Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Tool # 9
I visited several of the interactive websites listed in tool #9. I am reminded of the phrase you have to kiss a lot of toads before you meet the handsome prince. In other words, some of these sites just do not satisfy the goal of tying the technology to the learning. However, I have found a few sites that are applicable to the desired music learning outcomes in my classroom: I got an idea from the Class tools.net website that already had a template for the dust bin game. Fakebook for composers was a fun site to read as well, and I think that the 5th graders would enjoy reading it. In surfing the sites listed in this tool I explored the ARTSEDGE through the Kennedy Center and found so much information that I could incorporate in class. There is a baseball game format that introduces instruments of the orchestra with links to actual musicians from the National Symphony Orchestra. The Musicinteractive website has games that are applicable to the TEKS for music. I have embedded this site in my flipcharts and we have done the rhythm dictation as a whole class. The rhythm dictation game can be used in a station set up along with the Music staff wars which I think could be used in a station set up for the 4th grade recorder players to reinforce note reading in the treble clef. It is important to hold the students accountable for their learning so that they can develop their own sense of being lifelong learners. The way that I will hold students accountable for their learning in the technology stations will probably be using a rubric with detailed instructions on paper for each student to fill out and submit at the end of the class. Because I have so many students coming in and out of my classroom each day with no minutes in between grade levels, I will be able to keep track of which students were present that day. Since I envision using the Macbooks in groups, I will have students assigned in small groups and do some type of verification within the small group that the assignments were completed.