How Stuff Works

Well, I have taken about a two month hiatus, but I'm back and hoping to be a little more diligent on the posts. I will try to post a website, tool or tip each day. The first is one of my favorite sites: How Stuff Works.
I'm sure many of you are already aware of this site, but it has great resources for teachers. There are articles that may used in classrooms from how a acoustical guitar works, to banking, or how to make a pinata (one of my faves). Think outside the box when thinking about how stuff works. There is a great article on the fast food industry that would be super for wellness classes. A lot of the pages feature videos. There are many ads on these pages, which is unfortunate, but great content does not come free.

Carlos Vamos

Wow! Can't believe it has been this long since my last post. Things are crazy. But nothing calms you down quite like this Carlos Vamos clip.

Readymech

I haven't printed these free flatpack toys that students can print and build. It seems like it could be a fun 3D art project.

ToonDoo

I like the idea of this website. You can create comics to express whatever you like. Seems like a neat tool to get kids to express themselves. So often we don't use cartoons because we don't think we can draw. This site kinda' tells kids that's okay, you can create comics anyway.

Disposable Income Calculator

Seems like this disposable income calculator could be used in personal finance or home economics classes. Students would need some help filling in their costs (rent, groceries, etc), but it might give them a picture of how much that latte at Starbucks costs.

An Oldie But Goodie

Ricci Adams' musictheory.net is an amazing site. I have been using it with music students for many year. Think of this as a bit of nostalgia.

Persistence and Video Games

An interesting piece on The Genius in All of Us about persistence. It conjured up memories of the book by Steven Johnson, Everything Bad is Good For You. From TGIAOU:

Robert Cloninger, at Washington University in St. Louis, who not only zeroed in on the persistence circuitry in the brain (Gusnard, Cloninger et al, 1993), but also trained mice and rats to develop persistence. “The key is intermittent reinforcement,” explains Cloninger. “A person who grows up getting too frequent rewards will not have persistence, because they’ll quit when the rewards disappear.” In other words, yes, according to Cloninger, the animal mind can actually be trained to reward itself for slow and steady progress rather than the more thrilling instant gratification.

Boy, that sounds a lot like Steven Johnson's findings in Everything. In the book Johnson says video games, if designed well, teach us persistence by giving us well timed rewards. We have got to find a way to bring this kind of reward system to students.

Ear Training

I am not a big fan of freeware, much more of a 2.0 guy, but this is a great tool for music educators. The basic version is a note recognition program. The advanced includes intervals. Amazing stuff.

Tetoria

A nice music theory website that includes exercises and tutorials.

Drum Head Tuning

The accent makes this a little tough, but this video on tuning drum heads is nice. 5min.com is a pretty neat site.

Free Marketing Tutorials

Check it out.

Video 101

A nicely done site featuring tutorials with pictures for creating video. Includes editing, recording, lighting, lens, etc.

Where is the Creativity in Music Education?

In working with teachers on curriculum and assessment there are two areas that we struggle with the most. I also stuggled to incorporate these skills when I was a band director. Why is it that teaching composition and improvistation is so difficult? I think it is because we have become a yes and no culture. When student compose or improvise, they want to know if it was correct. Teachers want to know the right way to assess and teach these creative skills. But honestly, when we create or think creatively a quick assessment can stifle that process. If I am facilitating a group in brainstorming one of the ground rules is no evaluation. We want ideas to flow. We want everyone to feel comfortable to throw out a few stinkers, because without them we will never find the "outside the box" idea. The same is true of compostion and improvisation. Let them try and get saturated in the experimentation arena. I believe we are moving to quickly to assess. Our fast-food culture wants everything right away. We type a term into wikipedia and get the answer right away. We want the same in the classroom. However, that culture is stifiling our creativity, especially the older we get.
I think art, of all the fine arts, is the highest on the creativity ladder. Music, and especially band, has become so entrenched in scores and festivals that we have forgotten that it was the creatity that we enjoyed in music to begin with. Art gives you the tools and the medium and where you go from their is up to you. In drama we want to make sure they read the lines correctly, excute the blocking and pickup cues. I think drama is in the middle of the pack. At least students are asked to creatively create a character. But how many of them do? How much drama education is merely parading on stage with no particular creativity.
In music it has become about right notes and did you play that dynamic. It is a game of gotcha at contest. What happened to the creativity?

