Literacy: Reading

I’m a Nerd and so is my Husband

As a wedding present, my husband and I were given the recent installment to the iconic Harry Potter series, The Cursed Child, a screenplay inspired from the original story. Before school, we decided to wait to buy and read it because we were focused on the wedding, and after the wedding, when we received the book, we were so focused on school we hadn’t had a chance to start. This weekend the temptation was too strong, and I started reading to pass the time while at work (I am lucky to have a job that lets me read on the clock). I finished it Saturday night, and gave it to my husband to have his turn to read. On Sunday, after my morning shift, he met me at the restaurant I work and we had some lunch. He proudly stated that he finished the book that morning! After expressing how impressive his speed reading skills were, we quickly divulged into an hour long discussion of our reception to the book as it’s own entity and how it related to the series as a whole. We focused on the overall plot, what we liked and what might have been a better direction. My husband brought up implications that clashed with other knowledge he had gained about (spoiler alert) time travel concepts from other sources, and I highlighted the misrepresentations of certain characters and the overall cathartic scenes that I really enjoyed. We debated the social connotations and reflections of our society to theirs, and compared it to the change from the society in the first books (20 years prior to the current installment) and our own world views that have changed over 20 years. We then talked about how it might be translated onto the physical stage, and how we liked or were confused with certain elements of the Potterverse and how it was interpreted into a new medium.

Basically, what my husband and I did during our lunch was deepen our comprehension of our reading by sharing our thoughts and discussing the hidden inferences and details not explicitly outlined in the text. By doing this in depth discussion, both my husband and I have a better understand of what was said (and not said) in the story, and explored new ideas that we might not have uncovered individually (like the implications of time travel).

Which is why it is imperative that students have conversations about their readings in enhance their comprehension of the material. Conversations invite critical thinking, making connections, breed questions, and develop crucial dialogue skills of discussing text.

Conversation is a basis for critical thinking. It is the thread that ties together cognitive strategies and provides students with the practice that becomes the foundation for reading, writing, and thinking. - Ann Ketch

Conversations in the Classroom

Both my husband and I were a part of provincial-wide reading programs in our elementary school (Forest of Reading), which was essentially a book club for children. I remember in my school we had weekly meetings either during lunch or after school in the library with the other children in our age group that were involved and we would just talk about our book that week, guided by a facilitating teacher. Sometimes we just read in the time period, sometimes we had discussions. The wonderful part about the experience was it made us both learn at an early age that reading was more than a solidary endeavor and developed our ability to identify key concepts in our readings, make connections with our personal experiences and how to talk about them effectively. It also exposed us to a variety of genres and styles of writing which not only allowed us to discover and identify our reading preferences, but also impacted our writing skills. By reading all types of genres, we were able to emulate the benefits of each style into our writing, allowing it to develop into a well-rounded craft.

But why keep a book club just as an extracurricular experience? Why not bring those benefits right into the classroom? Book clubs not only prompt conversation and deeper thinking about the reading, but bring with it a sense of community, development of respect to alternative opinions and perspectives, and build confidence in expressing and reflecting on one’s thoughts in a group. All these benefits can not only improve student engagement towards reading, but carry over to all aspects of the classroom.

Starting a Book Club in your Class

We’ve discussed the benefits of a book club, and can see the advantages it can give students. Starting one in the classroom is an fun method to focus silent reading time, increase student engagement and differentiate towards each level of learner. This article introduces some steps that will help start a book club in your classroom. Below I have also outlined some ideas.

First Session:

I would start by creating “meeting groups” based on ability. These groups should be no bigger than 5 students. This is a great way to differentiate for each targeted need of your students. In the first meeting, let the students create a group name, and an outline for meeting expectations. The expectations can be developed by group or by the class as a whole, but should be designed by the students. For the first session, I would assign a book for each group targeted towards their appropriate challenge level and a “bookmark goal” for the next meeting (read a chapter, to a certain a page number, or to finish the entire book). I would then give them a few specific questions to consider while reading. Students would be expected to read their book during silent reading time. In order to help the discussion for the next session, each day they could journal about what they read, or you could pose a general question that they need to journal about. They could also use a graphic organizer or tracker for their daily reading thoughts.

