Passing the Torch

It's been a year since I taught orchestra in schools as my full-time job. While I am happy to be where I'm at, I've also struggled with missing being in the classroom. One of the coolest things, though, has been watching a friend really pick up the torch of mashing music + technology together. It is a joy to watch!

Robots + Composition

A few weeks ago, I received this text:

"I assume you've played with the Edison robots? I think it would be really neat to do a composition project with them where the objects/surfaces around it trigger the different notes/phrases...I programmed mine to play the next phrase of Twinkle when it changed to a different surface when driving."

Prior to this, I hadn't heard about these particular robots, but wow, mind blown! I think that coding any robot to respond to outside stimuli differently is an authentic way to mix composition & computer science in a music class. This would make a great #HourofCode project someday!

Video Perspective

A few summers ago, I recorded lots, and I mean LOTS of instructional videos to help my 5th & 6th graders learn their songs. I found that it had several benefits - it helped my students learn their music, but also how to practice, because I talked them through the tricky spots in the video. It also really gave them a multi-sensory way to learn, by listening, looking at my fingers in the video, and looking at their music. Finally, it was a great way for parents to know what their kids were learning and how to help them or for kids to catch up after being absent. It is so common to get an email that says, "I don't know how to help my kid in music," and this game me a great resource to point them to! I even sent them occupational therapist at my school, who was working with one of my students, and she came back knowing how to hold the cello & play our first few songs, making it much easier for her to help this student!

Disclaimer: I totally stole copied this idea from another orchestra teacher in the district...good ideas just get passed around!

My friend shared that she wanted to make her own set of videos this summer, but instead of setting up the camera in front of her, she was going to take it from a forehead mount, showing the exact perspective of the students. This way, they don't have to see what it looks like from the outside and try to make their fingers match that from their angle. How come I never thought of that?!? It shows such a great focus on thinking about the user first, and what their needs are.  I was blown away!

Individualized, Self-Paced Learning

Orchestra Karate has been around for awhile, and is actually something the two of us implemented when we team-taught together. Once again, my friend is finding ways to expand ideas to make them even better! She shared that instead of just doing our "regular" songs for Orchestra Karate, she had made two extra packets - a holiday packet & a challenge packet - that students could work on & earn belts for. This is such a great way to combat the fact that the beginning class has students moving at a variety of paces, and allows all students to be challenged at their own level!

Spreadsheets

Okay, this last one is just because I'm a nerd and I love organizing my life with spreadsheets. I love finding others who do the same! She was telling me how she had one spreadsheet per school, but IMPORTRANGEd them all into one master spreadsheet, had different tabs to sort by different reasons (like who had district instruments, etc), and used conditional formatting to mark who had turned paperwork in. She also talked about using autoCrat to create nametags (to hang on stands) from these spreadsheets, rather than our usual practice of having students write their own nametags, which often results in small, light handwriting that is impossible to read from the podium :-). These little hacks make life so much easier, and I love seeing others use them in a way that works for them!

Passing the Torch

When I decided to move into this district position, one of the hard things was feeling like I was just scratching the surface of what could be done in a music classroom, and I didn't have time to explore everything I wanted to! These interactions with my friend have been incredibly encouraging in remembering that I am not the only one who is exploring. As obvious (and self-centered) as that sounds, it has been so cool to see her not only embrace new ideas, but take them even further to create the best educational environment for kids!

My recommendation? Find "your people" and keep building on each others' ideas. Continue to push further and deeper. Collaborate & share. Together, we can create amazing educational environments for students!

Technology...in Beginning Orchestra?

Have you ever had one of those days where you are just struggling for inspiration and motivation in your teaching?  

That happened to me this last week.  I looked at what I had planned for one of my beginner classes, and it just felt so "blah".  I couldn't get myself excited about it.  About an hour before the class, though, my mind started rolling...

...a few years ago, I recorded teaching videos of all of the songs we learn in 5th grade for students to watch at home...
...YouTube is open at elementary schools now in my district...
...since our district's IT Open House, I have been wanting to try to Chromecast to a TV to see how it works, and this school has a TV in my teaching space that has that capability...
...knowing the technology at this school, I could probably get ahold of a Chromebook cart during class...
...this is my smallest class, therefore the easiest to "experiment" with...
...an idea was born!

It's amazing how quickly my mind can roll when I get excited about something!  In a matter of minutes, I made sure I had access to the Chromebook cart, asked teachers to have students bring headphones, and set up Chromecast from my device to the TV (with a little help from some teachers).  We were ready to roll!

I first gathered the students in the front of the room and told them not to unpack - yet.  I asked them if they would be willing to embark on an experiment with me, to which they enthusiastically replied, "Yes!"  I shared that I wanted to try using this technology in class, so they could each watch the video and work on the song that they needed the most work on, even if it was different from their neighbor.  I used my Chromebook (Chromecast to the TV) to show them how to access the videos online, and then set them free!

Overall, the students did a fantastic job of using the time well.  They picked which song they needed to work on, clicked on the video, and learned in their own way.  Some bowed along with the piece, while others plucked.  Still others wrote down the notes or just fingered to make sure they knew how to play.  We did run into an issue with the song "Can-Can" being blocked - apparently, since the dance could get a bit risque, the name of the video triggered the filter (even though I promise it's just a video of my showing how to play it on an instrument)!  Other than that, though, this went off without a hitch!

