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= = = **Mrs. White's i21 Journal** = media type="custom" key="11144608"

An Ah-Ha! Moment
Keeping up with this Journal is harder than I thought. I've found that I do a lot of reflecting and adapting, but I do most of it while I'm driving the car, waiting for my daughter at dance, and other assorted taxi-mom activities which doesn't leave me in a position to actually capture my thoughts on the wiki. However, yesterday/today I had a great Ah-Ha! Moment that I had to get down. I am in the midst of working with my 5th graders on assorted GarageBand projects. I had a beautiful set of illustrated directions for my students with lots of details about HOW to do things, but I never clearly defined the GOAL of the project for them. I knew what my goal was, but I didn't break it down for them clearly enough. So I spent Thursday evening sitting in the car once again waiting for my daughter (this time at a piano lesson) with my iPad trying to get the GOALS on paper as well as the STEPS. I realized that I needed to spend some time with the students defining the goal BEFORE we got out the iPads and worked on the how-tos. I've included the original handout first and then the revised one. Let me assure you.......the revised one is not as pretty, but it worked MUCH better.



Reflection # 2
Describe actions you have taken to get your students ready for using these learning tools. I really thought it would just be about showing students about how to use individual apps. Instead, I have found that there are a lot of different processes that I have to take into account in working my students. Students signed a contract promising to use the iPads appropriately, and I sent a copy home for the parents to read. I had to develop a set of rules for iPad use (we call them our promises). They are posted below under the Nov. 2 entry. I had to develop a traffic flow for getting out the iPads and putting them back in the cart. I have had to teach students some of the minutiae involved in using iPads, such as swiping, unlocking, turning the volume up and down, rotating the screen, etc. Just how excited are you and your students about using these tools? We are so excited that we can barely stand ourselves! LOL! The kids ask every time they come to music if we are going to use the iPads today. I have had several parents and homeroom teachers comment that their children are excited when they realize it's "music day." I even had my 5th graders research a composer, fill out a worksheet, and type a paragraph without any complaining because they got to do it on the iPads. Discuss what you have learned so far. Oh, my goodness, where do I start? I have learned that there is a wide range of technological abilities among my students. Some can do more than I can with the iPads and some need basic instruction just to turn it on and open an app. I've learned that there is are many apps available to help with music education and education in general. Some are good, some are not-so-good, and you have to be discriminating. I've learned that there are times when it is not appropriate to use the iPads. For example, my 4th graders are not using them very much because they are learning to play instruments which is very hands-on. I have learned that projects are taking longer than I'd anticipated and I will have to plan more time for them. I have learned that most of my kids are basically honest and follow the rules that I have set forth for iPad use. So far, only 4 students out of 500 have lost the privilege of using the iPad for a class period when using it inappropriately. How has this project impacted your professional practice so far? I would say that it has made me think more clearly about whether the activities I'm doing in the classroom are truly affecting student learning or not. So far the students have learned a lot from their hands-on activities, without too much lecturing or direct instruction from me. Also, by having them work independently on the iPads then I am free to assist the students who are having difficulties and the ones who grasp things immediately can move on without me! I have just completed a research project with my 5th graders in which they researched a composer using a pdf in iBooks, completed a graphic organizer on paper, typed a paragraph using Pages, and sent it to iTunes as a pdf so I could print it out and grade it as a content-area writing sample. What are your next steps as you move forward? The next big projects I will be working on are 1) Composing with GarageBand with 5th graders (anticipated start date is the second week of February) 2) Having 4th graders record themselves playing their instrument and play it back in order to peer- and self-assess their performance (anticipated start date is mid-January) 3) Developing some projects for Kindergarten using the musical experience apps and tying them to the SCOS (anticipated start date is mid-January)

Thursday, November 3, 2011
Second day with the iPads. I have a better idea of how to instruct the children and was a little bit looser about letting them "experiment" as long as they stayed within the appropriate app and were meeting our objective. Then when I saw a student trying something cool I let them show the class how to do it on my iPad attached to the projector.

My 5th grade Enrichment kids began creating music in GarageBand and I learned that it is pretty easy to erase somebody else's stuff by going into their file instead of creating a new one. I will have to figure out the best way to handle this!

The kids are having a great time, and so far everyone is staying in the apps that I ask them to. Whew! There is a lot of prep work, but it is neat to see the kids initiating their own learning once they get into the app.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Today students used the iPads! Each class (1 class each of Ki-5th) got to use them to look at pictures to go with our SQUILT (Super-Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time) music for the day. I played music from Singapore while they went into "Photos" and looked at pictures that I had downloaded for them to see. They had a BLAST. At the end I had each student open up their favorite picture and turn around the iPad to show me which one he/she liked best.

I did not anticipate how much time it would take to learn the "procedures" aspect of using the cart. Essentially I had to create a procedure for each of the following:
 * lining up to get the iPads
 * carrying the iPads back to their seats
 * holding the iPads safely (always use 2 hands!) and how to sit while holding them
 * putting the iPads away

I also decided that I needed to have a "kid-friendly" version of the iPad user agreement posted in the room to review each time that the students get the iPads out.

