What's a Wordle anyway? Through my exploration of provided resources and a bit of Internet hunting, I found out exactly what a Wordle does and how to make one. A Wordle is used to generate an array of ideas and thoughts throughout one's classroom. It can be very broad to very specific. The Wordle I chose to create is fairly broad, which was intentional. I want students in my music classroom to have a broad view of what music is and what music can do. To some students, music is an elective course with a bunch of confusing dots and squiggles on a sheet of paper where the teacher makes one sing songs that one does not want to sing. My Wordle is intended to let the students know music is much more than that. Music allows students to express themselves, to imagine, to tell a story, to create art, to play instruments, to sing about things that make one happy, sad, or angry, and to to captivate audiences. Also, I put the words "sound" and "silence" in my Wordle for a specific reason. Most students know that when making music they are creating sound; however, they do not know they are creating silences as well. The exact definition of music is the thoughtful organization of sounds and silences in time. This Wordle is great for the first days of music class for late elementary school students to middle school students as they explore the slightly more mature side of music.
Exploring Teaching Blogs
One of the music educator blogs that I ran across is quite interesting and refreshing. The author of the blog, MusicEdMagic, is Chad Criswell, who has taught music for thirteen years. His thirteen years of experience include high school band, as well a elementary school music. Not only is Criswell an educator, but he has published articles for reliable and professional publications, such as MENC's Teaching Music Magazine (I've been a dedicated subscriber since my freshmen year of college) and Technology and Learning Magazine. Criswell is also an expert in up-and-coming music technology; he was a 2009 presenter at The national MENC conference. (MENC stands for Music Educators National Conference).
Criswell's blog is very informative. It talks about an array of subjects, a main one being technology. As a music educator, especially if one has a piano lab, an orchestra class or a band class, metronomes are a big deal. However, they are also a big deal to the parents. How could something SO small, cost SO much? Simple. Metronomes provide the foundation of learning any music: keeping a steady beat. Most metronomes these days come with different timbres, tuning mechanisms, and subdividing techniques. They can range from a manual dial, to buttons, to a touch screen. Therefore, one of the key tools that a music educator would want for their middle to high school students is to have a metronome at home. Criswell has the answer. On his blog, he has listed some of the best FREE metronomes available online. There are TONS of free metronomes out there, but Criswell listed the best ones on his blog. Some of the metronomes include BestMetronome and Gieson Online Metronome. These listings are great resources for all music educators and their students. Check out Chris' entry for yourself!
Criswell also brought up new research completed by Kenneth Alpus and Carlos Abril. After studying the demographics of instrumental music in high school, they discovered males, non English speakers, Hispanics, and low-income students were less likely to stay in instrumental music in high school. It's our job as music educators to change this!
Check out Chris' entry for yourself!
One aspect that I found unique about this blog, is Criswell's ability to not only discuss music in the schools and new music technology, but also new discoveries in music history. Chris linked an article of National Geographic pertaining to the idea that Stereo Sound developed in Venice 400 years ago. Researchers believe that the Venice churches, as well the Basilica of San Marco, have structures that were created solely for the "wealthy dignitaries" to hear the choir in stereo . Pretty interesting, right? I think so. Once I have my students, I cannot wait to share this with them as we study music history and music through the ages. Check out Chris' entry for yourself! and also go National Geographic to get the full story.
This first blog post was not only informative for me, but fun! Yes, fun. Discovering the Wordle gave me new ideas to use in my classroom. If I am lucky enough to have a Smart Board in my classroom, I can have students create Wordles in class. For instance, we are learning a new choral piece that paints a variety of moods. I can have the students use words that they think describe this particular piece, create a Wordle (with their help, of course), and leave it up on the board for the next few classes as a reminder of what moods to focus on while singing. I found all of the technology information enlightening and new, both in the assignment and on Chris Criswell's blog. Not once in this assignment did I have a moment of, "Oh, I already knew that." It was all quite refreshing.
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