TIS and THAT VOL. V
ISSUE. III
WV TIS, SEPTEMBER 2016
Feature Teacher
Ear Training
Logan Rhodes has been chosen as the STEAM Feature Teacher for Calhoun County Middle High School. He uses technology in his related arts classes almost daily, in one way or another and is constantly sharing his ideas with his colleagues. When asked to share his love of technology integration and the tools he uses, he prepared the following article for readers. Within the next paragraphs you will begin to understand why he has been chosen as the feature teacher. Let the words speak for themselves.
It sounds like a strange phrase to the non-music teacher. But it consists of a slew of very important skills that are essential to good musicianship. It’s comprised of being able to hear music and determine what rhythms, notes, intervals, chords, and phrases are being played.
Traditionally, ear training exercises and assessment in music classrooms have been a tedious exercise, for both teacher and student. When I was in college, my ear training professor played a series of notes on the piano, which we students tried out best to accurately transcribe onto staff paper. Assessment was based on the same exercise. In other courses, recordings were used, but the end result was still writing down the answer on a sheet of staff paper. Thankfully, in this age of technology, we can bid goodbye to that antiquated form of teaching. Theta Music Trainer https://trainer.thetamusic.com/ offers a wide range of music theory and ear training Logan Rhodes— Calhoun Co. Middle High School exercises. Continued on page 2 Continued on page 5
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow UP? This is the question that we ask our students at a very young age. More often than not, they always have a quick response. Children think that they know exactly what they want to be when they grow up, until they grow up. The career and technical centers throughout the state of West Virginia help to ensure that our students have an opportunity to continue with “hands on learning” when they need it the most. Continued on page 4
TECHNOLOGY IS BEING USED MORE AND MORE IN THE CLASSROOM THESE DAYS. DO YOU NEED TO MONITOR THEIR ACTIVITIES? SEE PAGE 4 FOR MORE DETAILS
Technology and the Arts PAGE II
WV TIS, SEPTEMBER 2016
Ear Training (Continued) Each TMT game runs in an embedded player within a browser on a PC or through an app on iOS or Android devices. The games are very colorful and fully animated. Ear training games are played by listening to an example, and then “playing” the example back on a virtual keyboard or a guitar fretboard (this is one of the few packages I’ve seen that can accommodate a guitar class, which are badly in need of quality online resources.) There are also rhythm games, where the student “clicks” the rhythm on the space bar in time with a short phrase displayed on a staff. For students with little or no formal music training, TMT has games that focus on instrument identification, differences in pitch (high or low), and call and response using an attached microphone. Teachers in charge of beginning music production classrooms will appreciate the exercises which allow students to properly mix different ensembles using a mixing board. As wonderful as the games are, the feature that makes TMT stand head and shoulders above the competition is the assessment component. Each student logs in with their own unique username and password, which they can use from any internet-connected device, from the computer lab at school to their phone or tablet at home.
THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
Teachers can organize students into classes based on grade level or ability, and assign different games to be completed. In addition, teachers have access to a dashboard that they can use to monitor each students progress and completion rate of any game on the platform. Teachers can use this dashboard as motivation for their students, because it ranks them in order of proficiency at each game. Students love competing against their peers, and also enjoy progressing through the “belt” system integrated into the platform. If successful, it moves a small runner closer and closer to the finish line. As a band director, this piece of software has increased my students’ aural and sight-reading skills more than any other approach I have tried. I think any music teacher at the middle or high school level would benefit by integrating TMT into their curriculum. There is a free trial available where you are able to play any game up to level three. School based licenses are available for $100 a year for up to 50 students or $200 a year for up to 200 students. John Shawler
Career and Technical Education THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
WV TIS, SEPTEMBER 2016
What Do You Want to Be When You Grow UP? (Continued) We as teachers strive to assist our students to learn to the best of our ability, however; we sometimes forget the importance of hands on learning at the high school level. Many students struggle to learn by sitting at a desk and looking at the smartboard or reading from a book. This is where the importance of our career centers come into play. In past years, career centers have been dubbed as the place where the “slower or struggling” students went. Today, students are much more excited to attend career centers as part of their curriculum because they help to prepare them for both college and the work force. Many of the programs that are offered help to provide students with opportunities to obtain the competencies required in today’s workplace. They not only learn about different careers, they also have the opportunity to experience the simulated work in the career centers and directly at the workplaces. The strategy behind this type of learning is to no longer just teach students a narrow set of skills sufficient for entry-level jobs; it is about preparing students for careers. Career centers address the goals of college and career readiness and provide learning options that are appealing for students who might otherwise be at risk of dropping out of high school because they struggle to learn in the classroom. Some career centers also offer students the opportunity to participate in SkillsUSA. SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry representatives working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA programs include local, state and national competitions in which students demonstrate occupational and leadership skills.