The next step was grabbing a few of my students who were ahead to try recording themselves and sending their recordings to me.  We used Screencastify, since I am the most familiar with it, although I have a couple of other options I want to play around with in the future, too!  I was wondering how well the headphones would work - would they be able to concentrate on their own learning with other people playing different songs around them?  And would the recordings pick up all of the other noise?  It didn't seem to bother them too much, and when I listened to the recordings, I could hear the background noise, but it did not impact my ability to hear the student making the recording so I could provide meaningful feedback.

For the last few minutes of class, I regathered everyone for a quick evaluation of the day.  Their response was overwhelmingly positive!  They liked being able to work at their own pace and in their own way, and they were excited about the idea of recording videos and sending them to me.  We talked about how they could both watch and record videos at home, so they could really extend their learning beyond classtime.  I asked if they would want to do this again - and of course the answer was yes!  We probably won't do it that often, but I can see it being useful for a change of pace, sub plans, or as a catch-up day after we've learned some new music.  It really allows students to differentiate and work on what they need!

As I reflect on a personal level, I am so grateful that my tiredness that day sparked the desire to look for something new - creativity and innovation can come from anywhere!

I would love to recreate this in my other beginning classes, but I will need to figure out the technology piece - larger classes mean they would have to be 2:1 or 3:1 with a device, which makes headphones/sound difficult, which leads to all sorts of other issues.  I'll keep looking for solutions!

Any ideas?  Have you ever tried something like this with beginners?  Leave a comment below - I'd love to learn together!

Flipping My Music Classroom

Flipped classrooms have gotten a lot of publicity, lately, and for good reason - the ability for students to work at their own pace and have the ability to rewatch videos if they need a refresher is a huge plus!  Being the techie girl that I am, I started wondering about how I could use this in my orchestra class.  I mean, it's orchestra, right?  We rehearse - and that can't be done individually, at home.  Students practice (we hope!), but they all have different abilities and parts, so it's challenging to make videos relevant to all of them.

The thing that finally pushed me over the edge was constantly hearing from parents, "I'm completely un-musical, how can I help my kids?"  I realized that I could do something about this, and help parents engage more in music with their kids - and what music educator doesn't want that?

My biggest fear was wanting to create the perfect videos.  What if I played slightly out of tune?  What if I sounded silly or said something not quite in the way I wanted to?  I can be a perfectionist - and I didn't want to get stuck spending hours and hours creating a single video!  Two things really helped me get over this hump - one, another orchestra teacher in my district began making videos, and watching her, I was encouraged that I could just be myself (if she had a blog to link to, I would give her a shout out here)!  Secondly, I realized that I make mistakes all of the time in my teaching through out the day.  The kids are used to seeing the real me.  I just had to treat it like teaching a class!

I started off with videos for beginners, and ended up with a series of six videos covering the very basic skills, such as how to hold the instrument & bow and play the first few notes.  I experimented a bit in the beginning with recording formats, but found that I got the best sound and video using a video camera and then uploading the videos to my computer.  Some of these first ones have terrible sound!  But you live and you learn!

As time went on, I continued building my library to include all of the major songs we focus on in the first year, as well as some songs from the second year.  I could track video views on my home YouTube page (great for assessing how it was working and data for evaluations), and I also have students fill out a Google Form, telling me what the learned from the video.  I knew I was being successful when my second and third year students started asking for videos of their music!  For my ensemble pieces, I started posting videos of individual parts.

And the best part?  I now have a library of videos that can be used in so many ways!  

Different learning styles and accessibility?  These videos offer both a visual and auditory way of learning that students can come back to over and over again - especially helpful for those who have low vision or who really struggle with reading.  

Parents?  Now, when I get an email about not knowing how to help their students, I can direct parents straight to the videos, and encourage them to watch them with their children.  It inspires conversations about learning and helps them realize how much their children are learning through playing an instrument!

New students?  We always have students who join halfway through the year, or in middle school, or sometime else that is not the "traditional" time when everyone else starts.  While I still try to help these students get started, it is incredibly helpful to be able to ask them to watch these first six videos, either in class (on a Chromebook) or at home, so they have some foundational knowledge and don't feel so lost in class.

Teachers?  This one has surprised me the most, but these videos have been really helpful for collaborating with my colleagues as well!  Last year, I was working with the occupational therapist at my school to figure out how to accommodate a student with a physical disability.  Since we both travel, it was challenging to find time to meet - but I could just send her the video of what the end result needed to be, and she was able to watch it and work with this student to come up with a solution before the first day of class!  I also co-teach some orchestra classes with teachers who are primarily band specialists, and so I have passed on these videos to help them learn what I am looking for and the language I use in my classroom, so they can feel confident helping out in the orchestra room!

Overall, I am so glad I have made these videos and I have seen the benefits in my classroom!  We still spend the majority of our time rehearsing, but students are more likely to go home and figure out where they are having problems on their own, because they have resources to help them.  It was quite a time investment in the beginning, but now, I have almost 100 videos to use, reuse, and share.  If you are thinking about making music videos for your students, I would highly encourage you to do it!  Go for it!  Start small, with just one or two videos, and don't worry about perfection.

What skills might you want to target in making videos/flipping your classroom?  What are some of the barriers, and how could you overcome them?

For a full library of my posted videos, check out my Orchestra Website!