Second Session:

A week (or whatever time period decided on) later, have the second session. Each student should be encouraged to talk briefly about one thought they had about the selected reading. Prompts could be quotes they liked, characters that stood out to them, events that happened that they thought were interesting, things they found boring or offending etc. Once students have gotten their initial opinions expressed, then the prompting questions can begin. They should be thought provoking questions, asking students why things unfolded they way they did, “what if” questions, and most importantly, how the reading connected to something in their own experiences. If time, close with an physical activity (like a craft or game), and/or pose a new question for students to think about while reading the next section/book.

Next Sessions

Once a book is completed, you can assign a new book, or give students a selected reading list that they are allowed to choose from. Each student can select one book they want to the group to read (based on the summary of the book) and groups can cycle through each. As the routine is established, you may allow students to suggest their own books for the next reading (approved by the teacher).

More Activities to Enrich Conversations:

Below are some activities inspired from here, here and here.

Ask each student to develop a discussion question for the group, setting clear expectations of what a good discussion question looks like.

Have students fill out a graphic organizer during the discussion to paste into a journal for record of ideas.

Include external information about the author or time period, book sales, it's role in a series, a genre study etc.

Give each group member a reading role. Each member reads the next session focusing or looking for a specific concept (character development, themes, words, connections to society/history/real life, an illustration of a key scene).

Host a Share with Parents or Reading Fair. Work towards creating a poster board for each book finished, expressing big ideas or evidence of deep thinking, good questions, themes, illustrations, connections etc. that students can share with parents and peers based on their group conversations.

Create a deck of “prompt cards” that students can shuffle and randomly select as journal entry responses or guiding questions for discussion. Or use popsicle sticks.

Guiding Question bookmarks.

If a spark of excitement towards reading and sharing is all that comes from a class book club, I still see a benefit for all students.

Now I want to start or join an adult book club too!

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A Tale of Two Educations

Little Bit About Me

Growing up, I was fortunate enough to experience two types of education. I went to a school like every other kid and was formally taught my ABC’s and numbers, but during kindergarten, I also began piano lessons, where I learnt my do-re-mi’s and how to read music. I eventually dropped piano lessons when I was 12, focusing on the singing lessons I started to take when I was 9. I would continue to receive both types of education simultaneously until I graduated university. Yes, even in my undergrad, I received voice lessons from my professor 4 days a week along side my academic classes. 

Were They Different?

Both experiences were different, yet similar. Obviously I didn’t go to a teacher every day like I did in formal school, but I went every week. I had learning goals for each week like I would in formal schooling, and at the end of the year, I would receive a few grades.

The biggest difference besides the formal vs informal setting was how I was assessed. In school, I was assessed by tests and essays with grades frequently. In lessons, I was given constant feedback and when I went home, I would practice and monitor my success, then go back to my teacher the next week, and receive more feedback based on my progress. The cycle was recursive of formative assessment and self reflection, or assessment for learning and assessment as learning. I would receive a summative mark towards my progress in competition and exams at the end of the year.

Because of my year long cycle filled with feedback and self reflection, I would look at the grades after my competition as an afterthought. I wanted to read the feedback notes. What did I do well, what could I improve on, was there strategies listed to help my success? In my lesson, my teacher and I would then discuss and reflect back on the competition in relation to the feedback, and I would ALWAYS improve based on that feedback. Every other year or so, I would work towards a graded exam for singing. I would learn repertoire, exercises, skills all year, and then be tested in June to see how well I learned the skills in order to move on to the next grade. When I received my final grade, it was usually a reflection of what I already knew were my strengths and weaknesses because of all the feedback I received throughout the year. It was similar in university. My teacher and I would spend a couple semesters exchanging feedback and reflection, and when I was given a final grade for year, I already knew the reasons why it was accessed as such.

Self-esteem and Grades

Now, this alternative education didn’t fully change the way I looked at grades in my formal schooling. I still cared about what grade I was given, and I was devastated when I received a bad mark. But at the same time, my music education influenced my evaluation of how I interpreted my self esteem based on my grade. Having the constant cycle of feedback and reflection towards gradual goals allowed me to understand what personal growth really meant, and reinforced a growth mindset which translated over to my reaction to grades. Yes, I wanted to do well, but I didn’t care how my grade was compared to everyone else’s. I was trying to either beat my previous grade or at least maintain it.

