Week 11 10/31/11: Well this is that last week for writing in this journal. I have diligently tried to keep up on the writing and the practicing. I have enjoyed this medium of journal keeping on the blog. Classrooms where everyone has a computer would do well to have the students keep a journal on their own blog. It could encompass their math journal, reading journal, science journal and maybe even a 'Learn Something New' journal.
I have found learning something new to be challenging and difficult. I really thought I would be able to be successful at using the organ pedals if I just practiced enough. I believe now that it will take me a year of practicing to be able to do the pedals for one piece. That is not a bad goal. I think, being the lifelong learner that I am, that I will set that goal for myself. I will choose a hymn and work to learn the pedals. I'll give myself a year but no more! Wednesday Melissa and I will play our final rendition of 'All Creatures of Our God and King'. It will hopefully be beautiful even though the use of the pedals is limited. I will practice tomorrow and hopefully be ready for our taping on Wednesday.
Thank you, Dr. Carr, for having us do this exercise. It has been eye opening to see how difficult learning something new can be. I did think that I would be successful. I didn't realize that after all of this practicing, that I would feel so very unsuccessful. But, it just means that more practice is required and patience, just as students, especially students with disabilities require more practice and patience (Eggen, 2012). (I just read that in our Chapter 9 reading today). (This is not the end, go on to November's posts).
Monday, October 31, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 10: 10/27/11 I practiced on the piano again for 30 min. I am sad that I can't focus on the hands and my feet at the same time. The only place that I can really do the pedals is at the end. It sounds great and the hands are not changing while I come up the scale with the pedal. Since the hands are just holding down chords, I can concentrate on moving my foot. What is discouraging is that my student Melissa last week, sat down for the second time to try the organ and she brought a piece with her that she practiced the hands and now wanted to try the feet. She was amazing. I don't know how she was able to do so well. I feel perhaps like special ed kids feel when the other students in the class understand that math problem, and they just don't see it. My feet surely do not see the pedals. I don't know how she was able to coordinate her hands and feet so well. Wow! It was shocking. I just have to accept the fact that some people can achieve more in some areas than others. Perhaps playing the foot pedals takes kinesthetic intelligence and perhaps that is what I do not have. I used to be athletic and coordinated, but my body does not let me do much in the way of athletics anymore. So, perhaps I am losing my kinesthetic intelligence and that is why I cannot coordinate my feet and hands like Melissa can. I was really beginning to wonder how anyone manages to play the pedals. Since witnessing Melissa do it so effortlessly, I realize that some people can do it quite easily.
10/28/11: It is alright that Melissa is so great on her first attempt to try the pedals. I said earlier it was her second time at the organ, because two weeks ago, after we tried our piece, she came over and played the organ just for fun. She didn't attempt the pedals then, but just played some hymns and goofed off with this new, fun, instrument. So when she came prepared to try her organ piece, I was amazed that she could play those pedals with relative ease. They were not perfect, but she was playing them and was not afraid to try. I practiced for 30 minutes again.
10/28/11: It is alright that Melissa is so great on her first attempt to try the pedals. I said earlier it was her second time at the organ, because two weeks ago, after we tried our piece, she came over and played the organ just for fun. She didn't attempt the pedals then, but just played some hymns and goofed off with this new, fun, instrument. So when she came prepared to try her organ piece, I was amazed that she could play those pedals with relative ease. They were not perfect, but she was playing them and was not afraid to try. I practiced for 30 minutes again.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 9 10/21/11: I met Melissa at the church for her organ/piano lesson. She is wanting to learn how to play the organ now too. She played a piece that she started working on at home on her piano. She did amazingly well at playing it on the organ and adding the foot pedals. I am now thinking that it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks. I have been practicing for weeks now and I am not as proficient with the pedals as she was on her first try. Hmmmmmm. Hopefully this humiliation is making me a much more understanding teacher when I try to teach someone how to do fractions and they just don't get it. I'll be able to remember back to the organ footpedals and just sigh.
We practiced our duet for 30 minutes. It sounds great together for if one of us makes a mistake it is not noticed because the other instrument is carrying the sound.
10/23/11: There are not any You Tube videos on the stops of an organ. I am surprised. I shall have to go to the library. Hey, we have a library at school. I'll checkit out!
