
to sing and to laugh and to live.  In times of plenty, they challenge our
conscience and implore us to remember the least among us.  In moments of
division or doubt, they compel us to see the common values that we share;
the ideals to which we aspire, even if we sometimes fall short.  In days of
hardship, they renew our hope that brighter days are still ahead. So let's
never forget that art strengthens America.  And that's why we're making sure
that America strengthens its arts.  It's why we're reenergizing the National
Endowment of the Arts.  That's why we're helping to sustain jobs in arts
communities across the country.  It's why we're supporting arts education in
our schools, and why Michelle and I have hosted students here at the White
House to experience the best of American poetry and
music."----------------------------------------------------------------------

What I thought was a typical keyboard lab training today turned out to be a fantastic experience meeting one of my all-time music technology idols, Dr. James Frankel! Little did I know (because I haven’t been reading much of my email lately) that he was going to be the presenter and representative from Soundtree for our VH1 Save The Music Keyboard labs. I was flustered as if meeting a celebrity! Dr. Frankel’s blog and podcasts have been an inspiration to me in my teaching of music technology. He was instrumental in my decision to minor in music technology during my Masters and has virtually helped me along many bumpy paths working with GarageBand, podcasting and other avenues I’ve stumbled upon. It was so great to meet him in person and put a name I’ve known for years with a face (which I thought looked MUCH younger in person than in his photos!) And what a compliment to hear that he’s been reading and following my blog too! So here’s a big shout-out to Dr. Frankel and keep up the great work you are doing for teachers and students at Soundtree. Who knows, perhaps if this teaching gig gets too painful I can always go work for them!

The following is an excerpt from the latest Dave Ramsey newsletter I got. This thanksgiving I would like to give thanks for the people out there who give of themselves and often do net recieve anything in return. Happy Thanksgiving!

“Thank the Thankless Jobs
There are many roles and professions in our society that are terribly underappreciated. They could use an “atta boy” or “atta girl,” and this is the perfect season for praise. If you see them, thank them. If they are in a restaurant, pick up their tab. Report to their boss that they do a great job. Get creative.

Here are just a few examples of people who give a lot and get a little:

Janitor – Notice how the hallways in your office building or school are usually free of trash and dust? You go into the bathroom and everything is ready to go. And it’s all done by someone with a name tag. It’s one of the hardest labor jobs to be a janitor, yet he or she only gets recognized when something is messy. Change that.

Teacher – Sadly, kids are generally more disrespectful of teachers than they were even 20 years ago. If teacher pay went up as much as paperwork has and child discipline needs to, they wouldn’t need their pension funds. To boot, many parents think that teachers are the problem when kids bring home bad grades.

Garbage man – To paraphrase an old saying: Stop doing your job for a month, and have the garbage man stop doing his for a month. See whose absence is more noticed. If any of us did the work for a day, we’d appreciate our jobs a lot more.

Police and fire personnel – The police are usually noticed only when they’re giving you a ticket. Firefighters get the attention when you pull over on the side of the road to let them through. But they are both doing important work.

Military – After a person sees enough reports about the armed forces on the news, they tend to grow numb to it. But our men and women are still over there, doing their jobs just as much as ever. Don’t forget how we’re being kept safe by people that most of us will never meet.

Mom and Dad – This one may not seem like it belongs here, but we think so. When the kids come, it’s not just about you anymore. In fact, virtually nothing is about you. Most people wouldn’t have it any other way, but that doesn’t mean a pat on the back isn’t welcome. The food, shelter, band-aids and teething–it’s a lot of work. And that’s not even getting into those infamous teen years. Plus, parents lack something that everyone else on this list gets—a paycheck.”

Maybe I should just go work at Burger King. This has been my “little voice” all day today. I’m not trying to have low self-esteem or anything, but I m feeling defeated for sure.  Motivation has always been my standard answer on interviews for the question “What is your greatest weakness?” I just can’t seem to intrinsically motivate kids and I have run out of money and time to deal with any more extrinsic “carrots”.

I have a group of 5th graders and a few tough 6th graders that just want to be difficult. Granted, they aren’t acting out or anything, but their standoff-ish attitude about EVERYTHING I try to teach is getting old. No matter what I seem to make “cool” for them, I get no response. But first, a little background for those just joining the blog: My current 5th grade unit deals with the Blues and we are running through some African American History right now. The class has been respectful during the class reading, no major disruptions, and I’m thinking that they are getting into it, until today when we get to spirituals, and I give them “This Little Light of Mine” to sing. You’d have thought I’d asked them to eat escargot! They looked at me with one raised eyebrow as I basically entertained them singing by myself in my best gospel singer voice. One kid ( our “never” kid) tried to mock my singing a little, but I shut it down quickly since he’s on a behavior plan and all I had to do was give one sharp glance at his point sheet hanging on the white board behind me. But, it’s not that kid or kids like him that really bother me. It’s the one’s who just sit there and act like a doorknob, not causing any trouble, but not participating for absolute fear of social death by embarrassment. Granted, there is some bullying going on in our school- and our 5th grade “community” needs some team building skills- but is that my job? I feel like I’ve let down the kids in not providing a “safe” environment, free from ridicule and “un-coolness”.

