How I Used... Spotify

"You see, war is not the answer/For only love can conquer hate..."

- Marvin Gaye

I could write a whole post on the discussion we had today in music class (snapshot: Soul music of the 1970's was a response to turbulent times. How are those times similar to what may be going on in the world today? Cue potentially turbulent discussion that the students navigated maturely and respectfully.)

To end our discussion, we listened to "What's Going On?" by Marvin Gaye - his response to what was going on in the world in the late '60s and early '70s.

I'm a huge fan of Spotify (and one of these days I'll spring for a Premium account). A new feature they've added is the Lyrics tool (lower right hand of the screen when you've downloaded the desktop version):

Click on this link, and your main screen will switch to album/artist artwork and the lyrics to the song playing. You can decide if you'd like one line at a time, but I opt for the scrolling option so students can read just before or just after if they'd prefer.

Reading Marvin Gaye's words from "What's Going On?" Was a timely and such an appropriate way to end today's discussion, and I was glad to use this tool for my students as they reflected on when music and culture intersect.

Student Recordings and Reflections

If you've ever taken a performing ensemble to a large group contest, you are probably familiar with the practice of judges talking into a small recorder while the performance is taking place. The first time I adjudicated this type of contest, it took some getting-used-to. I mean, you're not supposed to talk during a performance! But then, I realized how valuable it would be for two reasons:

1) Directors and student musicians get a sense for what goes in in an audience member's head during a performance - what do they pick up on? What are they listening for? What do we need to emphasize differently?

2) Instead of referring back to a point in the music or relying on memory, you get feedback as soon as it happens in the performance and you have better contextual understanding of their comment in your performance.

Why not make students an active part of this same type of practice in their own rehearsing and assessment?

Here's what that could look like:

Jane is working through her Clarinet methods book and ready to mark off a new scale on her progress report. Small group lessons are so jam-packed, though, that its hard for her director to hear everyone at the same time. So, she gets out her iPad and films herself playing the scale using iMovie. When she goes back and looks at it, she realizes that she keeps stumbling over a certain section because her fingerings are wrong. She knew it before, but now that she can see it, it makes more sense and she goes back, practices a few more times, and re-records herself playing the scale. That evening, she e-mails it to her director, and when she gets to school the next morning, she finds an e-mail from her director in her inbox congratulating her on accomplishing another step on her progress report!

David is a high school choir director and is looking for ways to efficently assess his high school boys group without doing it during rehearsal time (because goodness knows you've got to keep them engaged 100% of the time otherwise they'll be doing the spider up the doorframes!) He wants to know both their vocal progress and also how they self-evaluate. He assigns his ensemble to play the YouTube video of David playing the accompaniment for mm. 21-29 of Laura Farnell's "She Walks in Beauty" and at the same time, take a QuickTime movie of themselves singing along. Then, they are to go back, play the student recorded video, and at the same time, take a QuickTime audio recording of their comments and observations during the 8 measure passage. It seems like a lot of jumping between apps, but once they walk through it in rehearsal, the boys have no problem. In fact, they have some fun over the weekend recording the bass part and then singing the tenor part over it!

Valerie is a grade school music teacher who wants to let her fourth grade students continue progressing on their recorders even though she will be at a conference for two days. She asks them to practice in class, and then has the sub allow two to go into the hall at a time - one to perform an assigned song and one to record the performing student using Quick Voice Recorder. Then they switch performer and recorder, and once they are both done, they e-mail the file to their teacher to review.

Google Keep

Did you know about Google Keep?
Because I didn't know about Google Keep.
Why didn't you tell me about Google Keep?!

Lists, notes, photos, reminders... its all here. I honestly don't know if its a new App or if its been around for a while, but whatever the case, I'm excited.

So, Google Keep is a way to create lists, reminders, and cultivate resources, and, being Google, one of the best parts is that you can collaborate on these too!


Group project for school or with colleagues? You can create to-do lists with alarms and reminders to ensure things get done.

Like to over-organize and color code things according to topic? You'll feel right at home here.

Writing a grocery list and sending your spouse to the store? No worries - you can add and change the list after sharing it so that you get exactly what you need because it synchs across devices!

Finished with a note or list, but not ready to delete it yet? Being Google, you don't have to - just archive!

Can you tell the Type A in me is getting really jazzed about this App?

Check it out for yourself at keep.google.com.

How will YOU use Google Keep?

Quick Tip: Google Drive

I was listening to the Google EduCast on the EdReach network on my way in to school this morning, and when I heard this, though I was alone in my car, I said out loud, "No way!"

Did you know that you can include your Google Drive in your Chrome search engines so that you can quickly and easily search your Drive without having to navigate there first? Here's what you do:

1) In Chrome, go to Settings and find Search and click "Manage Search Engines."

2) Under "Other Search Engines," go down to where you can add new search engines.

3) In the first box, name it whatever you want it to be. The suggestion on the GoogleCast was "GD," but I'm so used to typing "drive.google.com," that I just named mine "Drive."

4) The second box should be the short URL - <drive.google.com.>

5) The third box should be the actual URL to search your drive: <https://drive.google.com/#search/%s>

6) Hit "Done," and refresh your page.

7) Now, when you go to your address bar at the top of your browser, just type "Drive," hit "Tab," and search for your document which will open Google Drive.

You're welcome, and have a great day!

Extend Your Search

If you're a Google user, you probably use Google Chrome as your primary browser. 

I love using it because it allows me to toggle back and forth between users, so, for example, both my husband and I can be logged into our own Chrome accounts, and we can switch back and forth between users easily and quickly. This will save our preferences, bookmarks, and history on one browser, on one device, without a bulky log in/log out process.

Another thing? "OK Google." We'll cover that another day. But seriously, its pretty cool.