10/23/11: My son Jens comes home in less than two weeks!! He comes home from two years in Chile on Nov. 4, Friday. We present our Learn Something New project on Monday the 7th.
We practiced our duet for 30 minutes. It sounds great together for if one of us makes a mistake it is not noticed because the other instrument is carrying the sound.
10/23/11: There are not any You Tube videos on the stops of an organ. I am surprised. I shall have to go to the library. Hey, we have a library at school. I'll checkit out!
10/23/11: My son Jens comes home in less than two weeks!! He comes home from two years in Chile on Nov. 4, Friday. We present our Learn Something New project on Monday the 7th.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 9: 10/20/11 I practiced my piece on the piano today for 15 minutes, and I practiced yesterday for 15 minutes. Tomorrow is Melissa's lesson. Perhaps we will practice with the organ again. I still need to look up You Tube videos on organ playing. I talked with my neighbor who I consider to be a great organist, but she said she did not really understand the stops either. She would just practice and guess at which stops she wanted to use and then would fool around until she had the piece sounding the way she wanted. I can't get the information that I was hoping to get from her. That is how I have been playing also. On Sundays when I am the organist (just once a month), I just fool around with the stops until I think it sounds ok and then try to remember what I decided. She also said she did not use the pedals. That made me feel a lot better. I know the other organists don't use the pedals either so I suppose they are hard for everyone. This duet piece is very special though and I would really like to be able to use the pedals proficiently for it.
So to summarize up to this point, I have been practicing a lot on the piano to learn the piece. I have practiced on the organ alone and with Melissa. I have talked to my neighbor and found that she would not be the reservoir of information that I was hoping for. My pedaling is awful and I need to keep practicing. I did watch twice the tutorial video that came with the organ and learned a lot. It so far has taught me the most about the workings of the organ and the stops. I hope I can find a book that will teach me how the organ works and some philosophy behind the workings of the stops.
So to summarize up to this point, I have been practicing a lot on the piano to learn the piece. I have practiced on the organ alone and with Melissa. I have talked to my neighbor and found that she would not be the reservoir of information that I was hoping for. My pedaling is awful and I need to keep practicing. I did watch twice the tutorial video that came with the organ and learned a lot. It so far has taught me the most about the workings of the organ and the stops. I hope I can find a book that will teach me how the organ works and some philosophy behind the workings of the stops.
Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 7: 10/13/11 I practiced on the piano for 30 min. I still need to develop automaticity (new word I learned in this weeks reading) with my hands so that I can concentrate on the feet. It is much harder than I thought it was going to be. I don't know how organists do it all. My hands are getting better so there is a small ray of hope. I still need to check out some You Tube videos. I'm sure there must be something on it about the stops and the pedals.
10/14/11: I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes today. It's coming along better.
10/16/11: I went to church an hour early and practiced for 45 minutes on the organ. I wasn't practicing this particular piece, but it was good organ practicing and I think it counts for that.
Week 8: 10/19/11: I practiced the piece on the piano for 15 minutes. It is getting better. Now I'm going to look up some You Tube videos. I shoudl see if the library has any organ videos or books as well. I'll do that tomorrow.
10/14/11: I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes today. It's coming along better.
10/16/11: I went to church an hour early and practiced for 45 minutes on the organ. I wasn't practicing this particular piece, but it was good organ practicing and I think it counts for that.
Week 8: 10/19/11: I practiced the piece on the piano for 15 minutes. It is getting better. Now I'm going to look up some You Tube videos. I shoudl see if the library has any organ videos or books as well. I'll do that tomorrow.
Monday, October 10, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 6: 10/8/11 I practiced at the church with my student, Melissa. We practiced for 45 minutes. I am getting better with my hands, but the feet are not coming yet, except for the last 2 measures. Joy took a video of me and Melissa and hopefully we can add it into this blog. Yesterday I practiced for an hour and Joy took video footage (of my feet)he, he. I hope we can put a little on here. I keep trying...I hope I can improve, but improvement is slow.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Learn Something New
Week 5: 10/6/11 I practiced on the piano for 45 minutes as I waited for my next piano student. I am having a hard time keeping my eyes going to the next line even with my yellow lines indicating where the organ plays. I naturally want to go to the piano lines. I really want to get good at this piece, but I can't imagine trying to keep track of my feet. I'm having a hard time keeping track of my hands.
