Plans for the New School Year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So far this year has been going a lot smoother than the last. I have had a long relaxing summer to think about new ways to make my classroom better.

To start, I have spaced out my programs to where I will have 2 in the first semester and 2 in the second. My first will be a 3/4th Grade Thanksgiving music program where words and music will be written by me, exclusively on my iPad so far using Pages, Symphony Pro, and GarageBand. It might seem like it's a little much, but I wanted to do a Thanksgiving program that actually talked about the history of the season, instead of just quirky songs. Stay tuned for that.

My second program will be a Christmas themed musical for my 1/2nd. I think I'm going to go ahead and do John Jacobsons “It's a Christmas Moosical. Since we have a sing-a-long the day or two before Christmas break, I will try to have a each class prepare a song for it, using different instruments or just voices. I'll probably throw in a teaser from the program for my 1/2nd graders, too. For my school wide Christmas program at my 2nd school I haven't been able to choose one, but will have it narrowed down within two weeks.

I'll talk about my Spring semester later.

My school district is working on a DOD grant that will give each 3rd through 5th grader a tablet. Now, the tablet type has been kept classified, and will be until we know for sure that we get the grant. This undoubtedly is also to not draw in much critism about which type of tablet they choose to buy. My guess though is that they will not be an iPad of any kind due to our district being firmly anti-Apple. Regardless, it will be a tablet that the students can use in their everyday life (during the school year).

In the event that we do get the grant, I have created an interactive iPhone, that even changes background screens. Each app is a small folder that will contain a QR code that will give different clues about composers.

I'm really excited to see how this week goes compared to last year. I have a lot of new ideas, and I hope that those transfer well to the children. If not, I'll just have to think of new and better ideas. I know it has been a while since my last post, I'll try to keep up!

Things to look forward to this year from me:

– Original Thanksgiving music

– Reviews on Revues

– Self-published recorder iBook

– Updates on how classes are doing

Please feel free to leave comments below. Any suggestions of free or cheap script/musical writing apps?

 

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Valentine’s Program Continued

My program, was a success! To my surprise, I had many parents that work in the district tell me, it was one of the best programs they have seen in a long time. Personally, being perfectionist, I didn't think it was amazing, but that's because there is so much more I wanted to do with it without the time.

To view the program, you can click here.

I did a lot more editing with these videos than I did with my Veteran's Day Program. I added an introduction, title, and credits to the beginning and ending. When each piece in the program played I put up titles of the piece, along with words and music. I got really excited when I found this feature on iMovie because that way I could credit my first grade students with the piece that they wrote, and credit myself for the arrangements I did.

I think that I will try to continue incorporating video shorts into my programs in the future because I believe that it is a fun way to get the students more engaged with the program. It also gives the students a nice break inbetween songs. We'll see how I can continue to progress this in the future.

 

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Getting ready for Valentines Day

Well, a few days before Valentine's day, I am putting on a Valentine's day program with my 1st and 2nd grade classes. I have a few ideas that I am going to use with this program.

Like with my other programs, I will be using my iPad as a teleprompter, and controlling my computer's iTunes with my iPhone. Unlike the others though, I will be adding a digital short for my first grade classes (kind of like on SNL but appropriate for an elementary school), and some of the songs I arranged on my iPad using GarageBand. I am doing the digital short because the songs that my first grade classes are singing, are very short and I want to give those students as much time as my second grade gets in the program.

I will be posting a sneak peak video advertisement for it in the next week that I will make using the new app Vine, from Twitter.

 

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GarageBand

Arranging a song for my program:

I know that GarageBand has been a staple app for Apple, and there are lots of people to that use it regularly, but I am starting to use it more commonly, and I am really excited about it.

So, I have used GarageBand on my iPad to record random sounds, classroom podcasts, etc., but in preparing for my Valentine’s day program, I have started to use it more intuitively. To do this I used my GarageBand for iOS, iRig midi converter, Blue Snowball mic, usb camera converter, headphones from the dollar store, and my classroom piano.

I had purchased the iRig midi converter a while ago when I found it on sale at Target, but never really used it until this past week. I started by figuring out the chord progression of the piece and used it for the piano and guitar part. After, I got the base line down, and then followed by the drums. I waited until I got all of that laid down before I added the solo guitar, and voice tracks. I was so amazed at how easy it was for me to input the sounds using the midi converter. Not only is the song in a key suitable for my students, but they also love the fact that they have their own version of the song.

Recording podcasts:

Podcasts. Podcasts are a great tool for learning new things, catching up on the news, or finding out information about your favorite sports teams. I had thought of setting up account on for the iTunes Store and upload it from my iPad, but as it turns out…you can’t do that. After finding this out, I looked for other alternatives. After looking at the sharing options on GarageBand, I noticed that you could share the created sounds with Facebook, YouTube, and SoundCloud. I did not want to share my projects with Facebook because I don’t want to link my Facebook very closely with work related materials, and YouTube just didn’t feel right. SoundCloud, though, was something that I heard a little bit about in college, but never really thought about its potential.

Now, you can upload sounds stright from the SoundCloud app, but you can not do as much editing to the sounds, like you can with GarageBand. I also like using GarageBand over the SoundCloud app because you do not have to upload it right away.

In my class I started, what I call, “Friday Concert Series.” This is where I let my students who have prepared a piece that they have been practicing for quite a while, perform for the class. Starting a podcast has kind of been a work in progress. I have been trying to find that perfect form that I can copy evertime, and I feel that I’m getting closer.

In the future:

I would like to start using my iPad to record my choir and pieces they are singing and wanting to perform. The only reason that I haven’t done that yet, is because I haven’t been able to gain access to multi-channel technology at my school. It is my goal to get at least one 2-input digital converter box for the classroom because even if I end up leaving after a few years, the next teacher can use the technology with their computer if they do not have an iPad.

Using the iRig midi converter has made me a lot more interested in the products from iRig, and will likely be adding them to my personal collection of iPad accessaries. The only problem I forsee are that if I upgrade my devices in the next few years, I will need to update my accessaries as well. This seems to be a great product line, and a smart way to record my sounds.

In what ways have you utilized GarageBand for iOS? Are there any suggestions or advice you would give?

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