Project-based learning

As I began to study Constructionism this week, I was excited.  Finally I would get to discuss a classroom model that I use everyday with success in my art and music classroom!  Even though I knew what constructionism included, I was a bit disheartened to see the highlighted instructional strategy for the week was "Generating and Testing Hypotheses".  Science?  Surely that wasn't all we were going to be limited to in this week of studying a great hands-on method of learning.

Fortunately, my disappointment wasn't necessary, as further study showed that generating and testing hypotheses is simply guess and check (well, with a little thought behind the guessing part).  Matt Kuhn posted on the McREL blog about a music teacher who had her students create a song as generating and testing hypothesis (2009).  This is the kind of lesson I prefer, and I believe it leaves a lasting impression on my students because they are able to become physically involved in their projects and make informed decisions about them.

This week in music class, I decided to do a cross-curricular lesson involving art, music, and science.  This year, my third grade students have studied simple machines in class.  While looking through one of our music books, I noticed a song about a toy, had a Rube Goldberg invention next to it.  We learned the song, and looked at how Rube Goldberg's design used everyday items in strange ways to come up with a specific outcome.

We also watched this cute Japanese video:

My students were given the task of creating a plan that involved at least 8 separate steps to make an instrument create a sound.  After they finished the drawing, they had to label the steps just like Rube Goldberg did, and present their contraptions on the document camera so everyone could see.  I was amazed at the creativity as well as the realism the students put into their contraptions as well as the huge range of instruments chosen.  After our presentations were finished, one of my students asked me how our project was related to music.  I told him that they all proved to me they knew how a variety of instruments worked without their human counterparts to play them, and some students invented a new kind of instrument altogether!


Kuhn, M. (2009, June 22). Generating and testing hypothesis is not just for science. [Blog message]. Retrieved from http://mcrel.typepad.com/mcrel_blog/2009/06/generating-and-testing-hypotheses-is-not-just-for-science.html

To top it all off...without generating and testing a hypothesis, we wouldn't have these!

Cognitivism Correlation

This week, I took a closer look at the cognitivist approach to learning.  This model treats the brain much like a filing system in a computer where information is received, understood, stored, and later is used (Lever-Duffy & McDonald, 2008).  The emphasis here is the mental processes are found inward and are unique to the learner, much like you don't see much behind a computer "thinking" apart from a blinking hard drive light.  If you take the computer analogy another step, limitless applications are at your disposal for data manipulation, much like the workings of the human mind.

Cognitive theory

Now, if you consider the brain to be like a computer, it follows to find a direct correlation between cognitive theories and using tools such as graphic organizers, concept maps, spreadsheets, and virtual tours to enhance the learning experience.  Each tool can help students better sort, file, and organize their thoughts to make a deeper connection so the information is easier to retrieve later when it is needed.  Concept maps or "webs" are often used at the elementary level to help students organize their thoughts before writing.  Graphic organizers are helpful to sort information into necessary groups, so the brain can connect the information to similar ideas or concepts for storage.  Virtual field trips and simulations can help make a visual connection for students when they can't visit the actual place themselves.  I personally use a virtual tour for my art class to visit the paleolithic cave Lascaux in France, which is now off-limits to all but a few for preservation (not like we could actually get a field trip to France, but one can always hope!)

References:
Aujuolat, N. (N.D.) Lascaux a visit to the cave. Retrieved from http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/?lng=en#/en/00.xml
Mayer, R. (N.D.) Cognitive theory of multimedia learning. Retrieved from http://www.learning-theories.com/cognitive-theory-of-multimedia-learning-mayer.html

Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page

A Study on Behaviorism

This week I read two chapters in the text Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works about reinforcement and practice (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).  I found that sometimes, students aren't aware that it's important to give your best effort in classes of use excuses form outside contributors as reasons to be a potential failure.  As an educator, it's important to me that my students succeed.  If they come to class with an attitude that they've already failed, it will be much harder for them to give their best effort on class projects.  Even though my art and music classes run on a constructivism/constructionism combination of educational theories, there are aspects of behaviorism I did not consider that can be used to encourage my students to succeed.

If you take a quick look at my previous post, you fill find the new classroom management scale that I found through some blog searching, and I am implementing in my classroom next week.  This chart is designed with a behaviorist strategy in mind rewarding students for positive behavior, but still warning students with consequences for their actions.  After watching Dr. Orey's video (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) this week and his discussion on how his son's classroom used a "clip chart" to manage behavior, I realized how much more important it is to reinforce the positive behaviors, which is exactly what the new chart has in place.  There are consequences, but I believe students need to know the realism of consequences for their actions for their real-world application.


Behaviorism can also be found in drills and practices for homework purposes or remediation.  Tutorials are also considered to fall into this category, and an excellent online tutorial that can be used in the elementary art classroom comes from Eric Carle's website showing how he makes his artwork.  This tutorial is doubly useful at my school as students read a story by Eric Carle in their regular education classrooms in second grade, so I can reinforce what they are learning in my art classes at that time as we create his style of artwork.