10/7/11 My daughter Joy filmed me practicing the piece on the piano. Then we went over to the church and she filmed me explaining my limited knowledge about the organ. I do not know much. I only know what I learned from watching the demonstration video. I demonstrated a little about the stops and the pre-set buttons. Joy showed us what the foot pedals sound like. She played chopsticks with the foot pedals. I should have increased the volume. If we can't hear it I will have to record her again, it was too good. Then she recorded me playing the last page of the piece. I do not play it very well on the organ. It is a different beast than the piano. It is making me appreciate how difficult it is to learn new things, which I am sure is the purpose of this exercise. We need to feel some of the struggle that our students are feeling when we introduce a new math concept, or have them write an essay for the first time. Anything new and difficult is a challenge.
10/7/11 My daughter Joy filmed me practicing the piece on the piano. Then we went over to the church and she filmed me explaining my limited knowledge about the organ. I do not know much. I only know what I learned from watching the demonstration video. I demonstrated a little about the stops and the pre-set buttons. Joy showed us what the foot pedals sound like. She played chopsticks with the foot pedals. I should have increased the volume. If we can't hear it I will have to record her again, it was too good. Then she recorded me playing the last page of the piece. I do not play it very well on the organ. It is a different beast than the piano. It is making me appreciate how difficult it is to learn new things, which I am sure is the purpose of this exercise. We need to feel some of the struggle that our students are feeling when we introduce a new math concept, or have them write an essay for the first time. Anything new and difficult is a challenge.
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Teaching Tips with PowerPoint
Wednesday, October 5, 2011Teaching with PowerPoint
1. By careful mixing media, a presentation can appeal to a number of different learning styles (i.e. visual learners, auditory learners, etc.) and be made more stimulating.
2. The templates provided have been designed to default to good presentation criteria. Using the styles of the default templates can significantly improve the clarity and structuring of a presentation. This helps to avoid the common use of excessive text often found on overhead transparencies. Even as a tool to create better-designed black and white or color transparencies, PowerPoint enforces simple but important rules of highly effective media design in the point sizes of text, bullets, framing, and layout.
3. Clipart samples in PowerPoint can be used to illustrate any number of things. For example, in a Geography course clipart can be used to illustrate the flags, crests, maps, currencies, and landmarks of a country or region.
4. Because many students, particularly in elementary school, have not traveled outside of the United States, a "virtual tour" of countries featuring photographs of people and places in the country in question, accompanied by a loop of national music, can help students relate to a place they have never been.
5. Photographs from Microsoft Bookshelf, the World Wide Web, and other sources can be used to illustrate slides. Short video clips from CNN are inserted to add variety and a dynamic quality to presentations.
6. Although PowerPoint can be used effectively without photos, clipart, or charts of any kind, the real attraction of the software is the seamless integration of text and visual elements.
7. PowerPoint is ideal for teaching with the case study method, beginning with the "facts of the case" and then turning to the questions and discussion.
8. Quizzes and tests can be presented as a PowerPoint presentation, and ask essay, fill-in, or multiple-choice questions, reducing photocopying costs. Many students have found quizzes on a TV monitor to be more legible in many cases than black and white overhead transparency quizzes.
9. A PowerPoint quiz can test students' recognition of leaders, flags, and maps; such a quiz may involve an essay reacting to a chart, graph, or photograph, moving students beyond the goal of grasping secondary knowledge and toward reacting to and interpreting primary data.
10. PowerPoint’s electronic file format allows distribution and modification for/by students unable to be present or who have impaired visual or auditory difficulties.
11. Editing of each PowerPoint file is very easy with minimal associated reprinting costs. This ease and potential immediacy of revision facilitates reflection upon, and evolution of, teaching materials by staff whilst minimizing the consequences of any revision in terms of either workload or time.
12. The portability of the files allows presentations to be given wherever the technology is available or distributed where appropriate. Presentations can also be set up to run automatically if required e.g. as demonstrations/instructions within a laboratory
13. PowerPoint slides and presentations can be easily reproduced in the form of handout sheets with the bullet points clearly printed out. This allows students more time to focus on class lecture and discussion, rather than rapidly taking notes. These sheets can also be photocopied as a course pack by a local vendor and available to students at the beginning of the semester.