I also had a better understanding of realistic expectations of my grade meant in terms of my strengths and weaknesses. While an 80% essay might be a good grade compared to the average in the class, to me that was a not so great grade. I knew I was capable of much higher. However, when I would receive a 68% in a math assignment, I would be okay with that when I usually received low 60’s and 50’s. I based my esteem on how I was growing as a learner, and not what that grade meant based on the average.

Music lessons really helped change my mindset towards what assessment means and is something I would like to add to my future students’ experience.

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Online Math Games: Worksheets Playing Dress Up?

Meet my husband, J. MacKenzie, Future Game Designer

My husband is currently in his second year studying video game development, though he had a few years of learning under his belt from another school. He dropped out of his first experience after tragedy struck and his mother had a stroke. Since then, he has had an interest and underlying desire to one day create games that help with brain development and a tool for stroke patients to use to get better. On this train of brain development thought, we have had countless conversations about how games can be used for education.

I ask, “Why aren’t there any education games for PlayStation or Xbox?”

His response? “There are a few, but you don’t hear about them because education games usually suck”.

This sparked a deep conversation about why he thinks that and what needed to change. We have seriously talked about eventually joining forces and creating an educational video game that doesn’t “suck”. But I never really understood his passionate aversion to educational game, or “edutainment” as he calls it. Until today.   

Games and Education

Today I was investigating math games to help learn Patterning and Algebra. Simple, I thought. I will find so many I will have a hard time choosing. I just bought a brand new Windows computer, so I started to look for an algebra math game app in the Microsoft Store. Besides DragonBox, which is about $5+, there was no games. There were a few calculators and tutoring apps, but no games. I found the same issue with GooglePlay. (I don’t use apple products, so I don’t have reference for what the Apple Store has). So I went to the internet games. There is a lot of math games, and many of them can be used to practice algebra and patterning. I found one game called Parking Algebra. It’s a frustratingly decent game to practice basic algebra concepts. You have to solve by x and park the car in the right space, and beat the clock and hit less than 5 cars to pass the level. So I played this game for about 30 minutes, and I was getting very frustrated because I apparently can not drive a car even on a computer. So my husband took over, and he immediately got annoyed.

“This is not a good game.” He said.
“I know, it’s hard to move that car the right way!” I exclaimed, happy he understood my frustration.
“No,” he sighed. “It’s exactly why edutainment is flawed. This is just like doing a work sheet. Here’s the equation, input the answer, then next question. You’re not learning something new, just drilling something you already know.”

My husband was so annoyed he wrote this review on his Facebook page after leaving to me find another game,

"I did not enjoy this “Parking Algebra” game, I hesitate to even call it a game. The only thing this ‘game’ is for is a different way to submit the value of ‘X’. The game could literally tell the player “Park in space 2+2.” or “Park in space 12.” or simply “Type in the letter ‘Q’.” without any change to the game or the players learning experience. Educational games should create an atmosphere for fun learning that actually involves the player in the process, allowing the player to solve problems and learn from both their successes and mistakes. Nothing is being taught by simply asking the player to submit an answer that would be easier to type in. If I were to make a game not involving mixing driving with algebra, I would choose a game that involved balancing a set of scales. The player would be given ‘X’ and ‘Y’ on either side of a scale and a short list of functions that they can use to balance the scales. The scales update continuously based on the players placement of the functions. This teaches the player how algebra functions work instead of simply drilling the answers that the player will forget when the next level starts. The “Parking Algebra” may be a fun way to drill multiplication tables, but when teaching algebra it is more useful to let the learner find their own way to problem solve." - J. MacKenzie

And you know what, he is right. While this game was great to test my fluency with one step algebraic equations, it didn’t actually teach me HOW to solve the problem or WHY x = 24. I hadno tools to help me find the answer, I was just expected to figure it out quickly and input the answer, like a worksheet. 

