Videos

This begins our incredible adventure using 1:1 iPads in the Elementary Music Class! As of August 16th, our school is now a 1:1 iPad school. As excited as I am about all things technological, I know I need to learn how to use the iPad as a learning tool. My goal this year is to update my traditionally taught lessons in the music classroom, not just by teaching apps on the iPad, but by redesigning how I get my students to learn musical concepts. We’ve had one full week of classes, and I wanted to share my first attempts… successful and not so successful! I have so much to learn… I wish …… well, I have to dive on in and go for it knowing I’m going to make mistakes and learn by doing. Hopefully, blogging about these adventures will lead to exciting conversations as we encourage and help each other. Third and fourth graders are reviewing beat and meter. This week, we explored how grouping strong and weak beats together in organized patterns creates meter, and different meters have different feels to them: waltz in 3, march in 2  or rock music in 4. The students created strong and weak pattern groupings. Several children wanted to know why there was a barline and that led to a discussion of the special STRONG beat at the beginning of each measure. It wasn’t originally in my plans, but we quickly grouped in strong/weak patterns, grabbed a boomwhacker to make a barline, and took pictures of the patterns. I’ll print these out and post them around the room for future study. Students used EduCreations on their iPad They either took pictures of things in the music room, or went on the web for strong and weak images. They created at least 2 patterns and recorded sound effects illustrating the pattern of strong and weak beats. The students needed help starting, but caught on VERY quickly. They absolutely LOVED making the recording and describing what they learned. 1:1 iPad Problem: EduCreations does not allow for a re-take of the recording. If a child messes up, they just have to live with it and keep going, or start all over. 1:1 iPad Problem: We don’t have student email set up yet, so there is not a way to export their final work. And, if it is created in the “Private” mode, it cannot be changed to “Public.” I need to figure out how to have them create AND share what they produce. 1:1 iPad Assignment Students scanned the QR code with their iPads. Each QR code was linked to a musical piece either in the meter of 3 or the meter of 4. Their assignment was to work in groups to create a dance illustrating the meter of their linked music. They had to clearly show the strong beat. 1:1 iPads – This worked! The video links below show excerpts from their creative dances. The boys clearly understood and felt the strong beat in the meter of 4. One group even illustrated the form of the piece within their movements. One group of girls worked so well together and came up with a real dance routine. They even worked to come through the tunnel on each strong beat in the meter of 3. Creative Moves In Meters Of 3 And 4 from Cherie Herring on Vimeo. My plan is to keep working on the video and let the students add their voices to create a tutorial about meter. Working with iMovie, I think they can easily take ownership and produce a final piece that explains meter correctly. Problem! I wish I had them longer than 30 minutes per week!! How are you using 1:1 iPads in your music classes? I would welcome any comments or suggestions about our new adventure!!