Google Forms

Here is an example of a Google form.

Active Inspire Project-"Identifying Instrument Families"

I recently completed a project with the Active Inspire software. I titled this flipchart "Identifying Instrument Families." I made a title page with examples of instruments from three of the sections found in a bad or orchestra program. My second page is a very detailed video made by a fellow music teacher. I found this useful video at youtube.com and it gives a basic overview of each of the instrument sections for the brass, woodwinds, and strings sections. My next few slides are titled "The Woodwind Family" "The Brass Family" and "The String Family"and each of the slides have a chart that has the name of the instrument covered up by a square shape to see if the students can identify the instruments by looking at the picture and listening to the audio clip provided for each instrument. After the class tries to identify the instrument a student can then come up to the interactive board to move the shape over to see if their answer is correct. I then listed my references, student performance indicators, student objectives, NETS-T standards, and textbook I used to complete this project.

What went well-I was aided by the active inspire software because it provided me with a photo of each of the instruments that I needed to complete this project. It was also fairly easy to change the colors, fonts, and move objects on every page.

 What did not go well- It took a lot of time to download and embed each of the sound files to my slides because the software did not include any of the sound files for any of the instruments with the exception to the trumpet, which I found bizarre. I also had a little bit of a problem with my video showing up on the appropriate page, but I finally figured out that problem. There was also a problem with my the name of my flipchart ending in a .afx instead of a .flipchart. Dr. O'Bannon nor anyone in the class could figure out why my flip chart was acting the way it was. I created it in the Active Inspire software but for some reason the file changed. As a result, I could not upload my project to my Tech Projects page. It could have been the file size that kept it from downloading and uploading the flipchart. I wouldn't take anything out of my flipchart though because I think all of the information that I included is essential for my project.

What could have gone better- I think that if the Promethean software could include more sound files this would definitely help out music teachers and keep them engaged in making flip charts and things of that nature. I also know that being more knowledgeable about the software in general will create a better environment for the students in the TPTE 486 classrooms to engage in projects such as this one.

Here is a screenshot of the title page of my flipchart!

Instrument Families- Web Diagram Activity

Diagram-Instrument Families I recently created a poster board with the Inspiration program. I entitled the learning board "Instrument Families" as my main objective to cover. This particular standard is covered in the first grade edition of the Tennessee General Music Standards. Each of the four families entitled "Brass", "Woodwinds", "Percussion" and "Strings" have four instrument examples included as examples of each family. The "Percussion" family includes instruments such as the bass drum, cymbals, gong, and snare drum. Members of the "Strings" family include the cello, violin, viola, and bass. Some members of the brass instrument family include the tuba, trumpet, trombone, and the french horn. Finally, members of the woodwinds family are the clarinet, oboe, bassoon, and the flute. I also included pictures of each of these instruments for easy identification on a poster board or as a handout. What went well: It was fairly easy to come up with a topic because I have an extensive background in intrumental studies and I thought this would be the simplest way to make a story board that was not cluttered and easy to read. I had a seamless transfer of the pictures I had gathered to the Inspiration software by using the insert graphic tool.It was really easy to attach notes about each of the instrument families to the sub-categories Woodwinds, Brass, Percussion, and Strings. It was also really easy to make the main category "Instrument Families" into a hyperlink I found at a website that is extra student friendly for first graders to learn more about the different instruments and their families. What did not go well: It was a bit confusing to figure out what each of the tool's function was at the bottom of the Inspiration software. I had a little trouble making a text box and putting my State Standards and NET-T standards inside the box. I origianally had to draw a text box, but it wouldn't let me put a border around it until I clicked the rectangle on the tool bar and created another box to put my information in. I also had to make my project a little smaller in size so that it would fit on a poster board which was a little tricky. Dr. O'Bannon helped me with the formatting of the differentiation in shapes of my sub-headings as well. What could have gone better: I believe that if I had origianlly set my font size, color and shape of my different headings and size of my over all project by using the ruler I would not have had to go back in the program and change all of these minor details. Overall, I was very pleased with this software and I know it will come in handy for me in the General Music classroom. I am happy that I was introduced to this creative program.

Scavenger Hunt for Art on the UT Knoxville Campus

Caitlin Hammer and I were recently given the opportunity to take part in a scavenger hunt to find art in many different lines in nature on the University of Tennessee campus here in Knoxville. What went well-We found many different examples of the various types of lines in park benches, windows, road markings, trees, railings, and on the cement pavement. We ended up not having a problem with collecting pictures of our examples and we were ready to upload them to the computer in our classroom in about 30 minutes. Caitlin uploaded the pictures to her email and she sent them to me via email, and my task was to upload the pictures to Picasa web albums and make a slideshow out of the pictures with descriptive captions describing what we had discovered. What did not go well- When I uploaded the pictures to my desktop I named them with the first letter of the title capitalized before realizing that all of the titles needed to be lowercase. So I went ahead and added them to Picasa but then I had to go back and change the titles of the pictures to lower case so that they were in the proper format for the assignment. What we could have changed- Other than the title mess up there wasn't anything that I thought we could have changed to make the project better. It was a fun experience and I'd love to do another scavenger hunt in the future. How will I use this in my classroom- I plan to use the Picasa web albums as I will take pictures of my choirs at their performances and concerts and make them into a slideshow and make them visible at parent teacher conferences and open houses for parents to see their children in action on the stage. I will also take pictures when we are on tour and make slideshows for my students to have as well. Picasa web album: Slideshow Google Presentation

Scavenger Hunt- Art on the UT Knoxville campus

Me & UT!! :)

Scavenger Hunt