I promise to:
 * 1) use only the iPad that is assigned to me
 * 2) handle the iPad safely
 * 3) only use my finger on the iPad
 * 4) tell the teacher if there is a problem
 * 5) put it back in the cart
 * 6) follow directions with the iPad

I also had the Enrichment students use them to begin creating background music using "Smart Drums" in "GarageBand" for their dances.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011
I am slowly completing the process of upgrading all the iPads to iOS5. Each one must be upgraded individually and iTunes is totally unusable while this process is going on. It's about 30 minutes for each one, so I figure that I can squeeze in about 3 a day during planning/lunch times/before school/after school times. I cannot install Pages or iMovie until they are upgraded. So far I've completed about 10.

Today I consulted with our principal about student contracts for iPad use. This is what I went with. Many thanks to our technology facilitator, Ashley Hood for sharing hers with me! All students will sign and date it. Then I will send home a copy of the signed contract with each student along with an informational letter. (Thanks to Ashley AGAIN! I think I might be saying that a LOT in this blog.)

I have shown a couple of 5th grade classes some of the apps using the data projector and an adapter (iPad to VGA, I think) and they are EXCITED. I will be stressing to my students that using the iPads is a privilege and that they must take care of them. After all, I can teach most of the same concepts using paper and pencils it's just much less FUN and motivational.

Saturday, October 22, 2011
I can't stand the wait. This morning I went out to the school and spent about 3 hours individually syncing the iPads and getting them set up. I now feel better about being ready to go by November 2. *Note to self* The easiest way to sync music is to create a playlist folder titled "iPad Music" and then pull all the playlists I want sync into that folder. That way I don't have to individually check off the playlists I want on every iPad every time I sync. Since I teach music I will be shifting a lot of different music on and off on a regular basis and this way it will automatically sync what I want onto every iPad whenever I plug them up.

Project Idea Number 1 (all grade levels): SQUILT on iPad. The students will go into "Music" and start playing the selected listening piece for that week. Then they will go into "Photos" and scroll through the pictures of the country. While considering the project I realized that there are no headphones on the cart. I can't have 25 kids playing music at the same time, so for now I will have to play the music from a central location and the kids can scroll through the pictures individually. MUST get headphones. I can't teach music class without them!

Other random project ideas in no particular order:
 * Enrichment: Students video each other performing their line dances. Edit them using iMovie. (Do I have iMovie? Better check!) Possibly have them create their own music in GarageBand to accompany their line dance.
 * 4th grade: Students record each other playing Hot Cross Buns and peer/self-evaluate using a class-created rubric (I wrote an Education Foundation mini-grant for 15 pairs of the microphone/headphones. Hope I get it!)
 * 5th grade: GarageBand project: Creating individual pieces of music. Exporting them to iTunes and burning to CD for the students to keep.
 * 5th grade: Composer research projects tied to the NC Symphony. Research on web. Write paragraphs using Pages and/or Dragon Dictation.
 * 5th grade: Complete a worksheet using the Meet the Orchestra app (will have to create the worksheet!)

Friday, October 21, 2011
The iPads cart has finally arrived. I am excited, the kids are excited, and we all can't wait to start using them! Unfortunately, duty calls. I really want to get in there and start syncing them up, put all the content on there, and throw them at the kids. Instead I find myself making a to-do list of items I have to do first: Somehow I thought this would be easier and come naturally. I put up a set of signs telling the kids that we would begin using the iPads until November 2. I thought this was a generous estimate, that I wouldn't really need that long to get them up and running. Now I think it will be a miracle if I'm ready by then.
 * Sync each iPad individually with my laptop. 30 individual syncs=mucho time
 * Come up with a set of procedures for use to minimize any damage
 * Come up with a contract that the students will sign regarding appropriate iPad use
 * Draft a letter to go home to the parents with information
 * Figure out how to sync all 30 iPads at the same time with the same information
 * Download apps
 * Figure out how to get files on the iPads so kids can access them.

I have done a little "app-surfing" before I get down to the nitty-gritty:
 * Learn the Orchestra
 * View an orchestra playing pieces, and mute out sections while listening so they hear individual instruments
 * Start and stop the orchestra by touching the conductor
 * Read about different instruments by touching the book. The conductor will read to you if you click the speech bubble next to him.
 * Take a quiz about the instruments by clicking the blue ribbon
 * DoReMemory
 * Gives you a letter name and you identify the line or space
 * More limited than I thought. Does **NOT** quiz you by showing you the line or space and having you give the note name.
 * B-Rhymes
 * identifies "almost rhymes" for a word you type in
 * hopefully will be useful for writing lyrics.
 * Pages
 * So the kids can write the research papers on composers in my original proposal.
 * Unfortunately, it won't sync to the iPad until I update the iPad software. The iPad won't update until I update iTunes. So, here I am updating iTunes, and now updating the iPad until I can ever get to try it out!
 * Adobe Reader
 * Hopefully we can use this to look at the Symphony Student booklet that is in Adobe Reader online.