For music, drills are a traditional way to practice.  There are some excellent iPad apps to do just this, and one is Musicroom: Music Theory for Beginners which can be found on the app store for $2.99.  It provides students with quick lessons followed by quizzes over that skill, but it throws in cute and colorful music and characters that keeps students more engaged than many books I have tried.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). Program four: Behaviorist learning theory [Video webcast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Retrieved from http://laureate.ecollege.com/ec/crs/default.learn?CourseID=5700267&CPURL=laureate.ecollege.com&Survey=1&47=2594577&ClientNodeID=984650&coursenav=0&bhcp=1

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction 
that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Classroom Management - Art Adaptation

Thanks to wonderful Pinterest, I was introduced to an amazing site, which then led me to more amazing sites! Today I'd like to share the wonder of the Clip Chart with you!

I actually stumbled upon this from a blog called the Clutter-Free Classroom, and if you haven't seen it, you should check it out.  I then learned that this teacher had actually adapted the lesson from Rick Morris who has a classroom management page for it on his site at New Management. There, you can download a .pdf file with all the specifics, but the greatest thing about it?  It's adaptable!  I love the color, simplicity, and rewards from this system.  No more bribing, check charts, or crazy managements needed.  Kids work for the reward of being appreciated!  I can't wait to adapt and use this method in my own classroom, and I encourage everyone else, no matter what subject you teach to check this system out!

Course Reflection

I feel this course has been the most helpful of all the courses so far at Walden University. Finally, we were able to get away from books, videos, and writing and get right into the thick of current technology available to us and get ideas from other educators about how to use technology in our own classrooms. While I have been a blogger to show student artwork, and help other teachers as they themselves are learning how to use technology in an art room, creating a wiki and podcast were new and exciting. The wiki was so easy to do, especially with the help of group members, and the podcast was so fun to record, and once a hosting site found, also easy to embed into my blog for others to hear! I can't wait to use these tools in my classroom, especially for music.

Technology has always been a big part of my life, but I struggle finding ways to incorporate it into my art and music classroom because school funding has limited the amount of technology available. I suddenly have found myself in possession of a document camera and ActivBoard that I use daily now that they are available to me and my students for use. I am also in the process of trying to adopt an iPad lab for my music classroom in place of new textbooks. The funding for this should come out of the student textbook fee and will actually be cheaper than book rental.

Over the next two years, I have two goals for my classroom. The first, is to secure an iPad lab for student use in my classroom. I plan to see my students using their individual iPads to do research, learn music and art, as well as compose and create their art to share with others. The second goal is to keep my parents involved by letting them know what we are doing in class by sustaining a classroom blog with student help, and scheduling more computer lab time for my classes to do research, promote internet safety, and share what they are learning with the community through blogs.

After looking back at the week 1 technology checklist, I have found that I can am now more secure in using technology in my classroom than I was at the beginning of the course. Many of the lessons in our course required us to search for internet sources and I found some excellent ways to incorporate technology into an elementary art and music classroom, as well as inspiration that helped me create some of my own ideas. I am looking forward to the new possibilities that have been opened up for my students to learn from using technology.

How Much Technology are Students Using?

Recently, technology has become quite the hot topic at our elementary school. Teachers, students and administrators are looking at ways to incorporate more tech in our teaching. How much are students already using at home and at school? Well, since I have the entire school for my art and music class, I thought a good way to explore what we have is to poll our classes. My poll found that a staggering 90% of our students had used at least some form of iPod, iPhone, or iPad device, and nearly 75% of students had one of the devices in their own home (even if it was a parent's phone). Nearly every home also had at least one computer, and about 50% had some form of a tablet device as well. This information shocked me as our school isn't considered to be a part of a "rich" community by any means. I chose a sampling of four students, two from a lower grade, and two from our highest grade (although one got sick mid-day and had to leave). I chose these students specifically because I know their families, and that they have availability to technology at home. I was curious to see how much of that technology they were actually using, and how much. (my apologies for the dismissal announcement in the middle, but I left it in because I figured you other teachers would appreciate it!)

21st Century Learning

This week I took a look at the website for the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. My initial response was: "Where is there room for the arts?" Most of the pieces of information available on the home page showed me students in science and language arts classes and most of the information given was specifically not for visual arts or music.

Upon further investigation, I found some tag-words mentioned in the framework; "critical thinking" "media" "collaboration". These skills are all used in the arts. The framework also mentions the core subjects as the "3Rs" (which is misleading) then further describes them as: English, reading or language arts, mathematics, science, foreign languages, civics, government, economics, arts, history, and geography.

The more I began to read, I also noticed that while I liked some of the framework presented, this plan would once again add additional assessment for students. I couldn't find any assessments for the elementary level, so I'm not sure how they would be measured. I also feel this partnership assumes schools can purchase and maintain 21st century classrooms, which isn't the norm for schools (at least in my area). We are making improvements to the amount of technology available to students, but the changes are occurring at a much slower pace than technology becomes available.

Overall, I feel the site provides some information and general framework guides, but lacks specific planning necessary to implement into everyday schools. I think everyone needs to take a step back and decide why students are in schools in the first place. Are they there to learn? Meet specific standards the state deems important? Prepare them for a job/career/college/life? Social understanding and how to build relationships? How to succeed? All of the above? Some of the above? The answer appears to be skewed from place to place, but it must be the foundation for whatever framework we place on it for our schools to have the outcome we as a community are seeking.