One of the main reasons, though, that I love Chrome is for the Extensions! These are small tools that improve the efficiency of your browser, and you can read more about Extensions for teachers here. For today, here's a look at three Extensions that will specifically help you and your students with searching on Google (or anywhere on the web, for that matter!):

TLDR
At first glance, this may seem like a shortcut, and you'd be right. But why not use a shortcut to your advantage? This extension gives you an at-a-glance summary of the page's content without ever leaving that page. Use this to quickly see if this is what you're looking for to use in your classroom. You can choose from four different lengths of summarization.

Search by Image

Once this Google extension is installed, it allows you to search for information about an image or for related images by clicking on the blue camera that pops up when you hover over an image. If you don't want to install an extension (or aren't able to install Chrome on your school-issued device), that's okay! You can drag and drop an image from your desktop into Google Image Search and it will perform the same search for you. Check out how this works:

Highlight to Search

To more efficiently search for a keyword or phrase, use Highlight to Search to perform a Google search from within the text. When its installed into your Chrome browser, just highlight a word or phrase you'd like to search for, then click the magnifying glass that pops up. This initiates a search bar, so just hit "Enter" and you're whisked away to your Google Search results!

What's your favorite extension for searching and researching?

Searching with Google

Teaching research is hugely important for 21st Century Learners. We are beyond the point of teaching facts and figures - they can look those up anytime, anywhere. But how efficiently are they able to seek out those facts and figures? Are they using quality resources and double-checking their material? Are they able to synthesize ideas from different resources and sift out unnecessary information?

A huge shout-out goes to my school Library Media Specialist, Miss Rudenga, who does so much to teach our students the Big Six research skills. But we've found that even with lots of guidance, sometimes the world wide web is a little too "wide" for students learning to research. 

Enter Google Custom Search Engine!

This is a great tool for a topical search assignment - maybe you're doing a quick question to start off your class ("What song is #1 on the Billboard Country Music Charts this week?") or doing a large-scale research project ("History of Jazz Music"). This can allow your students to practice their independent research skills in a controlled environment. 

Let's take a look at how to set one up for your class...

1. Navigate to www.google.com/cse and click "New Search Engine."

2. Start by adding sites that your Custom Search Engine. These will be the sites that your search engine will use to gather results.

From the CSE site:
You can add any of the following:
Individual pages: www.example.com/page.html
Entire site: www.example.com*
Parts of Site: www.example.com/docs* or www.example.com/docs/
Entire Domain: *.example.com

3. Name your podcast and click "Create."
4. You have two options for sharing your CSE with your students:

• Embed HTML Code: If you're able to use HTML code for your website/school web host, click "Get Code," copy the code in the grey box, and then paste it in the appropriate place in your website editing page.
• Generate a URL to Share: Click on the "Public URL" which will take you to a stand-alone site. Copy the URL in the address bar which you can then e-mail, post, or otherwise share with your students.

5. On the next screen, click "Control Panel" to customize your search engine. If you look on the left side of your screen in "Control Panel," you will see options for still more features such as "Look and Feel" (display), which also includes how the search engine comes up on the screen. If you make changes, be sure to click "Update" at the very bottom of the page.

I'm sticking with the basics right now, but play around with the advanced options, using keywords to generate results for your CSE, etc...

Happy Searching!

TeachRock Resource

Sorting through the websites, lesson plans, curricula (for free or for purchase) is daunting and overwhelming. So let me help my fellow music teachers out a bit!

In 7th grade music, we take the quarter to study popular music in America, starting with Jazz, working our way through Rock, and ending talking about Hip Hop and sampling.  Its a really logical progression, but finding a quality curriculum is difficult and writing one is time-consuming.

Enter TeachRock!

I discovered this website in the final weeks of summer vacation and it really gave me a boost of excitement going into the new school year. The development, growth, and fragmentation of Rock music is presented chronologically with loads of primary sources (interviews, rock concert footage, music reviews from the 1950's, etc...). Each lesson includes:

• Objectives
• Motivational (Warm-Up) Activity
• Procedure
• Summary Activity
• Homework/Assessment
• Writing Prompts
• Extension Activities

There is way too much information to use in just one class period (at least with my 7th grade students), but that's the beauty of it. Because there is such a wealth of information and lesson ideas, its easy to create a lesson that encourages students to really examine the different styles of rock, their roots, and the effect of musicians and albums on the wider world of pop music.

PROS

• Quality primary sources
• Multiple levels of thinking (critical thinking, recall, reflection)
• Clearly stated objectives
• Adaptable to many levels, interests, time constraints

CONS

• The music footage is mostly partial, not full performances (but this is easily remedied by finding the same footage or similar footage on YouTube)
• It is not all school appropriate (but it is Rock music, after all...) so you will need to take the time to look at each resource and video.

Want an example of the materials?

Here you go!

Over the last three days, my 7th graders have been looking at Punk Rock as a reaction against what was going on in the music world and the world around them (cultural context). To see how I adapted the materials for my students, take a look at the original materials on teachrock.org, and now take a look at what I distributed to my students:

Punk Rock Document Set
Punk Rock Listening Guide
Punk Rock Discussion Questions
Group Paragraph

They're still working on their group paragraphs, so I'll have to update that at a later date.

But how great is it that my students are talking about the economic crisis in England during the 1970's and The Clash's emergence as a force of Punk Rock... and its all from their own critical thinking and analysis!

Cool Tools

Thanks to the Google EduCast for these two cool tools!

If you ever need a random sample and don't have the materials needed, as long as you have the internet, you're good! Just go to your Google search bar (in any browser), and type in Roll a Dice or Flip a Coin.

This could be great for calling on students randomly, splitting students into groups, etc... 

And think about math class... no more worries about handing out and collecting all of those die!

Have Fun!