I’m not saying this is a bad thing. I would rather play “park the car” than do a worksheet with 20 questions on it. Fluency and mastery is important before you should move on to the next topic, and students need this practice. But if I didn’t already have the knowledge of how to solve the problem, this game would not only be frustrating to move the car without hitting anything, but it would also be frustrating to find the answer. And that’s no fun. Which is kind of the point of a game, isn’t it?

Need for a Toolbox

So I moved on to find a game that gave me a tool to help find the answer, or something that helped go through the steps in a fun way to solidify HOW to solve for x or how to figure out a pattern. I had a hard time! Every game looked promising, but was the same worksheet issue just dressed up in a new flashy hat. This is the equation, now input the answer to gain points.

After an hour of searching, I found one tool that really helped visualize the concept of solving for x and the steps of isolating x using a scale and dragging over variables. It had a lovely tutorial mode, and then a practice mode. While it was still under the same premise of Solve for x and input information, the scale and variable tool was fantastic. There was also a little speech bubble that walked the player through the steps in order to help them discover how to find the right answer. This was more of what I was looking for.

But I kept looking. I spent another 30 minutes looking for a better game, and only found one, that was not perfect, but had a tool to find the pattern, and also had an attached manipulative tool to help students understand the relationship between each number in the pattern and how each variable can change that pattern.

But I still didn’t find something that was truly exciting, interesting, and was a worksheet when everything was striped down.

So Now What?

So my mind is now turning and I wonder, how can a game be developed that not only develops fluency of a concept but teaches each step, integrates those steps into the problem solving, offers manipulative and still gives the opportunity for practice, yet is actually engaging and fun? What would the best platform be for such a game, or how would each different platform offer unique opportunities for enhancing learning (tablet app vs PlayStation game). What about a multiplayer component?

I have a lot to think about before bed, and I understand a little bit more about why my husband is hesitant about educational games. But I’m also inspired and want to create something useful with him in the future.

Do you have a favourite math game that goes beyond the worksheet method? Do you think the practice is enough for students to use?

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Genius Hour Ted Talk

Creating a Ted Talk was fantastic way to reflect on my process to creating a singing lesson YouTube channel. At first, I felt awkward and didn't really know what to say, and then I had the opposite issue. I found it challenging to cut it down what I had recorded to keep it under time (which I didn't succeed in, it is a little longer than required), but by explaining my processes, my challenges and thinking back to how this will change my teaching as well as benefit my students, I was able to identify more clearly the importance of breaking from our comfort zones and how much you can learn from yourself when you try something different. 

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Genius Hour eBook

This is an introductory e-book briefly explaining what a genius hour project is, created on PowToons. 

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Genius Hour Trailer

This is the trailer for my genius hour project to create a singing lesson YouTube channel. I had a lot of fun making story boards for planning out how I wanted it to look. I compiled a lot of my lesson videos, most of which is bloopers in this trailer, into short 1 minute trailer. It was quite the task to find music that built the motivation up in an inspiring way, and so I choose I Dreamed a Dream from Les Mis, because while the song is sad, the music is still hopeful. I also sang the song when I played Fantine 2 years ago, and it was a big accomplishment since it was a belting song, and I sing classically most often. That song represents a goal and an accomplishment, so it motivates and inspires me to challenge myself, as this project is meant to do.   

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Genius Hour Project: Recording and Editing

Recording and Editing

Recording my lessons was frustrating. I spent a really long time mapping out my lesson plans and I have taught singing before, but without a student there for feedback or a confirmation that I am being clear enough, I was really self-conscience during the entire process. It also probably didn’t help that I could see myself while recording. It was a blessing and a curse. It was good because I could monitor the screen and whether what I was trying to demonstrate was showing up on the film, but it was also extremely distracting. Sometimes it would lag, so I would watch my mouth move after I was done talking, or I would be hyper aware of the way my shirt or face look for a moment. I did a lot of stop and starts, which added a lot of time to my videos and in result of that, I had to ultimately cut down my amount of initial videos I wanted to release. I have a lot of footage of all the lessons I wanted to release, but after editing just the Breathing Techniques videos, which turned into a video just shy of 20 minutes long, and then working on the How to Learn a song video, which was also about 20 minutes long, I had to go through about 3 hours of footage alone.

