Author: katelisk (page 2 of 2)

February 11, 2024 / 0 Comments

LearniNG kEYBOARD wEEK #5!

Welcome back!

As I said last week, my focus for this week was just working on Mia and Sebastian’s Theme from La La Land. By practicing it a few times this week, I was able to speed up the playback speed and was quicker with my transitions between notes and chords overall. I am having a lot of fun with this song!

Changing the playback speed on YouTube has been a lifesaver throughout my journey. In case you are unfamiliar with how to change it, I created a tutorial through a series of images:

First, you pause the video and click the settings icon in the top right corner of the screen.

Next, you click the section labelled “Playback Speed”.

Now, you can choose your playback speed! Everything above the “Normal” button/everything with a “0.” will slow your video down. Everything below the “Normal” button/everything with a “1.” will speed the video up. For practicing piano, I recommend slowing the song down.

For this practice session, I chose 0.75x!

In case anyone missed it last week, here’s the song I have been working on:

All credit to Jacob’s Piano

This upcoming week, I plan to start by working on this song, as well as, a new song!

Have a great week everybody!

February 6, 2024 / 0 Comments

Week #5 Reflection!

This week, we spent time on using graphics in the classroom. We discussed different ways to photoshop images and add text, specifically using PowerPoint. I am no stranger to photoshopping images, it was one of my many pandemic hobbies when lockdowns were still in place. However, I do not usually use the “classic” platforms, my app of choice has always been Picsart on my iPhone. As someone who is not very comfortable on a laptop, I like to do all my photo editing on my iPhone. Thus, I found an app that allows me to do so for free.

In the future, I would like to get more comfortable with using Canva and PowerPoint due to their convenience and the features they have. I think that making a worksheet on the app I use now would be difficult. However, this week I just wanted to mess around and work on blending things in by increasing shadows and messing with contrast. This is what I made:

One issue I did run into while using free images from Unsplash, I could not remove the watermark, nor was I sure if that would be legal. Either way, I am still pretty proud of this image and I will definitely use photo editing to brighten my student’s days and for worksheets.

See you next week!

February 4, 2024 / 0 Comments

Keyboard Week #4

Welcome back!

This week, I was a lot better at practicing the keyboard consistently. It definitely helped that I had less homework in my other courses this week.

For the song I looked at this week, I chose “Mia and Sebastian’s Theme” from one of my favourite movies, La La Land. I wanted to learn a song that had no lyrics and was only piano, so I chose this one!

I had to use the playback speed feature on YouTube to slow it down to 0.5 and then after some practice, I was able to move up to 0.75. The playback speed feature has been really helpful in my journey of speeding up my ability to identify keys. It is just really nice to be able to slow the song down and make my own pace.

Here is the link to the song:

All credit to Jacob’s Piano

Unlike previous weeks, this upcoming week, I want to keep practicing this song until I can play it at its normal speed. I often get bored of songs quickly, but I want to stick this one out to better my learning.

Thanks for stopping by and see you next week!

January 31, 2024 / 0 Comments

Using Video to Support Learning- Week #4 Reflection

Videos can be a tool used in the classroom to help students further engage in their learning in a variety of ways. One way that teachers currently use them is for brain-breaks. There is a large selection of brain-break videos available on YouTube for teachers to use. This is a quick way to get students moving in the classroom with little to no equipment. Another way they can be used is for more inclusive learning. Students learn in a variety of ways and at a variety of paces. Videos allow students to experience a different form of instruction and they have the opportunity to pause, slow down, or rewind the video. Here are a few examples of videos that can be used in the classroom and how:

As a brain-break to get students moving and a cross-curricular connection to music and beat counting:

All credit to Kent Hamilton

As a resource to review or introduce material to students:

All credit to NUMBEROCK

As a study tool for students at home:

All credit to Brian McLogan

And there is so much more available out there! Just ensure to watch all the videos the entire way through to make sure they are completely safe for students.

If you do not like what is already out there, you can make videos for your own students and reuse them for years to come. You do not need any special equipment, just something to film with and a lesson in mind. This gives students more flexibility and the option to review concepts for further understanding. In high school, I had several Math teachers upload videos of themselves teaching certain concepts onto YouTube and Microsoft Teams so that students could review content at their own pace. These videos were particularly helpful when I needed to study for the final and could not remember what we did early on in the semester.

Videos can really help teachers and students in the day-to-day classroom life.

January 28, 2024 / 0 Comments

Learning Keyboard Week #3!

This week, I fell back into my habits of procrastination. Luckily for me, a large portion of this inquiry project is recognizing my musical instrument procrastinating ways and trying to overcome them. I spent the majority of the week playing my other instruments rather than learning the keyboard. I gravitate towards my other instruments because I am much more familiar and comfortable with them, so I had to remind myself that since I am just beginning keyboard, I need to give myself grace for feeling unfamiliar.

When I eventually did turn on and practice my keyboard, I continued to work on playing with both my left and right hand at the same time. I still have yet to master this, but practice makes perfect (so I should stop procrastinating practicing). One other issue I ran into this week was recognizing keys. Last week, I labelled seven keys on the keyboard to help me learn to recognize their placement. However, this week I had to play the same notes but higher up the keyboard, where they were unlabelled. It consistently took me too long to find where the key was, leading me to miss that part of the song completely. For reference, this week I learnt the song “Married Life” from Disney’s “Up”.

All credit to PHianonize.