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I would like to share this article from America Educator in regards to Career and Technical Education. It has some excellent information and resources. Branching out: The Benefits of a Reimagined Career and Technical Education I would also like to highlight an app that would be great to use at the career centers to prepare students for job interviews. The
app is Monster.com Interviews by Monster Worldwide. This app is the ultimate tool to help students through the job interview process. It provides advice and coaching through every stage of a job interview. It also features a Pre-interview section that provides tips, techniques, and expert advice from conducting research to asking the right questions and follow-up etiquette.
Skills USA Membership and Fall Leadership Membership for the 2016-2017 Year is OPEN! The early registration deadline is November 15, 2016 and the final registration deadline is February 1, 2017. The Fall Leadership Conference is scheduled for October 19-20, 2016 @ The Cedar Lakes Conference Center. Contact Tim Toler for any questions related to Skills USA Membership and Conferences. He can be reached at 304-586-3494 ext. 4475 or email at ttoler@k12.wv.us
TECHNOLOGY PAGE IV
WV TIS, SEPTEMBER 2016
THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
REMOTE CONTROL With the growing use of technology in the classroom comes an increase in the amount of distractions a student can be subject to. The ability to monitor a students’ activities while using these wonderful teaching tools is almost a necessary. The following programs may help you regain control of the classroom and/or computer lab. Insight
This is a paid program that will let you monitor a students’ activities and even remotely control their pc and iPad (limited functionality on the iPad). It also lets you log keystrokes, websites, block printing and flash drives as well. You will need to contact Faronics for pricing. www.faronics.com/products/insight/
iTalc
FREE TIME CLOCK SYSTEM When presented with the task of using the time clocks that we purchased for Simulated Workplace in the school, I came across some very nice software that came with a hefty price. I knew there was no room in our budget for that cost so I started digging. I came across a free software that I thought might fit the bill. If you go to www.zksoftware.com/ en/Products/Download/ Downloadone/ there you will find the software and the installation manuals.
For those of you who don’t like paid software, there is a free alternative and it can be downloaded at italc.sourceforge.net. From my One nice thing we were able to do is sync all of the experience iTalc is slightly harder to students into one database where administration can install , has fewer features, and only works on a Windows PC. Again this is check attendance and such if need. free software so your mileage may vary. As with new technologies, we have had some There are other options out there that are similar and trouble, but mostly it has been user error. We did have to tweak the system a little to get the reports we just as good but these are the only ones that I have were looking for. Overall it has been a decent had a successful experience with. replacement considering the low, low price of free. Dusty Campbell Dusty Campbell
FEATURE TEACHER PAGE V
WV TIS, SEPTEMBER 2016
Feature Teacher—Logan Rhodes At my current school I teach Theatre, Band, Chorus, and middle school General Music. With this in mind, here are some of the ways I use, have used, or plan to use technology in classes. I’ll begin with Class Dojo. With Class Dojo I can reward good behavior with positive feedback while tracking negative behaviors. I can instantly message one parent, a group of parents or all parents and parents automatically receive regular reports. Students can review and reflect on their individual feedback and customize their avatars. Class Dojo is free and easy to setup and customize apps for Apple and Android devices are available. I also use Remind to communicate with parents and students in my extracurricular groups. Students and parents can opt for messages via SMS or email and messages can be sent from the teacher to the whole class, small groups, or individuals. Remind is also free and easy to set up with apps for Apple and Android devices. For band and chorus, SmartMusic and Finale , both from MakeMusic Inc., are indispensable. Directors of smaller bands will understand the need for Finale. Nearly every piece of music our band performs has to be arranged in-house or have parts rewritten to fill holes left by missing instrumentation. With its extensive library for band and the recent addition of a choral library, SmartMusic is my go to for music assessment. While the software itself is free, SmartMusic requires a paid subscription to use. Students who purchase a home subscription can practice with SmartMusic and complete assessments from home using a computer, or handheld device.
THE ART OF TECHNOLOGY
SmartMusic provides instant feedback, records the assessment and scores it. Finale also allows me to create SmartMusic assessments for either band or chorus. This year I am learning to use Pyware 3D for Marching Band drill design. Since I am still in the learning curve, I won’t say much beyond I am using it and see potential . As with my Performing Arts classes, my General Music classes are heavily performance based. Because of this, I use rubrics frequently. All of my rubrics are now or will soon be in electronic format. I also use ForAllRubrics for online rubrics. Once classes are set up and student accounts are created, students receive a copy of the rubric via email and can access all their rubrics to read feedback and reflect or respond. This summer, I experimented with VBA coding and now have a rubric in an Excel spreadsheet which will email the student a copy of the completed rubric with feedback and record the score in a separate spreadsheet where I have formulas for analysis. For those occasions, where a quiz or exam is the only option for assessment, I use a mixture of Office Mix, Excel Survey, or Microsoft Forms. Anything I have saved as a PDF, that I can convert without violating copyrights, has been converted into a PDF Form and in most cases, when possible, are graded on submission.
I used to record just about everything my music classes did in class and will be able to do so once again, using Audacity along with our newly acquired Peavey PV14 USB mixer. I hope to also begin recording radio plays in Theatre class this year using the same set up adding music recorded with Audacity or created in Soundtrap. Amy Nicholas