14. Extra information can be ‘hidden’ within files for answering predicted questions or for providing feedback to students using the file in a distance-learning context.
References:
1. www.bio.ltsn.ac.uk/journal/vol2/beej-2-3.pdf
www.technologysource.org/article/use_of_powerpoint_in_teaching_comparative_politics
1. By careful mixing media, a presentation can appeal to a number of different learning styles (i.e. visual learners, auditory learners, etc.) and be made more stimulating.
2. The templates provided have been designed to default to good presentation criteria. Using the styles of the default templates can significantly improve the clarity and structuring of a presentation. This helps to avoid the common use of excessive text often found on overhead transparencies. Even as a tool to create better-designed black and white or color transparencies, PowerPoint enforces simple but important rules of highly effective media design in the point sizes of text, bullets, framing, and layout.
3. Clipart samples in PowerPoint can be used to illustrate any number of things. For example, in a Geography course clipart can be used to illustrate the flags, crests, maps, currencies, and landmarks of a country or region.
4. Because many students, particularly in elementary school, have not traveled outside of the United States, a "virtual tour" of countries featuring photographs of people and places in the country in question, accompanied by a loop of national music, can help students relate to a place they have never been.
5. Photographs from Microsoft Bookshelf, the World Wide Web, and other sources can be used to illustrate slides. Short video clips from CNN are inserted to add variety and a dynamic quality to presentations.
6. Although PowerPoint can be used effectively without photos, clipart, or charts of any kind, the real attraction of the software is the seamless integration of text and visual elements.
7. PowerPoint is ideal for teaching with the case study method, beginning with the "facts of the case" and then turning to the questions and discussion.
8. Quizzes and tests can be presented as a PowerPoint presentation, and ask essay, fill-in, or multiple-choice questions, reducing photocopying costs. Many students have found quizzes on a TV monitor to be more legible in many cases than black and white overhead transparency quizzes.
9. A PowerPoint quiz can test students' recognition of leaders, flags, and maps; such a quiz may involve an essay reacting to a chart, graph, or photograph, moving students beyond the goal of grasping secondary knowledge and toward reacting to and interpreting primary data.
10. PowerPoint’s electronic file format allows distribution and modification for/by students unable to be present or who have impaired visual or auditory difficulties.
11. Editing of each PowerPoint file is very easy with minimal associated reprinting costs. This ease and potential immediacy of revision facilitates reflection upon, and evolution of, teaching materials by staff whilst minimizing the consequences of any revision in terms of either workload or time.
12. The portability of the files allows presentations to be given wherever the technology is available or distributed where appropriate. Presentations can also be set up to run automatically if required e.g. as demonstrations/instructions within a laboratory
13. PowerPoint slides and presentations can be easily reproduced in the form of handout sheets with the bullet points clearly printed out. This allows students more time to focus on class lecture and discussion, rather than rapidly taking notes. These sheets can also be photocopied as a course pack by a local vendor and available to students at the beginning of the semester.
14. Extra information can be ‘hidden’ within files for answering predicted questions or for providing feedback to students using the file in a distance-learning context.
References:
1. www.bio.ltsn.ac.uk/journal/vol2/beej-2-3.pdf
www.technologysource.org/article/use_of_powerpoint_in_teaching_comparative_politics
Inspiration in the Classroom
Teaching with Inspiration
1. An effective outlining tool.
2. Rather than providing actual content, you can link directly to content.
3. Visually engaging for students.
4. Helps students dissect dense information into more manageable parts.
5. Demonstrate the connectivity of both obviously related as well as seemingly disparate parts.
6. Provides a graphic organizer for project planning.
7. A con is that it provides only high-level details as opposed to specific information.
8. Enables dual-coding of information by delivering information both visually and verbally.
9. While inspiration provides a platform for disseminating information in a number of dynamic forms (i.e. pictures, fonts, sizes, colors, etc.), information can easily become morass.