I noticed the longer I was in front of the camera, the less awkward I seemed, and by the time I was recording the steps to learning a song, I noticed a lot less stopping and starting and my confidence was stronger, which made for a better video.

Reflection

This whole experience with filming what I know and how I teach is a really pivotal moment of self-reflection for me. Because I had to record my knowledge, I really needed to review and prepare what I wanted to say, as well as double check to make sure I was still correct, so I didn’t impart bad information to the YouTube world. I noticed that I say “Um” and “So” WAY too much, especially when I’m searching for words, or starting a new section or topic.  I also noticed I sometimes don’t completely say a word, or don’t put the right tense or suffix attached to it. I wonder if I do this when I’m having a conversation as well, and not just when I’m nervous. Being aware of how I sound when I’m explaining something is an eye opener to where I need to grow in my communication skills, not only for teaching clearly, but also for my credibility.

This exercise really enforced my knowledge of singing technique and while I don’t necessarily think my videos are top notch yet, I’m glad I took the first step and plan to use this YouTube channel to build my confidence in presenting, solidifying my knowledge of singing, and improving my communication skills. As I preach to my vocal students, practice makes improvement (because there is no such thing as perfect).  

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The Price is Right: Unit Rates

SALE! SALE! SALE!

Besides my curly hair and my singing, one thing I am infamous for (at least to my friends and family) is my frugality and ability to sniff out the best sale I can find. I rarely buy anything full price (including groceries) and whenever I come home after a shopping trip, my family has to play the Price is Right as I show off my deals. Comedian Steve Trevino highlighted this ordeal perfectly:

(Disclaimer: He uses the S Word a couple times, so NSFW)  

“Guess how much the regular price for this dress was? What do you think I paid for it? No, it was way cheaper! I saved [insert grand amount here]!”

Sure, they get tired of it, but I never do! Shopping and sales are the only maths that spoke to my heart. It's more exhilarating than most things I do. 

Shop Smart, Love

To my husband’s dismay, I am currently teaching him how to shop smart when we go grocery shopping. He will grab any bag of chips he wants, without looking at the best deal, and it ends up costing more for 1 bag than it might for 2 or even 3. This is also true when we go to Costco. Sometimes the deals are not as good as they seem because they are in bulk. That pack of 5 antiperspirant sticks for $12.99 might seem like a great deal and it’s easy to just throw it in the cart because it’s a good price and you will always need more antiperspirant. 

That's the Best You can Do?

But is it really the best deal you can get? What I am trying to teach my husband is to look at the price of one and compare that to another brand's price, or another store’s sale. Those antiperspirant sticks costs $2.60 per stick. That’s not a bad price, but I also know I can usually find a sale for $2.50/each or even $1.99/each. It’s better to stock up when I see those sales and get 5 sticks for $12.50 or better yet, $9.95.

There's Not Enough Chocolate

Another trick I am teaching my husband is to look at the amount in a product compared to the price. The other day while grocery shopping, we decided to get some chocolate. They had a sale for smaller bars, 2 for $3.99 and then they had a giant chocolate bar on sale for $4.99. My husband reached for the smaller bars first, seeing the smaller price so assuming that was the better deal. I stopped him and told him to look at the amount in grams first. So we looked at the smaller chocolate bars. They were 100 grams each. Then I looked at the giant bar, which was 300 grams.

So I did a little “mental” math.

Two chocolate bars are $3.99.

$3.99 / 2 = $1.99 per 1 chocolate bar.

1 big chocolate bar is $4.99.

$4.99 per chocolate bar.

Okay so at this rudimentary point, the $3.99 price looks cheaper.

How much per gram?

Each smaller chocolate bar is 100 grams.

The big chocolate bar is 300 grams.

 $1.99 / 100 grams = $0.0199 per 1 gram

$4.99 / 300 grams = $0.0167 per 1 gram

So by a less than cent, the larger chocolate bar is the better deal by amount of chocolate per gram.

This comparison down to the single gram unit is called finding the Unit Rate.    

Okay, to be honest, I didn’t actually mentally calculate down to the fraction of a cent. I used 100 grams as my unit rather than 1 gram, and I just used the smaller chocolate bar as my Unit Rate, and counted up from there.