Video Photoshop Tutorials

Luv2help.com features free video tutorials for a number of basic and more advanced features in Photoshop. Could be some nice lessons for digital imaging and graphic design classes.

Tutorial for Finale Notepad

A nice tutorial for using Finale Notepad. Finale Notepad is a basic music notation program and a free download and we make it available to all the teachers in our district.

Top Speed: 253 mph

The auto guys in my district would love this video of the Bugatti Veyron whose top speed is 253 mph. Cool.

Required Reading

Sir Ken Robinson believes creativity is being systematically eliminated by our education system. Further, he believes that this very creativity is what will make economies successful in the future. Here is a transcript from his speech to the National Forum on Educational Policy and a very similar speech at TED.

NPPA: Best of Photojournalism 2006

Beautiful photography. This site includes winners selected by photojournalists in many categories, including websites and photo illustration. Some great examples for teachers to use and some beautiful photographs for us all to enjoy. I especially like the amateur photo blogs.

Van Go Gallery

The Vincent van Gogh Gallery brags to have 100% of van Gogh's works. Great for teacher examples.

Old Time Jazz Recordings

Lots of historic jazz recordings in Real Audio format. Nice when kids want to know what Bix Beiderbechke sounded like.

This American Life on Showtime

I don't have Showtime so I was thrilled to find the first episode of This American Life posted on the Showtime site. Great stuff and it features one of my favorite sites, Improv Everywhere.

Photographs from Life Magazine

A nice collection of photos from Life Magazine. Part of the 100 photos that changed the world. Nice for photography classes.

Freeware for Windows

Haven't checked all these out, so I can't endorse them. But worth investigating.

Interactive Videos on Game Design

I am dying to start a video game design program in our schools. Maybe our classes can use these interactive videos that were posted on Boing Boing from Raph.

Super Mario on Trombone

The performance isn't great (maybe they were sight reading), but this movie of three trombones playing the the Super Mario theme is fun. (thanks, Flamin libs)

Secretary of Education on the Arts

From Bob Morrison at Music For All

On the eve of Arts Advocacy Day Secertary of Education Margaret Spellings released the following statement:

STATEMENT BY EDUCATION SECRETARY MARGARET SPELLINGS ON 2007 ARTS ADVOCACY DAY

U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings today made the following statement on the celebration of 2007 Arts Advocacy Day:

I am pleased to join the many artists, administrators, arts educators, parents, and others in celebrating 2007 Arts Advocacy Day.

The No Child Left Behind Act recognizes the important role that arts have in our schools for a well-rounded education.

The arts are a unique tool to stimulate and enrich learning. Not only do the arts encourage our children’s imagination and creativity, but they can also teach lessons of history, math, and other subjects in a more memorable and profound way. The arts also, as President George W. Bush has said, “…allow us to explore new worlds and to view life from another perspective,” a critically important skill for today’s global economy.

Our education system is improving because of the concerns and involvement of so many who advocate for the arts. Leaders in states and local communities can and should ensure that the arts remain part of every student’s education.

Free Online Training for Teachers

The National Teacher Training Institute provides free online workshops to help teachers who are using technology in the classroom. Subjects include digital file management, managing students on computers and new ideas for using technology with students. Great information for teachers who work with students in computer labs.

Best of Web 2.0 for 2006

Sorry for the lack of posts. Been traveling. I am really getting addicted to all these Web 2.0 applications. I see a great financial and safety benefit for schools and districts. Teachers and students would have access to so many applications that are currently so costly for districts.

Drum Lessons

Pretty cool site of drum lessons. Now if we can only get them to hold still long enough and quit drooling on the keyboard.

Neighboroo

Not quite sure how to use this yet, but I will come up with something. Would like to know where the statistics are from. Neat to look at job growth and schools zip code by zip code.

Drama Blog

I don't post many drama resources (though I should), but I found The Alchemist pretty nice. I especially enjoyed the 10 Tips Every Actor Should Know.

Musicians Tutorial

Musicians Tutorial has tons of links on the music business, careers in music and software.

