Chorus and Chromebooks! - Ms. Belch, Kelly Mill Middle

Last week, I spent some time with Ms. Belch, Choral Director, at Kelly Mill Middle School. The class was listening to and singing She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways.

To help the students understand the music and how to sing the song, they discussed what they were singing and the students used Google Drive to recreate the lyrics in their own words. This was the first step in a multi-step process to have the students create a new score. Yes, the students would be creating their own original score of the song. How will they do it you ask? With the shift to Chromebooks, Ms. Belch found NoteFlight to help her students compose music. The students will us Noteflight to put in composition, lyrics, and melody new score created. The students will also be able to collaborate on the different parts of the melody online.

 

"Noteflight lets you write, play back and share music notation on the web.Noteflight is an easy to use, full-featured application to write, play back and share musical scores. Write sheet music using our award winning notation editor and become part of the world's best online music composition community. Share your scores to get feedback from other composers and musicians and learn from viewing and listening to their shared scores. Noteflight works with all modern web browsers and on many mobile devices, including iPhone, iPad and Android phones and tablets." -Chrome Web Store

Ms. Belch challenged the students to feel the emotion of the original song/score and to create their own version. The class period was filled with singing; engagement in writing and composing; and learning proper singing technique. It made me want to be in middle school again. :)

Are you a fine arts teacher in a school using Chromebooks?  A great way to get started is to be sure you are using the Chrome browser on your computer. Be sure to check out the Chrome Webstore to see what apps are available for your students to use that might fit your needs. Also work with your school level Instructional Technology Specialists to help you plan or offer suggestions on where to get started.

Student has Noteflight and lyrics side by side to help write the music.

Ms. Belch has been the Choral teacher at Kelly Mill Middle School for eight years. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Master of Music. 

Gamification in Science

A new term is popping up in education called, gamification, and it seems to be causing a stir. Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in a non-game context in order to engage users and solve problems. Can gaming help students with content in the classroom? Recently the PBS Idea Channel posted this video on using Minecraft in the classroom. 

After watching this video I thought, 'How cool would it be to use a game students are all ready playing to teach content?' Little did I know the next week I would showing some visitors Mrs. Juli Jones' classroom at Kelly Mill Middle School and see two students creating a review game using Minecraft on one of the desktop computers in the classroom. I couldn't believe this is what I was seeing but it was. I was able to sit down with Mrs. Jones,  Jimmy, and Coltan to ask about this project. 

The students were creating a review game on the respiratory and circulatory systems. Jimmy and Coltan decided to work together when Mrs. Jones said they could create a Minecraft game. Both students play Minecraft at home and thought it would make an interesting review game. They learned to play Minecraft from friends and have been playing for a few years.

I asked the students how creating this game changed the class, the students responded by saying, they wanted to do the work. It also allowed Jimmy and Coltan to work and talk with someone as they completed the project. Both students also said they worked on the project longer creating the game then they would have if had chosen something else. Coltan said the best part was Mrs. Jones told them they were "building science."

Mrs. Jones is what I consider to be a risk taker with technology integration. The times I have been in her classroom she is willing to let the students try new things to see what/how they learn. She says it's her way to "connect with student engagement and makes it exciting for the students to come to school." The ideas the students come up with for completing projects helps the students make "connections to the content." Mrs. Jones says, It's "fun to teach people who are excited to learn."

Jimmy and Coltan took time to show me their project and a few tips on how to create in Minecraft. 

If you are interested in finding out a little more about Minecraft see the links below:

MinecraftEDU

Minecraft the game

Minecraft in Education Scoop.it links

MinecraftEDU Elfie blog 

Minecraft in School wiki

MinecraftEDU real world examples wiki

Kelly Mill Middle School Google Geeks

Meet the Google Geeks! The Google Basics students at Kelly Mill Middle have opened a help desk for teachers and students during sixth period. Yesterday, the students held their grand opening. They were so excited! The first request was received through their company email and have designed a great service for our school. 

Congratulations to the Google Geeks for starting their new company!

*Pictures from Kelly Mill Middle Facebook page.