100 grams (1 chocolate bar) is $1.99

200 grams (2 chocolate bars) is $3.99

300 grams (3 chocolate bars) is $5.97

300 grams (1 lg chocolate bar) is $4.99!

Well, now it looks like I’m saving a dollar!

The Price is Right: Home Edition

So remember my shopping Price is Right game with my family? So while I couldn’t break down the unit rate for my dress, I certainly could (and do) for my accessories or bundle prices. Recently I got a shirt and two pairs of leggings for $20. That would be 3 items for $20, or $6.67 per item. Considering each item was over $10 regular price, that’s a good deal.  

Price is Right: Classroom Edition

Why not bring the Price is Right to your classroom when teaching unit rates? This teacher does a wonderful job introducing the concept of unit rates to her classroom, using a modified version of Price is Right.

Ask students to find the better deal between a pack of 12 pens compared to a 48 box full of pens.

Have them figure out if 1 t-shirt costs $____ from this company, and 5 shirts cost $____ from that company, what’s the better choice.

You can add the complexity by adding in more choices to figure out, or adding an additional step beyond the unit rate. I modified a question from an activity in Chapter 14 of Small's Making Math Meaningful to Canadian Students, K-8:

For example:

Bookstore 1 has a sale: 3 books for $14.25

Bookstore 2 has a sale: 7 books for $37.98

Bookstore 3 has a sale: 9 for $42.73

What is the best price for 5 books?

Students need to find the lowest unit rate, and then find the price for 5 books at that cost.

A tool to help track the proportional relationship between the unit rate and the quantity amounts is an Equivalency Chart:

We can chart the unit rate, and what the corresponding rates might be.

Bookstore #1 = $4.75/book      
Bookstore #2 = $4.43   
Bookstore #3 = $4.75

$$$ Price	$4.43	$8.86	$13.29	$17.72	$21.15	$25.58
# of Books	1	2	3	4	5	6

As we can see on the chart, 5 books at Bookstore 2 would cost $21.15.

Having the concrete chart helps students see the relationships between the numbers and their values, and will better understand what their calculations are representing. 

Think Before You Buy

So remember when you go shopping for a jar of salsa and there are two different sizes, or looking at big “value” pack of gum at Costco, look at the unit rate and see if you are really getting the best bang for your buck! 

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Media Literacy: Movie Trailer Remix

My mother is finishing her GED, and only has her grade 12 English credit to finish before she is officially graduated from high school. Being close to fifty years old and been out of high school for more 30 years, I’m proud of her perseverance and desire to finally finish her education. One of her assignments this week was to watch the 1994 movie adaption of Frankenstein, and complete a series of tasks to accompany the film. They were not assessing her ability to read the book and compare it to the movie, but to take the movie as a piece of media in its own right, and to show her ability to comprehend the information the film gives her, just like a book might.

Key Concepts 

Media literacy encompasses just that. Students need to know how to critically interpret and comprehend information given to them through different media forms, and how to apply and create these medias. The media literacy website, MediaSmarts, recommends the following key concepts that should be the focus when teaching media literacy:

1. Media are constructions
2. Audiences negotiate meaning
3. Media have commercial implications
4. Media have social and political implications
5. Each medium has a unique aesthetic form

The site recommends always beginning and ending with a focus on one or more of the key concepts when teaching media literacy. So why not use Frankenstein to teach media literacy? The plot is saturated in deep themes, the characters are complex, the use of dramatic elements such as colours, lighting, sets and music to enhance the message and themes are strongly apparent. Parts of my mother’s assignment required her to observe horror character and setting tropes, to look at how the colour red was used to enhance her perception of the movie (aesthetic form), and to ask the ethical complications of cloning (social implications). The other key concepts could have easily been included to enhance her media literacy comprehension, such as discussing the purpose of the movie and the audience it was geared at.

Trailer Remix

I found a fun activity/assignment that can be used in the classroom that covers the above key concepts of media literacy and just fell in love with it. Students create a trailer for a movie, but alter the genre. For example, this pseudo-trailer changes Mary Poppins into a horror movie.

