spenceri – Page 2 – Izzy’s Teaching Blog

Power Point

On October 28, 2019

In this past class we talked about different technologies we can use as teachers to make our lives easier. I enjoyed the idea of using PowerPoint as a tool for image editing. During class I made my new header using power point! The bass image is a little blurry from stretching it to match the trumpet image in the way that I wanted it, but overall I really like the product. Once I had the images, I was able to use the design suggestions and create this within 5 minutes. I struggled to save is as an image and ended up taking a screenshot to use which probably added to the blurriness as well. Anyways, this will be a tool I can use to make images, charts, etc, quickly and efficiently.

I also like the idea of having students use PowerPoint to make their own projects. If they had to make some sort of poster they would be able to use it to easily manipulate the images and shapes they were trying to use. It is easy to bring in your own images as well as use shapes and organizational systems(smart art) that they already have programmed in.

This past week my eyes have been opened to the possibilities of PowerPoint as an educational tool that is much more exciting as the way I have been using it in the past.

First Bass Lesson

by spenceri

On October 22, 2019

In Music Blog, Music Pedagogy

My first bass lesson was on electric bass. It was half an hour long which meant we had to focus on a few important things that would be crucial to a beginner starting with proper technique.

We talked in depth about proper technique for the left and right hands.

For the right hand:

You use your pointer and middle fingers as “walking fingers”. This means they alternate consistently and evenly.
Your thumb rests on the string that is above (physically) the string you’re playing on. For the top string your thumb can rest on the pick up.
You are not plucking strings upwards as you would on a violin. You are actually sliding the pad(soft section) of your singer across the string towards your thumb.

For the left hand:

Your fingers should be slightly bent and relaxed. The should also be parallel to the frets. You use the very end of the pad of your finger to do the fingerings.
Your thumb rests on the back of the neck. It should be vertically centred. Horizontally, it should follow the rest of your fingers around the neck of the bass.
Your fingers should press down on the string between the middle to end of the fret for a fretted bass. It would be ok to play directly on the fret as long as you didn’t go past it. For a non fretted bass you should always play directly on the “frets” (usually markings on the bass).

Terminology:

It is important to not that when a bass player say go up a string, they are referring to a string that is higher in pitch. This means you are actually physically moving down.
When they say going “up” a fret they are also referring to pitch.

I am glad I had a lesson on these specifics as I was previously learning bass completely on my own. These techniques are definitely a bit different than I was doing things and I will have habits to break now. This will be helpful to my future students to be able to teach them proper technique from the start so that they don’t have to “unlearn” bad habits.

Fleetwood Mac – The Chain

by spenceri

On October 20, 2019

In Music Goal

I decided to do learn this song on bass because the riff at the end of the song is pretty familiar to most people. I was happy with how quick I was able to learn this song by ear. I can feel a strong sense of improvement over the last while. There are a lot of rests in the bass part so be prepared to watch me sit there awhile.

Here is the recording: Fleetwood mac

Pacific School of Innovation and Inquiry

by spenceri

On October 16, 2019

In EdTech Blog

After having the opportunity to experience PSII from a teachers perspective, my eyes have been opened to the possibility of what education could look like. I would love to teach in a school like that where students can follow their passions. The idea that they are teaching students to become well rounded people and real life skills is very attractive to me. I was really blown away by the girl who was in ninth grade and was able to articulate her thoughts so clearly. She was filled with passion for the school and the ways that it has helped her. This opportunity almost made me sad to be learning and participating in typical public school. Are there ways we can bring these ideas into the public school framework? It doesn’t really seem like it in high school.

I personally wonder about how students who are interested in music get along there. They had a pretty nice music room but they obviously don’t have large ensembles to play with. Would that deter students from applying to a classical music school? If the student had a real interest in music could they do their inquiry around actually getting better at an instrument? It seemed like they had a music teacher but are the music classes limited to “pop” instruments or can they study classical?

Overall I was really grateful for the experience. I definitely hope to be able to go back sometime and find the answers to some of the questions that have popped up since leaving there. It might also be interesting to teach in a school like that someday.