Dance class is a whole other beast. Our PE program got cut last year and  so I was “volunteered” with my dance background to teach dance to the whole school once a week. I have 60 sixth graders one period and 60 fifth graders the next period. I anticipated the anti-dance mentality that eventually surfaced by trying to get some hip-hop dancers to come and help me with instruction, but still the kids are standing there with arms crossed watching the 4 of us do jazz walks, arm pops, and swings by ourselves. I’m sure it’s pretty entertaining watching a 32 year old and 3 twenty somethings up there getting down with Justin Timberlake, but still! When it’s time for their turn to show what they can do, the kids basically walk to the other side of the gym as fast as they can to avoid embarrassment, or play it funny like “Erkel” just to try to get a laugh from everyone. They’re like goats running away from the sheep dog in a big conforming herd. It’s annoying. We’ve tried threatening grades, refocuses(time-outs), and even sent the worst to the principal, but it seems like week after week more and more let on that it’s not “cool” to do this, so they just shut off.

So what else is there to do? God forbid I ask them to perform anything. It would be like asking them to come to school naked. I’m turning to you, dear readers. I need your best motivation tips. Any words of wisdom for an “uncool” music teacher?

Started teaching the first of my Backwards Designed units today (How to Blues- 5th grade) and I thought I’d reflect on the experience. Up ’til now I’ve just been puttering along, re-designing each “unit”(or rather set of fun, but otherwise meaningless, activities) that I have scrapped together and taught since the beginning of the year. A post-thought if you will. This is the first unit that I designed whole-heartedly from the beginning with the end in mind.

First, being the scrapbooker I am, I went out to buy a nice 1/2″ binder last night with a clear cover and printed a pretty insert in cool pastels with the following passage for inspiration:

All hard work brings a profit, but mere talk leads only to poverty. Proverbs 14:23

I printed each unit (I’ve completed 9 so far) and bought those little Post-it tabs to color code them by grade level. (Side note: Why do those only come in 5 colors when I need 7 for K-6!?) Anyway, then I placed them in order of trimester, basically putting all of the ones I already taught in the front and the 5 new units for this trimester in the middle. Filling the empty section in the back will be my future goal:) So with pretty notebook in hand, I entered ready to conquer the day, and despite discovering one broken keyboard which threw off my morning a little trying to troubleshoot, the lessons I designed went rather smoothly. I liked having my “activities” already planned out and at an arms distance- something I have gotten away from in the last few years as I have felt like I’ve just been flying by the seat of my pants some days. And yet, I didn’t feel constrained by the activities because I knew I had planned enough to build in the understandings . In 5th grade, I began by passing out the “textbook” packet I made and went over where to get materials which took most of the class period. (Mental note for next class: need to build in time for these “teach-to’s in order to maintain high expectations for materials management.) I showed the students my EQ’s and EU’s but i’m not sure it really sunk in this first day. I’m curious to know how other’s who have done this approach “Hook” the students with these questions and understandings instead of just teaching them by rote. I felt like the students were just being polite and listening to my rambling about what I had in store for them.

But the Blues Unit is going to be fun to teach, and my favorite part of the lesson today was reading one of my favorite books, I See The Rhythm by Toyomi Igus. I love seeing the students reaction when I say the words “Negro” and “I’m Black, and I’m Proud” from the book and the kids look at me in astonishment like I said a cuss word and they are going to go home and tell their parents on me! lol I have a few reservations about teaching about African American culture, when I, the whitest of the white girls from NE can’t even eat Popeye’s chicken because I’m so Gringo and can’t stand the spiciness! Oh well, it will be a lesson for all of us to open our minds and hearts.

A few have asked for the template I used to create my units. It can be found and downloaded here. Also thanks to Joel at SYWWT and Ken at Music Is Not For Insects for reading, subscribing and encouraging. Always good to know when you are listened to and supported. Be sure to check out their blogs too!

Until next time, Sarah

For the past two months I have undergone extensive training in “Backwards Design” using the principles of Understanding by Design by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe. It has revolutionized the way that I have thought about planning for understanding rather than planning “activities” and thematic units “just because they are fun and cool”. I have really drank the koolaid here folks! I will discuss more in future posts, but I plan to make this a regular blog feature. Right now I have just finished re-designing some of the units I just taught in trimester 1. Now, as I embark into trimester 2 on Monday, I will have 6 units to complete over the weekend! The process really does get faster, though, with practice.(It’s a good thing I learned perserverance and endurance in my music classes when I was a kid!)

I would like to share my efforts with those interested and welcome comments or questions as I set forth on this journey to re-design my curricular units into ones that provide opportunities for deeper levels of learning and understanding for my students. Feel free to download any of the units below and modify or adapt for your situation. Enjoy!

• Understanding_By_Design_SteadyBeat_Unit_K
• Understanding_By_Design_Listening-VoiceTypes_Unit_K
• Understanding_By_Design_Musical_Opposites Unit-_SameandDifferent_K/1
• Understanding_By_Design_Rhythm_Building_Blocks_Unit_2
• Understanding_By_Design_Q&A_Improvisation Unit_5
• Understanding_By_Design_HOWTOBLUES Unit_5