elissahalliday

Musical Pedagogy – Midterm

October 22, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

For my music pedagogy growth plan I decided to review ten music apps that I could potentially use to help me teach music to my future students. For my midterm, I thoroughly reviewed five apps giving the pros and cons and a summary of each one.

App #1 – iUke

Pros:

It gives you a song and shows you the chords of that song and the strumming pattern
You can play the song and there is a video of when you need to play each chord
You can practice different strumming patterns

Cons:

You have to pay for most songs – only the basic ones are free
Helps with learning the ukulele but only focuses on that instrument

Summary:

This app is helpful if you want to learn the ukulele and the basic chords involved with that. It is free to get, which is nice, however, if you want to learn more challenging songs you have to pay for a majority of them. When you click on the song it shows you the strumming pattern, the chords used, and when to play each chord, which is very helpful for a beginner ukulele player. Overall this app would be helpful for a teacher who is doing a ukulele unit, but other than that I would not recommend this app for teachers. I personally would not use this app in my classroom, unless I were doing a ukulele unit and we needed some extra guidance with the unit. I would rate it a 6/10.

App #2 – Notes Teacher

App: Notes teacher

Pros:

free
easy to use
when you pass a level it gets more difficult and introduces a new note
allows you to learn the location of each note and the sound it makes
no ads

Cons:

is a little repetitive
if you want to progress to more difficult levels faster you have to pay

Summary:

I think that this app is a really useful tool for learning the notes. It makes learning fun and does not let you advance to the next level until you complete all the challenges of the level you are on. This makes sure that you are comfortable with those notes and know them well enough to learn another one. It is a great app for learning how to read music because it makes it fun while still informative. It also plays the sound of each note when you choose the right note, which allows for you to also hear what each of them sound like, not just what they look like. I would definitely use this app as a tool in my classroom to help my students better understand how to read music and I highly recommend it to teachers who are wanting to teach their students about note reading. I would rate it a 9.5/10.

App #3 – Mussila

Pros:

fun illustrations
have a choice at the beginning of instruments, rhythm or melody
free and no ads
easy to use
fun and engaging
have the option to create your own beat

Cons:

until you keep on going up in the levels it could be too easy for some students
good for younger students (primary) but older ones (intermediate) may find it silly/childish

Summary:

After using this app and creating a list of pros and cons it is very clear to me that this is a great tool to help students learn more about instruments, melodies, and rhythm. The app has great animations/illustrations, which makes it fun and engaging. This is great for primary students. The instrument part of the app plays an instrument and you have to choose between two options what instrument it is. The more you get correct the more likely you’ll advance to the next level. This is a great way to familiarize students with instruments they may otherwise not know. In the melody one, you hear notes being played and the student has to choose which measure they think it is. If you get it wrong it shows you why it is the other one. Lastly, there is the rhythm one in which you hear a beat from a drum and have to choose which measure matches that beat. Like the melody one if you choose the wrong one they show you why it is the other option. Another function of the app is you can create your own beat. This is a fun addition and allows children to explore with their own creativity. I would definitely use this app in my class to get my students familiarized with instruments, melodies, and rhythms in a fun way. I recommend for primary grades as older grades may find it too simple and childish. I would rate it an 8.5/10.

App #4 – Kids Musical Instrument

Pros

Free and no ads
Lets you play the xylophone and hear what each note sounds like
Allows kids to be creative and create their own song using the xylophone with a background beat of either guitar, drums, piano, trumpet, or tambourine

Cons

The xylophone is free but the other instruments are locked until you pay for them
Very simple
Does not teach you much about the instruments
Does not tell you which note or chord you are playing

Summary:

Overall I would not recommend this app to teachers. It does not teach the students much about each instrument; it only allows them to play it. The only instrument available, if you do not want to pay, is the xylophone, which is a pretty basic instrument. It allows children to be creative and create their own song, however, after doing this a few times it is very repetitive and no longer interesting. This app would be good for pre-schoolers as it is fun and easy to use, but for anyone older, I think you would want an app with more to it and one that would teach students something as well as just playing. I would personally not use this app in my classroom to teach students about music and I would not recommend it to any elementary teachers. I would rate it a 4/10.