Dictation Activity #1

by spenceri

On October 14, 2019

In Free Inquiry, Music Blog, Music Goal

For my first music dictation project I chose christmas music because I knew it was an easier place to start. I definitely struggled with it more than I would like to admit, but I think I ended up with decent results. Here is the work that I’ve done so far: dictations

I made a mistake with the rhythm in silver bells. It is actually written with swung eighth notes instead of that dotted rhythm I wrote. Here is an example of what it should look like: https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0182151

Let’s Dance – David Bowie

by spenceri

On October 13, 2019

In Free Inquiry, Music Blog, Music Goal

I decided to learn another song on bass because this bass riff has been stuck in my head the past couple days. Learning this song was definitely quicker than the last one because my ear wasn’t struggling to pick up the lower bass notes.

LetsDance

Signed, Sealed, Delivered

by spenceri

On October 4, 2019

In Free Inquiry, Music Blog, Music Goal

My first song learned by ear for my ear training goal. This song was very pattern based so it was easier to learn than I expected it would be. Bass lines seem to be easier for learning by ear as they are very formula based.

Signed, Sealed, Delivered Bass

Homemade Background Music

by spenceri

On September 28, 2019

In Uncategorised

I needed a place to post this online to make it work for my multiliteracies project.

Student Robot

by spenceri

On September 25, 2019

In EdTech Blog, Uncategorised

This week one of our classmates couldn’t get to class so they attended class via robot. It was much more useable than I was picturing when our teacher mentioned this was a possibility. There was a video of him (similar to skype) attached to a little robot body and he could actually physically move around the classroom. For schools and students with money this seems like an amazing advancement that we could use to help keep students updated on what is going on in class when they can’t attend. I was very impressed with how easy the technology worked and how easily our classmate could follow along from home.

The only real problem I see with this technology is that it is still quite expensive. Most schools wouldn’t be able to afford enough of these to make it worthwhile. Even then does every student have a computer at home and a strong enough internet connection so that the video and audio don’t lag? There seem to be a lot of hoops to jump through before you could actually get this into a classroom and working for any student that needed it.

One thing I have noticed from researching where this technology has been used before is that so far it has mostly been used for one student who needed it every day rather than as a tool anyone in the class could use. I wonder what steps would need to happen for it to change in that way. It could be an extremely powerful tool if it was more accessible. For example, if a student wasn’t feeling too well but could still attend class via robot, they could keep their germs at home and possibly not get anyone else sick.

In conclusion, this technology could be extremely useful, but I think we need a more cost effective solution before it can be completely accessible.

Here is an example of one boy who uses the robot daily:

Most Likely To Succeed

by spenceri

On September 22, 2019

In EdTech Blog

This week we had to watch the film “Most Likely To Succeed” for class. The film is about a school called High Tech High where students learn in a very alternative way compared to the schooling systems we are used to. The focus on social responsibility and the students growing as people is something that really drew me in to this film. The students at High Tech High showed an incredible long term commitment to their work that you just don’t see in typical high schools. This level of commitment was clearly developed through practicing group work and cooperation. The film also followed students personal growth throughout the year and you could see them gaining skills in leadership, confidence, organization, self worth, and many more. For these reasons High Tech High seems like the completely ideal situation.

Although students growing as individuals seems like the most important thing, there were also some concerns about the fact that this schooling system doesn’t cover the complete curriculum. Students have opportunities to go through certain topics in depth but are not gaining the breadth of knowledge that is supposedly required to get into post secondary schooling. In the film it states that, regardless of these issues, 98% of High Tech High students have gotten into post secondary. I personally think it is because the students learn the skills to work hard to achieve what they want. They gain skills on how to critically think about topics and do research in areas that interest them. In addition to these skills, they leave High Tech High with a network of people that they can fall back on when needed. The classes in this school work as teams.

The question then is what can we take from this film that can help us in our teaching. As a music teacher, I think a lot of these concepts are already woven into my classes. A group of students work together to make/learn music. They each have responsibility to practice their own parts and to learn how their parts fit with each other. They even have to present these pieces to their peers, parents and community. Now of course there is a lot that can be done to incorporate some of these values more explicitly. I could choose music that is more interesting and associated with content that could lead to inquiry projects. A lot of study on culture can be done through music. I could do more small group music so that each student is even more accountable. I could ask deeper level of thinking questions and let the students make more of their own choices when it comes to interpretation of music. This film has greatly inspired me and given me many ideas on how to make my music students into lifelong learners.

Author: spenceri Page 2 of 3