Education Blogs - Assignment #6

XWO: Crosswind Orchestra

Pros:

• The interface was very clean. It is easy to navigate and the names of the links help the viewer find what they are looking for.
• I like that they provide the option to subscribe via either email or RSS. A lot of people don’t know what RSS is, but it is a nice option for those who use it while still providing email subscriptions for everyone else.
• Lots of multimedia which is great for a music web site. I like that they include many of their favorite YouTube videos and recordings for auditions.

Cons:

• The posts are pretty inconsistent. It seems that there are quite a few for a few weeks and then a large gap with nothing. This might prevent someone from checking back often if they aren’t subscribed
• I am concerned about the posting of concert performances. It is my understanding that they are copyright protected. I would love to post the recordings of my students both during rehearsal and of their concerts but I do not believe it is legal.

The Greatest Middle School Social Studies Blog in the World

Pros:

• It is somewhat interesting to see where the people who are visiting the site are located in the Live Traffic Feed

Cons:

• I find this page to be too cluttered and busy. I prefer a site that delivers its content in a cleaner interface. It might work better if the sidebars were a separate color from the main content on the page. This would break up all that white space and help the viewer focus their attention.
• The links to the podcasts, wikis, images, and latest posts are not live. You have to highlight the link address in order to go to the indicated page.
• The site is obviously intended just for the class because there is nothing on the main page to give you any idea of where the blog is from. It forces you to click on the About Us page and even that page doesn’t tell you more than that they are from “CT”.

Scattergood Biology

Pros:

• I love the visual layout and appearance of this site. The graphic at the top of the page is stunning and perfect for the subject of biology.
• I appreciate that the main page content is offset from the sidebars and link list at the top of the page by color.
• All of the pages deliver a lot of wonderful and helpful information and links. This is a great resource for the class.

Cons:

• I wish the blog posts were on the main page because I think that many visitors to the site might miss it if they don’t make the effort to go there.  Although I do appreciate the attempt by the teacher to use the space to explain how to best use the site.
• I don’t really like the use of yellow as the main link color. It is readable, but not very easy on the eyes.
• May not be particularly engaging for the students to return to unless it is essential for their success in the class. Unless those blog posts are required reading, I am not sure that many students would go out of their way to spend time here.

Ñ blog

Pros:

• The blog is entirely in Spanish which is great for the students to keep them functioning in the language of the class.
• There is a lot of multimedia on the page including videos and cartoon images which will probably draw students to the site. I especially love the Spanish Word of the Day
• The formatting of each page is the same. This is nice so that users can navigate throughout the site without confusion.

Cons:

• The blog is entirely in Spanish which excludes non-Spanish speaking individuals, including parents, who might be interested in what is going on as part of the class.
• As I mentioned earlier, I do not like the all white page. It is hard on the eyes. However, at least this site has a nice graphic as part of the title bar.

Marvelous Math with Mrs. Rose

Pros:

• I really like the layout of this page. Only one sidebar keeps it clean and uncluttered and the use of shading to delineate the separate sections is great.
• I also appreciate that the main page is where the current blogs posts are seen. This helps insure that visitors to the site are seeing the most recently posted information. They don’t have to seek it out and it is more difficult to avoid.
• I like the use of the blue and gray for color and the formatting of the date at the beginning of each post.

Cons:

• The calendar seems like a waste of space. The dates that have blog posts are highlighted, but this same information is available in the archives. If the calendar listed due dates or events it would be a better use of space. The list of pages is also redundant to the links at the top.
• I don’t like that the links at the top primarily link to a page with one sentence or a link to one page. Seems like most of that could have been accomplished along the sidebar.
• There is a problem with the formatting on the “Wonderful Websites” page. The content runs off the right side of the screen and you must scroll to see all of it.

Personal Interests - Assignment #5

My current life obsession is triathlon training. Last year I competed in my first season of triathlon races at the sprint distance. A sprint distance triathlon is usually a .5-.75 mile swim, 12 mile bike and a 3.1 mile run. I raced in 6 events last year and absolutely loved it. I have purchased a triathlon bike for this upcoming season and spend much of my free time either training or researching training tips, nutrition information, gear reviews and other athlete’s race reports. This year I am planning on racing in the Pacific Crest Long Course race on June 23. This event will be a 1.2 mile swim, 58 mile bike ride up and back down Mt Bachelor and then a 13.1. mile run through the resort town of Sunriver. I can’t wait!!