 

Media are Constructions

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Task: Students must choose which scenes best fit in their new purpose for their trailer and the message they want to portray. For example, the Mary Poppins trailer selects the more supernatural clips from the movie and skews the plot line from the original movie in order for the viewer to assume it is a tale of a more sinister nature.

Teaches: Media is created by individuals that choose how they construct their media influenced by their own knowledge, opinions and bias and can be skewed to reflect as such.

Audiences Negotiate Meaning

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Task: Students must consider their audience and what they want that audience to take away from their video. They might also have to consider what different interpretations their audience might develop based on their own experiences. The Mary Poppins trailer is geared towards a western audience, and thus uses western horror film tropes to convey the genre. It might be a very different trailer if they used Asian or Middle Eastern horror tropes.

Teaches: Their intended audience influences the production and that certain groups may interpret the video differently.  

Media have Commercial Implications

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Task: Students must understand copyright for all their video and musical clips, and contemplate how and why the media will be distributed.

Teaches: How media is shared and protected, what the goal of the production is, how that affects the content and the purposes of distribution.

Media have Social and Political Implications

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Task: As with the first concept, students have an ideological message they want to portray to their audience. They must construct the trailer to reflect and influence this message. The Mary Poppins trailer changes to perception of a kind nanny figure into a sinister one. The audience is left with the message that she is sinister, not kind like we grew up believing.  

Teaches: How media can be manipulated to influence how a social or political topic is portrayed or represented in the world, and how that might not parallel reality correctly.

Each Medium has a Unique Aesthetic Form

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Task: Trailers have their own elements to create an effective video, but they also have specific genre related elements that are expected to create a specific tone. The Mary Poppins trailer has supernatural and dark clips are selected, fading in and out from a black, snippets of ominous and vague text fade in and out, all set to sombre, creepy, suspenseful music. These typical horror elements create a tone of suspense and questions.

Teaches: To research the elements of each media form, how it can be applied to portray a message, and how elements can influence the perception of the message.

Media Literacy is Literacy

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Students are exposed to so much video media in their daily lives, it is important to teach them to critically interpret what they are watching, understand how and why it was made, and how to use that media’s tools and elements express their own opinions and ideas.

"If people aren't taught the language of sound and images, shouldn't they be considered as illiterate as if they left college without being able to read or write?" George Lucas, interview for GLEF.org

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Genius Hour Project: Prep and Plan

Prep and Plan

Using the list of vocal lesson elements from my previous post, I organized each element as best I could into different categories or closely related topics. From there, I narrowed it down to three components of a lesson:

1. Technique
2. Repertoire
3. Theory

Eventually I will venture into making videos exploring musical theory, but I wanted to focus this project on the other two components. However, both encompass a lot of subcategories and topics, so where to narrow the focus even more? I decided to focus on the main elements I would zone into during the first few lessons with a beginning student.

                  Technique:

• Correct Breathing
• crucial as it is the foundation of singing
• Posture
• goes with breathing, and how to properly “hold” your instrument
• Warming Up
• the vocal chords, diaphragm, and the rest of your body
• Technique
• because this is a huge topic, I decided to focus on pure Vowel Production for my first exercise

How to Learn a Song:

1. Listen to the song
2. Make a song map
3. Clap the rhythm
4. Speak lyrics as a monolog
5. Research poem, words, phrases. Create a backstory, purpose, goal or message to portray. Develop a reason why the song is important and what the outcome is after singing
6. Speak the words in rhythm
7. Learn the melody on a vowel
8. Add words to melody
9. Add in technique
10. Add in dynamics and expression

And voila, I have the two lesson plan outlines for my first two video lessons.

Recording

Before I could record I needed a clean studio space, so I spent an entire evening ripping apart my music “office” (aka, the corner of my living room) and went through all my music that I’ve collected over the year. I recycled A LOT of duplicate (some triplicate) copies of sheet music, and found stuff over 15 years old (like my first competition feedback notes from the adjudicator!). Once that was all organized and clean, I felt like I had a nice space I could proudly record my lessons in.

I moved my piano and light into a better position so I could record facing the camera, but still able to play the piano, and would be facing my students (when I finally get some), giving them room to move around the room as needed.  

