Plans for the New Year

A few things that are brewing as we "round the turn" and start to prepare for the 2013-14 school year:

1. For the first time we have a senior and freshman choir.  I have 19 enrolled in the senior choir and 29 enrolled in the freshman choir.  I need to figure out how to coordinate repertoire.   It is exciting to see so many numbers.

2. I have 13 enrolled in band which is a few more than last year.  I hope to really push this group this year.

3. I think I will use edmodo in class.

4. I hope to be completely digital in senior choir, using forscore as their folders.  I have 20 iPads so I am not sure how to deal with the 29 students in freshman choir.

5. I am ordering smartmusic for iPad, even though it hasn't been released yet.  A bit worried.

Vacation

IMG_1250, a photo by brandtsch on Flickr.

Reading Spot

Cadets

 Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a rehearsal of the Cadets in Meriden, thanks to the Maloney Band.  It was a really great time.

A few observations:

• These kids work hard.  This was the end of a twelve hour day, and they still had four hours to go.
• The kids run everywhere.  They run to the bathroom, they run to their water for water break, they run back to their spots to repeat a set.
• Its loud.  
• There is a 100% expectation of excellence.  There was frequent calling out of those who were less than perfect.
• This years show is pretty complicated.  I'm excited to see what a month of twelve hour days will produce.
• There is a lot of staff who seem to work very hard.  I am not usually a fan of huge staffs.

Ideas for New Year

Some items on the horizon, better known as summer work...

1. Digital folders.  I'd like to make the full transfer to digital folders for band/choir.  Band and senior choir are no problem as I have 20 iPads and around 17 in each class.  Freshman choir has 29 currently. I think I will go 1-2.

I anticipate using forScore but I might still be drawn to Chromatik.  Both allow students to create folders and send .pdfs home.

I need to figure out how to digitize theory work and newsletters.  I might use Evernote and Penultimate.

2. Badges.  I'd like to figure out how to use these in class.

3. Musical.  One way or the other I hope to produce some sort of a musical in the Spring.

4. I need to find a sequential theory work book for classes.  Something where I could have students work at "their own pace".  I need to formalize our theory and sight reading work.

Badges

I am exploring using badges in my classroom, inspired by Doug Belshaw, Vicki Davis, and our very own Mike Oberdick.  I will be teaching a one semester class called "freshman seminar" next fall which is pass/fail.  It seems well suited the badges ideas.

The two platforms I have looked at are ClassBadges and ForAllBadges.  I'm not in love with either of them.  I am hoping for a rather dynamic reporting system.

I expect to have a series of required badges.  You must complete the badge to pass class, based on the curriculum.  Badges like research paper, note taking, presentation skills, etc... I also hope to add "fun" badges like attended dance, played a school sport, sang in concert, etc...

The hard part is figuring out how to use badges in my graded classes.  I can offer badges, but the next question will always be "so, whats my grade?".  I need to figure out a way to make that translation.  In my high school band we literally had badges for All-State, years in marching band, etc... I might do something like that.  But I need to make it cool enough for the kids to keep checking on their account.

Comments welcome!

Smartmusic

Last year I paid $248 to Smartmusic for educator subscription plus 3 additional machines.

Smartmusic really hyped the iPad deployment of their software.  To put it on the same machines, plus iPads would run me over $1000.

Yes, I'm disappointed.  I was really hoping to use Smartmusic on the machines.  Having a "checkout system" where students would take the iPads home to complete assessments could really help.  If I renew I think I will have to limit it to 1-2 iPads.

I get the revenue model.  Smartmusic needs to pay royalty each time we play a tune.  But....frustrated.

Choir Activity

This is an activity we did in class yesterday.  Each student chooses their own path to get to 100 points.  It is an opportunity to assess many different standards in an informal, quick way.

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Teacher must initial all sections to earn points. This is a test grade.  Work fast.

1. Review and sing Per La Gloria with proper attention, posture, vocal technique (20 pts) ___

2. Use back of the paper to prepare a sample 4-5 song spring choir program.  Following should be considered:

• Contrasting pieces with educational value (i.e. teach different rhythms, vocal range, etc..)
• One piece must be a patriotic or standard choral repertoire piece.
• One piece should be in a language other than English

Use the site jwpepper.com as a reference.  (40 pts) ______

3. Play Row, Row , Row your Boat on Ukulele while singing (20 pts) ________

4. Play an F major scale on the upright piano (5pts) ______________

5. Sing the 2 part Star Spangled Banner correctly for teacher (30 pts)_______

6. Play the melody of Star Spangled Banner (first verse) on iPad piano.  Hint: it starts sol-mi-do-mi-sol. (20 pts) ___________

7. Draw/Create an SHS Choir Logo using the iPad (10pts) ______

8.  Play Piano Games or Dust Buster for 10 minutes.  Show teacher (5 pts) __________

9. Go to youtube.  Watch one tiny desk concert (only first full song) of a band/vocalist you have never heard of. Watch with headphones on.  Describe to teacher (15 pts) _________

10.  Work hard.  Don’t be annoying.  Stay appropriately quiet. (10 pts) ________

11. Know Mr. Schneider’s birthday.  Write it here ______________  (5pts) ________

12. Name all seven people who got pins at the Tri-M ceremony on Monday (5pts) ____