To help combat my slow process of identifying keys, I switched the video’s playback speed to 0.25 and then increasing it to 0.5. The big goal is to eventually play it at the normal speed, but that was not something I could do this week.

Furthermore, I found an article by Euro Pianos Naples that breaks down piano keys and how to identify them. It has assisted me in understanding the relationships among keys, which helps me identify them quickly.

Piano Keys 101 – All You Need to Know

All credit to Euro Pianos

Overall, I would call it a fairly successful week! See you next week (where I will hopefully practice more)!

January 26, 2024 / 0 Comments

Digital Footprint Reflection

This week, we had the privilege of hearing from Jesse Miller about various topics concerning teachers. One that stuck out to me was the Digital Footprints of teachers. The concept of a Digital Footprint is not something that is new to me, it has been drilled into my head since middle school. I have always been a very cautious person when it comes to my online presence, especially since I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher. However, I have been very curious about if Digital Footprints truly are as important as people have stressed to me.

In high school, I had a substitute teacher who stressed the importance of Digital Footprints to my entire class by sharing her own story. She mentioned that she had a Facebook account in high school that she no longer has the password for. Unfortunately, she was not careful about what she posted and her digital footprint consists of photos of her partying. She warned our class that this Facebook account has raised questions during job interviews and potentially prevented her from getting jobs. She prompted us to be cautious about our own digital footprint as we enter job searches.

I am very curious to see how Digital Footprint continues to impact teacher candidates. Will many future teachers face backlash for their Digital Footprints or will the current teaching job shortage overshadow Digital Footprints?

January 20, 2024 / 0 Comments

Learning Keyboard Week #2!

Hello and welcome back!

This past week, I have been exploring learning the piano. I began by testing out what I could remember from the several times I have attempted to learn the keyboard. All I could remember was a C chord, which definitely humbled me, but I have since recovered. I was reminded of a time when I labelled the notes on a section of a piano when I was younger to help me remember where they were, thus I took green masking tape and a Sharpie to label my keyboard as such:

I found this to be very useful and would recommend it to other beginners.

To warm up, I simply messed around. I just wanted to have a little bit of fun.

I then decided I wanted to learn the song Exile by Taylor Swift and Bon Iver. This led me to search online for a tutorial and I landed on this one from Bitesize Piano:

All video credit goes to Bitesize Piano.

I spent about an hour learning and practicing the song and I was very proud of my abilities. I was able to pause and slow down the video where necessary and I found the instructions easy to follow. I would say the video was beginner-friendly and perfect for people who are familiar with the basics of piano. I could actually tell what song I was supposed to be playing which was a big moment for me. I even FaceTimed my brother to show him my newfound passion for the keyboard and he gave me a solid 8/10, which is a win in my books.

Something I have yet to master and will continue to work on this week is playing different chords with my left vs right hand at the same time. I was definitely stumbling over this concept, but I am a beginner! I knew I would not immediately be able to play the piano like Beethoven (though I held out a little hope).

Materials/Set-up

I use a Necktar Impact LX49+ USB MIDI Keyboard and I plug it into my Macbook to use GarageBand. I received the keyboard for free from my mom’s coworker, thus I did zero research and am learning all the features as I go!

Here is a link to the keyboard for all those interested:

https://www.long-mcquade.com/74672/Keyboards/MIDI-Controllers-Interfaces/Nektar/Impact-LX49-USB-MIDI-Controller.htm

Thanks for tuning in this week and see you next week!

January 17, 2024 / 0 Comments

HIgh tech high reflection

While watching the film, “Most Likely to Succeed,” I was very intrigued by how the students at High Tech High scored so well on their SAT exams. From what I witnessed during the film, High Tech High seemed to be a very interesting inquiry-based school. I wondered if some student inquiries would benefit their ability to do well on the SATs, while others would not cover the necessary information. It is important to note that I have never taken the SAT exam, thus I do not know what the questions are truly asking or how to prepare for the exam. However, from exploring the High Tech High website, I have begun to understand how the students perform well on the SATs. There are three possible factors I have come up with; student motivation, parental involvement, and private tutoring. The students who attend High Tech High are encouraged to explore inquiry topics that mean something to them, likely preventing burnout as they are participating in activities they genuinely enjoy. The lack of burnout among students can assist them in their SAT prep and studying, as they will feel more motivated. Secondly, parents seem to be more involved in their student’s lives and can be of assistance when preparing for the SATs. This ties into my third point about private tutoring for the SATs. Parents may be more inclined to fund private tutoring for their children. However, High Tech High has a wide range of students from different financial backgrounds, so not every family may be able to afford something like that. Overall, the film did not discuss in detail how their students performed so well on their exams. Their website does not explicitly state how they achieve this, leading me to draw my conclusions.

Perishable. (n.d.). Publications. High Tech High. v https://www.hightechhigh.org/student-work/publications/

January 11, 2024 / 0 Comments

Week #1 Reflection!

Hello! Welcome to my Blog!

I have spent a few days reflecting on our last class, and I have gathered a few thoughts about this whole blog thing and the course in general. First off, I am very excited to get creative on this platform. I grew up as a kid who experimented with making movies on YouTube with my friends (this is hopefully buried deep in my digital footprint) and I have loved exploring the tech world. I hope this blog will bring back the creativity that used to ooze out of me as a kid. Secondly, it is very important to me that we discuss digital footprints and the dangers of social media, as I believe it is an increasingly important topic. I want to gain a strong understanding of it so that I can educate my future students on being safe online. Overall, my hopes are very high for this class! See you all next week!

Attributions