App #5 – Nutka

Pros:

Free with no ads
Teaches you about the note, their locations, and the sound they make
You have a choice of three levels so you can make it harder by adding more notes when you got the first 5 down

Cons:

a little confusing to use
a bit repetitive
the notes are the same color so you know which note it is by the color

Summary:

This app is helpful in teaching students about the notes. It shows a measure and gives you a note and you have to choose which note it is (once you get it right it switches to a new one until the 3 minutes is up). It also plays the note so you can hear it as well as visualize it. I like how there are three levels available so you can choose the difficulty based on your skill level. Although this is a good tool for leaning the notes, I believe there are better ones you can use which do the same thing but are more advanced and easier to use. Overall this app is helpful but there are better resources for learning about the notes. I personally would not use this app in my classroom, because I do not like the layout of the app and I would want an app that is a little more advanced. I would rate this app a 6.5/10.

Curation – Diigo and Feedly

October 19, 2018October 22, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

In my Technology Innovation class, we talked about curation and a few resources that assist users in collaborating with others and organizing resources. Two specifically that we talked about were Diigo and Feedly.

Diigo is a social bookmarking website launched in 2006, standing for “Digest of Internet Information, Groups, and Other Stuff”. Diigo allows its users to tag and bookmark web pages. This is a helpful resource because it allows for you to get easy access to these saved pages. It helps you to stay organized and you can share these resources with others. Diigo designed their app so you can save bookmarks through tags, which makes it easier for you to find the resources you are looking for later. For example, if you are researching about travel tips you can create a tag named travel tips, so then when you are wanting to see these resources you can go to the tag instead of looking through all your bookmarks. The bookmarking tool helps you stay organized and allows you to easily find your resources.

Another useful tool of Diigo is the highlighting and sticky note tool. The highlighting tool allows you to highlight important parts of a text directly on the website. Highlighting is helpful for you to remember which parts of the text you thought were important and were wanting to remember, and also to share with others and show which parts you wanted them to see. The sticky notes tool lets you add notes, comments or reminders directly onto the webpage. This is another great feature that is very useful for both the user and for collaborating with colleagues, students, peers, etc. As a university student, both of these features would be extremely helpful to me for researching and collaborating with my peers.

Diigo is a great tool for curating, organizing bookmarks, highlighting text, adding sticky notes of information to web pages and collaborating with others.

The other web tool we discussed was Feedly. Feedly was released in 2008 and was created to be used as a news aggregator and to help you discover insightful sources. Meaning it finds similar news feeds from various online sources and groups them together for easy access and viewing. The user can then customize this and share their sources with others. Feedly has an app that is available on both iPhone and Android making it accessible for many people. It is a great tool to discover many useful online sources, such as news publications, blogs, and youtube videos. Feedly allows its users to organize their work and collaborate with others.

Feedly is another great curating tool that allows you to discover sources in an organized and customized way and to share with your teammates.

All in all, I learned a lot about curation and gained two great resources to help me organize sources and collaborate with my peers. These will be useful applications for me to use in the classroom.

Diigo’s website: https://www.diigo.com/

Feelys website: https://feedly.com/i/welcome

Blog Post #2 – School Observation

October 19, 2018October 30, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

For my music class, I went to observe four elementary music classes at an elementary school. This was a really valuable and educational experience for me as music class has changed a lot from when I was in elementary school. I got to observe a variety of different grades participate in their daily music class activities.

When we first got into the room one thing that surprised me right away was the number of instruments. This class was filled with all sorts of musical instruments, including xylophones, ukuleles, recorders, tambourines, shakers, triangles, basses and more! The classroom set up was very welcoming and the children either sat on the carpet or on chairs. At this school, each grade gets two 45 minute music classes a week, which really allows students the chance to improve their musical ability and knowledge.