10. Color and size grading helps in distinguishing between key concepts and their importance.
1. An effective outlining tool.
2. Rather than providing actual content, you can link directly to content.
3. Visually engaging for students.
4. Helps students dissect dense information into more manageable parts.
5. Demonstrate the connectivity of both obviously related as well as seemingly disparate parts.
6. Provides a graphic organizer for project planning.
7. A con is that it provides only high-level details as opposed to specific information.
8. Enables dual-coding of information by delivering information both visually and verbally.
9. While inspiration provides a platform for disseminating information in a number of dynamic forms (i.e. pictures, fonts, sizes, colors, etc.), information can easily become morass.
10. Color and size grading helps in distinguishing between key concepts and their importance.
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Do's and Dont's of PowerPoints
Use and Misuse of Power Point
What to AVOID…..
1. Don’t project just facts in words only….use pictures. Big pictures are the best, with small words underneath.
2. Watch out for humor. Your style may not be funny to others.
3. Don’t use fancy fonts like Old English they are hard to read.
4. Don’t be too fancy in your background – students will look at it and be distracted
5. Don’t use red color for text…hard on the eyes, nor green text on blue background, or purple on blue, etc. You need contrast like bright yellow on blue.
6. Don’t put very much info on each slide. The point of your presentation is not to have students read everything, but to point out the main ideas.
7. Don’t use a tiny font
8. Don’t have arrows going in many directions
9. Don’t make background too dark.
10. Don’t have so much on each slide that they look like a junk store
11. Don’t splat everything on the screen, use fade ins
12. Don’t read it to your audience
13. Sometimes it is better to use a smart board and walk your students through a graph where you create it with them, rather than just putting a finished graph up on the board.
14. Avoid just black and white on a slide
15. Don’t stand in front of your power point
Some DO’s….
1. Use color a lot
2. Power points’ power is in pictures. Use lots of pictures with lots of color
3. Talk about one slide, then talk about another, then show them side-by-side on the third slide.
4. Arial is a great looking font
5. Contrast your font with the background color
6. Use a clicker to go from slide to slide and use the lazer
7. Walk to the side of your power point and then plant your feet…move and plant, move and plant.
8. Engage your audience and be interactive
9. Clear words convey clear messages
10. Less is more
11. Make things centered
12. Use graphics
13. Give a final slide that shows you are finished
14. Use the presenter mode. It gives the full screen to the audience, but leaves your computer with the custom sneaky view.
15. Make imbedded video clips immediately full size
16. Make copies of important slides before class, and the students can pay closer attention and have something to take notes on.
17. Teacher puts up bullet points and leaves some things to the imagination. Helps students process the information.
What to AVOID…..
1. Don’t project just facts in words only….use pictures. Big pictures are the best, with small words underneath.
2. Watch out for humor. Your style may not be funny to others.
3. Don’t use fancy fonts like Old English they are hard to read.
4. Don’t be too fancy in your background – students will look at it and be distracted
5. Don’t use red color for text…hard on the eyes, nor green text on blue background, or purple on blue, etc. You need contrast like bright yellow on blue.
6. Don’t put very much info on each slide. The point of your presentation is not to have students read everything, but to point out the main ideas.
7. Don’t use a tiny font
8. Don’t have arrows going in many directions
9. Don’t make background too dark.
10. Don’t have so much on each slide that they look like a junk store
11. Don’t splat everything on the screen, use fade ins
12. Don’t read it to your audience
13. Sometimes it is better to use a smart board and walk your students through a graph where you create it with them, rather than just putting a finished graph up on the board.
14. Avoid just black and white on a slide
15. Don’t stand in front of your power point
Some DO’s….
1. Use color a lot
2. Power points’ power is in pictures. Use lots of pictures with lots of color
3. Talk about one slide, then talk about another, then show them side-by-side on the third slide.
4. Arial is a great looking font
5. Contrast your font with the background color
6. Use a clicker to go from slide to slide and use the lazer
7. Walk to the side of your power point and then plant your feet…move and plant, move and plant.
8. Engage your audience and be interactive
9. Clear words convey clear messages
10. Less is more
11. Make things centered
12. Use graphics
13. Give a final slide that shows you are finished
14. Use the presenter mode. It gives the full screen to the audience, but leaves your computer with the custom sneaky view.
15. Make imbedded video clips immediately full size
16. Make copies of important slides before class, and the students can pay closer attention and have something to take notes on.
17. Teacher puts up bullet points and leaves some things to the imagination. Helps students process the information.
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