Another passion of mine is traveling, although I don’t get to do it nearly as much as I would like. My husband and I are going to Mexico in March and this will be our first solo trip as a couple trying to navigate and survive on our own. In the past we have either had an all-inclusive experience or have traveled with a Spanish speaker so this time we are on our own. I have been spending a lot of time reading information on the Trip Advisor web site to help us plan and be prepared. The forums for Playa del Carmen have been particularly helpful. Hopefully this experience will give us the confidence to plan my dream trip to Thailand and Bali.

Finally, we love food! Portland is an amazing city for great food. The greatest thing is that most of the best restaurants aren’t fine dining establishments. This makes it possible to eat really well for a reasonable price. Some of our favorite restaurants are Por Que No on Hawthorne and Pok Pok on Division. We have a huge list of places still to try and our list of favorites keeps growing. We also love the food cart scene and spend many a sunny afternoon trying out new carts.  

Tuba Christmas

  

On December 10, 13 students from West Orient Middle School and Sam Barlow High School attended the annual Tuba Christmas concert in downtown Portland. 

 

We met at the Gresham City Hall MAX station at 8 a.m. It was quite the sight to see 14 people all dressed up for the holidays hauling tubas, baritones and euphoniums on public transportation! We got off at the stop closest to Lincoln High School where the rehearsal for the day’s performance was taking place.

Once we arrived, we found Mr. N-G from Clear Creek Middle School who was saving seats for the contingent of Gresham-Barlow students that also included his kids and some Gresham High students as well.  Once everyone made a trip to the doughnut table we were able to get everyone situated so they would be able to see and hear the conductor.

By the time the rehearsal started the room was packed with over 200 players ranging in age from 12 to 85 years old. We worked through each of the tunes to be played at the concert over the course of the next two hours.

 

Once rehearsal was finished we packed everyone up and headed to Pioneer Courthouse Square where we reserved our seats for the performance. Mr. N-G volunteered to hold our spots while I took the students to the Pioneer Place food court for lunch. We had a great time telling stories and sharing food and then it was time to head back to the Square.

 

The performance was to begin at 1:30 and by 1 p.m. the steps of the amphitheatre was packed with audience members. It is always amazing to me how many people will stand and sit in the cold, wet December weather to hear Christmas music performed on tubas!!

The concert was great and we won an award for having the most students from a school! We are all looking forward to going again in 2012.

 

Assignment #3 - The Blogging Experience

So far the blogging experience has been a good one. As far as blog creation and design,  it has been a very smooth process. However, I could definitely get bogged down in choosing just the right template and colors, but it is nice to have options that work readily available. Blogger also seems fairly intuitive and a safe environment to experiment with the various menu options. I can see how nice and easy it will be to take a quick moment at least once a week and update the blog.  I know that I will want to add links to documents within the blog and since our school district has just moved us all to Google Apps it seems that linking to a Google Doc will work out great. I also like the idea of using the blog as a place to post new assignments and their due dates. This will help parents stay up to date of what is expected of their student.

Assignment #2 - Classroom Activity

I always have a group of students who struggle to learn and understand the note names on the music staff. No matter how many times I review it in class, stress its importance, or even give pen and paper assessments there is always a group of students who never seem to even try to learn this information. However, a recent web site discovery led me to a classroom activity that has made it much easier to assess students and hold them accountable for the information. MusicTheory.net. This site allows the teacher to customize a note naming exercise to the specific needs of individual students. I can assign either treble or bass clef, include ledger lines, and even create separate exercises for all the different key signatures.

The class went to the computer lab and I directed them to a web page I created listing all the different exercise options in increasing order of difficulty. I told the students that they must work through each exercise and that they could onely move on to the next one once they had completed 60 questions with 90% accuracy. Once they finished the third exercise they were to then raise their hand for me to check their score. At that time they were allowed to move on to our school library’s educational game site.

Many students just cruised right through the assessments because the work we had done in the band room was sufficient for them to master this skill. However, those students who had not yet learned it were finally engaged in the process of understanding the concept. They asked questions and worked hard to gain understanding so they could move on to the next task. I believe that this activity forced many students to engage in learning this skill knowing that they could move on until they focused on it and demonstrated understanding. It probably didn’t hurt that there was a fun activity at the end once they mastered all three assessments.

Here are the individualized assessments I used. Students are to choose the one from each assessment that best fits the instrument they play.

Assessment #1

Treble Clef - Lines and Spaces only

Bass Clef - Lines and Spaces only

Assessment #2

Treble Clef - Ledger Lines

Bass Clef - Ledger Lines

Assessment #3

 
3 keys - Flute, Percussion

3 keys - Low Brass

3 keys - Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Trumpet

3 keys - Alto Sax, Bari Sax

3 keys - French Horn