The first class we observed was a grade 4 class. This class was learning to play the ukulele. I thought it was great that they were getting to learn this instrument at this age. To start the class they practiced singing “We Shall Overcome” for their upcoming remembrance day assembly. After this, they went row by row and got their ukuleles. The teacher made sure that everyone’s was in tune before they sat down to play. They practiced three songs: Frere Jacques, brush your teeth, and one other. I was amazed at how good everyone was at playing. I am learning to play the ukulele right now as well so I know what it is like to learn the instrument and I was impressed at their skill level.

The next class we got to observe was a grade 3/4 split class. Since it is a split class the grade 3’s got to learn the ukulele. Usually, this unit is not introduced until grade 4. This class was very similar to the last one in their class activities. One thing that really stuck with me was the teacher had a level card system, so every time the class finished something that was on a different level card (certain chords, or songs) they would get a little paper flower (different colors representing different levels) that would eventually create a lei. I thought this was a really fun and creative way to keep students engaged and wanting to improve their skills.

The third class we observed was a grade 2 class. This class was very different than the first 2 were. They started with a welcome song which included singing and hand clapping. This was really cute to watch. They then practiced the remembrance day song that the whole school is learning. After this, they played a music game called “Pass the Pumpkin” in which the students sat in a circle, sang a song, and passed around a pumpkin. The person who has the pumpkin at the last word of the song (BOO) got to go and choose one of four instruments (triangle, xylophone, shakers, and one other) to play for the next round. This was a really fun way to keep the students engaged and learning to play instruments.

The last class we got to observe was a grade 2/3 split. This class was learning to play the recorders, which brought back a lot of memories for me as this is one of the main things I remember about my elementary music classes. They practiced note playing and reading. They played many songs and knew a lot about measures, beats, time signatures and rests. I was blown away by how much the students knew. This showed me how engaged the students are in learning music, which was great to see!

Overall, I really enjoyed getting to observe the music classes as it gave me a much better understanding of the role of a music teacher and the daily activities that the various grades participate in. I am glad we got to see a variety of grades because it allowed me to see what the different grades learn in music.

Blog Post #1

October 19, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

Creating these growth plans for both my musical and professional identities has challenged me to learn more about music and how to effectively teach it. Coming into this course I did not have a ton of background knowledge about music or much musical experience. I am only half way through my growth plans and I already feel much more confident with my musical abilities.

My musical growth plan has greatly shifted my musical identity, as before I created my plan I did not know how to play the ukulele at all, any chords or how to tune it. I have now taught myself two songs on the ukulele (Riptide by Vance Joy and I’m Yours by Jason Mraz) and 4 different chords (G, C, Am, and F). I have also learned how to properly tune my ukulele to C and I have learned various different strumming patterns such us DDUUDDUUDDUU AND DDUDU (D=down and U=up). The plan I created has allowed me to stick to my goals and feel much more confident in my musical abilities. I feel like I have enough knowledge now to teach someone else the very basics in ukulele.

My pedagogy growth plan has shifted my professional identity as it has allowed me to review multiple music apps and find which ones would be helpful for me as an aspiring teacher. I have thoroughly reviewed five music apps varying from teaching students about notes and note reading to creating your own musical beat. I spent time using each app to gain the best knowledge on the performance of the app and to see if it would be helpful to use in a classroom setting. From doing this I have gained many resources that will be of use to me when teaching music to my future students. It has also taught me a lot more about music, note reading and integrating technology into the classroom.

All in all, creating my music and pedagogy growth plans has allowed me to shift my musical and professional identities to a place where I feel more confident with my abilities to play and teach music. I have gained many valuable resources that will be useful for me as I began teaching.

Week 4 – Sodium

October 17, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

As many people over-consume their daily amount of salt intake, sodium tends to get put in a negative light when people talk about nutrition, however, it is not all bad. You need sodium in your diet to help your body function. Although there are negative effects of consuming too much sodium. I am going to talk about what sodium does to your body both positively and negatively.