I decided to record using my tablet since I discovered it recorded well, was easy to stop and start, and I would be able to monitor the picture so I could make sure what I was trying to demonstrate was fitting into the screen. It was also relatively easy to move around the room, even if I didn’t have a tripod. I did create a pretty interesting platform for recording at the correct angle by putting a kitchen chair on top of my coffee table. It was at perfect eye level when I was seated at the piano.

And now I’m ready to record!

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Tarsia Puzzles: Unlimited Possibilities

I Love Puzzles 

I’m that weird person who has barely any games on her phone and tablet. I would rather spend my time reading up on some topic I currently am curious about, or browsing pinterest. But when I do decide that I want to download a game, I ignore all the other categories and go right to the puzzles section of the app store. There is something peacefully competitive about completing a puzzle, and then trying to beat my previous score. It is fun, stimulates my mind, and is relaxing to focus on simply solving one part of a problem at time. I find it odd that I love puzzles so much, considering how much I usually struggle with math concepts. But now I can put math into a really awesome puzzle game, and might actually, *gasp*, go out of my way to do math.

What's the Puzzle?

Last Friday, my class was introduced to Tarsia puzzles. Tarsia puzzles are similar in concept to dominoes, but a bit more complex. Like dominoes, each tile has a number and you must match it with its corresponding number. In class, our Tarsia puzzle was made with equivalent fractions. We had to find the equivalent of each number on the tile, to complete the puzzles shape. Each tile was three sided, and some sides were an edge, so it was missing a number. There was only one way to answer each “match” to create the proper shape, so it was good way to check, and recheck our answers. We sometimes found a number that matched two tiles, and then had to decide which one was the correct match to fit in the puzzle correctly. There was about 20 questions we had to figure out to complete the puzzle.

How Can I Use it in Class?

We worked together as a small group, but this activity could be used as an individual assignment, depending on your class and how much time you have. In my group, it was great to collaborate with each other, finding different matches at the same time, but it also brought up some tension. When we had to decide on how the puzzle looked, or what tile went where, the more competitive group members began to snap at each other. This would be a good team building exercise to explore group dynamics and teach how to collaboratively problem solve. There is lots of room to move on from one question to the next to defuse tension, as well as many different solutions to encourage discussion and collaboration.

In terms of math, after playing with the puzzle for 15 minutes with my group, I was definitely more confident about my equivalent fraction knowledge, as well as refreshing my multiplication skills. I can easily expand and reduce fractions faster, especially after finding about 10 different equivalent fractions in less than 15 minutes. What a fun alternative to text book questions! You can find premade puzzles here and here. If you want to make your own puzzles, try this or this.

What Else Can It Do?

Tarsia puzzles are obviously a fantastic tool for teaching math and breaking out from the textbook. Our puzzle was on equivalent fractions, but you can adapt any math concept into a puzzle. Some ideas I came across were number words, multiplication, and ratios. Considering how flexible the puzzles are to adapt to the math curriculum, I was inspired to think of the other subjects this puzzle can be used to solidify a concept. What if this was used for music theory class? I can see myself using this to teach key words and symbols, enharmonic equivalent notes, or rhythmic values, time signatures, and key signatures. I could have easily learned those concepts much more quickly rather than doing pages and pages of boring questions. Once I started thinking about the possibilities for translating this idea to musical concepts, I thought about other subjects. I found some for English and Science lessons as well. When they are done, students could colour it based on a certain art technique being studied in class. Endless possibilities for the Tarsia puzzle!

Benefits of the Tarsia Puzzle

• Fun alternative to textbook questions
• Ability to fit in 20+ practice questions in one activity
• Give students a goal to answer questions to complete puzzle
• Competitive motivator  
• Collaborative or independent assignment flexibility
• Team building activity for group problem solving skills
• Give students something to show off to the class

Tarsia puzzles are a brilliant way to bring some fun into what could be drudging practice, while giving your students a goal to look forward to mastering the puzzle. When they answer all the questions, they have the satisfaction of a complete puzzle finished, verses a few pages of math question after question. The next step I want to look into is how to adapt the Tarsia puzzle to more complicated math concepts or even word problems.

How would you use Tarsia puzzles in your classroom?

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