Advantages of Sodium:

Helps you retain water – regulates fluid levels
Helps regulate muscle contractions
Needed for blood regulation
The nervous system would begin to shut down if you are not getting enough sodium
Prevents sunstroke
Improves brain function

Disadvantages of Sodium:

Too much of it can make your blood pressure too high, which over time can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, strokes and can even lead to heart failure
Increases one’s risk of stomach cancer
Can cause bone-thinning, which can lead to osteoporosis

As you can see sodium has both advantages and disadvantages. It is important to be consuming sodium in moderation. Some important and healthy sources of sodium are apples, egg yolks, common salt (table salt), leafy vegetables, bananas, etc.

To conclude, sodium in moderation is required for a healthy diet, however, it does have negative effects on one’s body if you over consume it. Moderation is the key to taking in the benefits of sodium while still avoiding the effects of too much sodium. One of the easiest ways to reduce your sodium intake is to avoid processed foods. Instead, it is best to make your own meals so you can control how much sodium is going in and you can use fresh ingredients. If you are buying processed foods, make sure to read the label and look at how much sodium is in it.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks post 🙂

References:

https://healthyeating.sfgate.com/advantages-disadvantages-sodium-nutrition-5640.html

https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/salt-and-sodium/sodium-health-risks-and-disease/

https://www.organicfacts.net/health-benefits/minerals/sodium.html

Week 4 – Creating my own Budget Spreadsheet

October 17, 2018October 17, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

My first three weeks of learning to use excel have taught me a lot about the basics of it and I already feel more confident in my ability to use excel. For this week’s blog post, I have created with my new skills, two budget spreadsheets. One is of my monthly living fees (rent, food, internet, hydro and electricity, my phone, and miscellaneous) and the other is a budget I have created is for a trip to Sweden I may be taking (flights, accommodation, groceries, meals out, transportation, and miscellaneous).

To create these budget spreadsheets I had to use my basic inputting data skills and the formula function. The research I did prior to this helped me to be able to create these spreadsheets as otherwise, I would have manually added together the numbers, instead of just using a formula and making excel do the work for me.

Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 8.42.50 PM — My Monthly Living Expenses

Screen Shot 2018-10-16 at 9.16.50 PM — Trip to Sweden Expenses

I highly recommend using Excel to anyone who is looking for a fast and fairly easy way to create budgets for themselves and the various expenses they have. With a bit of research, you can learn the basics of Excel and can create your own basic spreadsheet. If you want to use more complicated functions in Excel you definitely need to do quite a lot of research as there are many features Excel has to offer.

Overall, I have really enjoyed learning how to use Excel and have already started to see progress in my understanding. I look forward to learning more about Excel and the other features that will be useful for me.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks blog 🙂

Video and Audio Editing with iMovie

October 16, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

In class this week we learned the basics in video editing using iMovie. iMovie is a video editing software created by apple available as an application for Mac computers, iPads, and iPhones.

With iMovie, you can create videos, movie trailers, and edit videos. It is easy to use and has many great features, including cool titles, special effects, filters, and soundtracks. To create a movie you import video footage or photos from your computer and drag it down to the iMovie screen, from there you can edit these clips. You can add titles, themes, music, backgrounds, and special effects. You can also add transitions between your video footage such as fades and blurs.

One of my favorite features is that you can trim down your video clips if you do not want the whole thing. To do this you select the video and drag the end of the video to the left to where you would like it to end. You can also do this to the beginning of the video if you want to cut out a part of the start. You can also split a clip if there is a part of the video you want but just in a different part of your video. To do this you place your cursor at the part of your clip you want to split. You then go to the toolbar click modify then split clip (or you can click command B). This is a great tool as sometimes you do not want the full video or you want it all but certain parts of it at different parts of your movie.

iMovie also allows you to do audio editing. You can add sound effects and music to your video. To add a sound effect you click on the audio tab, then click on sound effects, then type what sound effect you want into the search box. When you have found the sound you want, select it and drag it below your video clip. You can make the sound effect louder or quieter than the actual video. If you are wanting to add in music to your video it is a similar process but after you click audio instead of clicking sound effects you click on iTunes (if you have music on your iTunes) and then search for the song you want and drag it down beneath the video. Usually, it is longer than the video clip so you will have to trim it down (mentioned above).

When you have finished your movie you can export it in order to share it or upload it to Youtube etc. To export your video you press the upload button, which is located in the top right corner in the iMovie window. From here there are a few options, I recommend selecting the “File” icon and then you can change the name of your movie and choose which folder you want to keep it in (documents or desktop etc.). It usually takes a few minutes for it to export and the time it takes depends on the length of your video. Then you have successfully created and exported your movie!!

I have used iMovie quite a bit in High School and now in my music class. Speaking from someone who is not very knowledgeable when it comes to technology, iMove is easy to use. For my music class, I created a video of myself learning the ukulele. I had to import videos, trim my videos, add audio over top, add in titles throughout my video and fix my volume around so the audio was not as loud as my playing. This was a really good learning experience for me as I now feel a lot more confident in using iMovie for both video and audio editing.

All in all, iMovie is a great resource for video and audio editing. It is easy to use and iMovie contains many awesome features for you to create a video. The only downside of iMovie is that it is specific to Apple products, so in order to use this application you need either a Mac computer, an iPhone, or an iPad.

Twitter

October 15, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

Twitter is a very popular social media platform used to interact with others via messages called “tweets”. It was created by Jack Dorsey in 2006 and fastly gained popularity among young adults. It has now become popular for a wide variety of people to communicate about news, important issues, and their daily lives.

If you create a twitter account you have a “handle” which is your username. You create your own username and it can be whatever you want to make it. This is how other members search for you by searching @ and then your handle. You can customize your profile as much or as little as you would like. You have the choice to add in a profile picture and a bio or to leave it blank. You also have the option to make your profile public or private depending on the level of privacy you wish. If you have a private profile, people have to request to follow you and you have the choice to accept or decline. If you have a public account, then other users can see your profile and tweets without requesting to follow you.

A tweet is a 140-word message that is sent out to one’s followers. If you hashtag (#) something on your tweet and you do not have a private account others who are searching up that hashtag can see your message. If you do not want people being able to see your message then you can make your account private. When you have a private account only those who you have allowed to follow you can view your tweets. If your account is public then anyone can view your tweets and they also have the option to retweet your post, favorite/like it, or reply to it and create a conversation.

The hashtag that I briefly touched on earlier is a way of finding something that interests you or a way for you to start a conversation. You can search up a topic you want to see what other people have been saying about it by searching for example #dailynews. Another way to use the hashtag is on your own tweet. You can add hashtags to start a conversation and for other people to find your tweet. If people want to reply to your tweet they can also hashtag the same thing and add to the discussion. Hashtags are also used to create twitter chats. Twitter chats are conversations on a certain topic (a hashtag). They are a good way to connect people who have similar interests, questions, and/or beliefs. Many people participate in Twitter chats including educators.

Many educators are on twitter to get new teaching ideas, to see what other teachers are doing, and to stay connected with fellow co-workers. It is a great way to start a discussion with other educators and to see their opinions on certain topics such as technology in the classroom. It can also be used by teachers for their students to see what is happening in class, when things are due, and other important notes. Since technology is becoming more and more prevalent in classrooms, twitter is a good resource for teachers to use to stay connected and to learn more about education.

All in all, Twitter has many great features and allows people to share their interests and to keep up to date with what is going on. It is a useful tool for businesses, educators, and individuals looking to stay connected with others and share their opinions. It is good to know the privacy settings of Twitter before creating an account and posting tweets.

Week 3 – Alcohol

October 12, 2018October 17, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

Alcohol impacts your body from the moment you take a sip. Although having an occasional drink is not too bad for you, the cumulative effect of alcohol on one’s body can be quite large and negative. There are many health benefits you will start to notice if you do cut out alcohol.

Effects of alcohol on your body:

Changes in behavior – alcohol can affect your usual behaviors
Heart damage – heavy and frequent drinking can lead to cardiovascular disease
Blackouts – alcohol can lead to blackouts, which lead to no recollection of what happened or what you did when
Cancer – chronic drinkers are more likely to get throat, mouth, liver or esophagus cancer
Liver damage – alcohol abuse can damage one’s liver
Alcohol abuse can lead to a dependency on it and withdrawal can be very difficult. Symptoms of withdrawal include anxiety, nausea, high blood pressure, heavy sweating, and an irregular heartbeat
Women who drink while pregnant put their unborn child at risk and they have a higher risk of premature delivery, miscarriage, or stillbirth
Binge drinking can result in severe memory loss
High blood pressure
Drinking too much weakens your immune system

Benefits of cutting alcohol out of your diet:

iswai_blog_5-benefits-to-cut-down-alcohol-800x400

Alcohol is a depressant so cutting it out of your diet can improve your mood
Promotes weight loss as many alcoholic beverages contain a lot of sugar
Healthier skin – alcohol creates inflammation throughout your body and skin
No more hangovers! – no more waking up with headaches, nausea or general sickness
Better for your brain – heavy drinking has extensive negative effects on your brain – can cause memory lapse and heavy drinking can lead to severe memory loss
Better sleep – alcohol can lead to poor nights sleep which is not healthy for your body
Lower your risk at getting cancer
Improved immune system and less likely to get sick

Nutritionists and health experts say if you do drink alcohol try and keep it to a moderate amount. Drinking in moderation may have some health benefits, however, it is not risk-free. These possible benefits do not outweigh the risks. Moderate alcohol consumption means up to one drink a day for women of all ages and two drinks a day for men age 65 or younger (for healthy adults). Examples of one drink are a 12-ounce beer, a 5 fluid ounce glass of wine, and a 1.5 fluid ounce of hard alcohol.

References:

The Benefits of Cutting out Alcohol

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/alcohol/art-20044551

Week 3: Formulas

October 12, 2018October 17, 2018elissahallidayLeave a comment

This week I learned how to use the formula function on excel. The formulas are one of excels main features and allow for accurate data and time saved for you!

Formulas can be thought of as an equation because they contain multiple steps that lead to a final output. To enter a formula into excel you can start by putting in an equal sign (=). For example, within a cell, you can put =6+9 and it will give you the output. Excel sees this equals sign and recognizes that you are giving it a formula to calculate. Here is a photo of me practicing this function.

Screen Shot 2018-10-10 at 7.32.54 PM — Inputting the data

Screen Shot 2018-10-10 at 7.33.07 PM — After pressing enter – the output

There is more to these formulas than just numbers and addition or subtraction, they can also contain one or more functions. A function is made up of three parts: 1. The name – used to describe what it does, these names are built into excel and there is a SUM function, which adds multiple values together, an AVERAGE function, which averages together multiple values and many more. 2. The arguments – the values you are combining to get your output ex. If you want to find the sum of 7 and 4 the arguments of the function are the numbers 7 and 4. 3. The output – the last part of the function – this is what you get from the calculation – the final product/output. When a formula is entered in a cell it shows the output, so to see the formula you can click on the cell and it will show you the formula in the formula bar.

To see all the formulas that are offered, you can click on the formulas tab and then go to insert where you can choose what category you need and they are given a large list of formulas.

Screen Shot 2018-10-10 at 7.51.04 PM — List of the categories

Select the cell where you want the cell total for and write in the function you want, for example, =SUM to add the values drag from the first cell to the last cell for it to add up those values.

The formula function on excel is a super helpful tool for budgeting and adding up sales. Formulas are a great tool to help you save time and increase the accuracy of your data. There are many formulas, so I just learned how to use the basic ones that I thought would be most important and useful for me.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for next weeks post!

Resources:

https://www.deskbright.com/excel/how-to-use-excel/

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Overview-of-formulas-in-Excel-ecfdc708-9162-49e8-b993-c311f47ca173

^ Helpful tool to learn the basics of excel and has a good video along with it