Jazz Resource Library

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Here is another great resource for jazz educators. The Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz has a Jazz Resource Library, including style sheets by David Baker, listening examples and photos. The links page includes many more resources for jazz educators. Jazz in America offers a curriculum, including lesson plans, worksheets and test banks for grade 5, 8 and 11.

JazzTube

There is just so much great stuff on YouTube for teachers and students. At JazzTube there is an amazing collection of jazz clips. A great opportunity (if YouTube is not blocked at your school) to expose students to these musicians and their style of music.

CalorieConnect

Good for use in Family and Consumer Science classes. I can see students being asked to calculate the calories of their daily meals.

Entrepreneur Web 2.0 apps

A real nice collection of Web 2.0 apps from Aviva. I haven't worked through all of them, but it looks promising.

Highest Paying Jobs without a College Degree

Something for students to review when thinking about careers. In our neck of the woods everyone thinks that college is the only option after high school.

Are students the new Shadow IT?

Just finished an article from CIO that was shared with me by our IT Director. (Users Who Know Too Much and the CIOs Who Fear Them) The article discusses shadow IT, or groups providing technology solutions outside the formal IT organization, can pose challenges for CIOs. In schools, students must be seen as a challenging shadow IT organization. Flash drives are cheaper and cheaper, web based tools are multiplying like rabbits and the latest cell phone has more apps than computers 10 years ago. Whether school district administration likes it or not these tools are being brought into the classroom. Students and teachers will not wait for IT to dole out the technology. They will work around it and use tools from home. Yet students choices are not always appropriate and the school system has a responsibility to provide a safe environment for students. Internet use policies do not cover this type of behavior by students. Is it time to include curriculum on the ethical and appropriate use of technology? I think so. As students enter the workforce the temptation to use the Internet and other technologies inappropriately will not dissolve. Technology citizenship is a crucial skills for students as they prepare for their future.

Picnik

Spent some time this evening playing with Picknik What a great tool. I can finally stop begging my school district to put a simple photo editor on my computer. It is really slick. It can crop, resize, you name it. Some creative tools as well. Great for teachers who feel limited by the Microsoft PhotoEditor.

Ira Glass on Storytelling

I am a huge This American Life fan. Here is the head honcho of TAL with four clips where he discusses the art of storytelling.

Plotbot

Plotbot uses wiki technology to allow people (students) to collaboratively write screenplays. It is free and is another great Web 2.0 tool for the classroom. I think students would have a lot of fun creating screenplays together. The tool also takes care of some of the most difficult aspects of writing and assessing screenplays as a group (who contributed, a final document, etc).

Old Time Radio Broadcasts

OTR.Network provides thousands of Old Time Radio Broadcasts in Real Audio format. May be nice for radio history lessons in Broadcasting classes.

Room Planner v2.0

A free online tool for interior decoration. Possible use for interior design classes and drafting classes.

Nick Brandt

Beautiful black and white animal photography by Nick Brandt

Web 2.0 for the Classroom

A great piece from Assortedstuff on using Web 2.0 in the classroom. I can think of hundereds of uses for blogs, wikis, pod/videocasting, etc in the classroom. This article gives the basics of each, resources and ways we can use this stuff classrooms.

Advocacy for Music Ed on MENC

MENC has done so much to promote music education. This page includes research for a stronger case then just test scores.

Taylor Mali

My wife has turned me on to the poetry of Taylor Mali. I especially enjoyed What Teachers Make.

Shift Happens

An interesting video/powerpoint, titled Shift Happens, by Scott McLeod, on how the global economy and advances in technology will provide challenges for the United States in the future.

More from Marc

• Digital Immigrants teach by Delivering content, presenting and telling, linera stories, one thing at a time, one size fits all, face-to face
• yahoo to google, email to im, ipod to vpod, mp3 to wma,
• Change is threating. Digital immigrants are threatened by digital natives needs. (youtube, facebook, etc)
• We must involve our students in everything we do.
• Don't try to keep up with the technology, you will only look stupid. Understand the technology so you can help students evaluate the technology
• Without motivation their is no learning. If a learner is motivated there's no stopping him.
• The world is changing, students are changing and engagement is changing
• Learning feels like play when you are engaged (video games, film making and using other tools)
• Evaluate with their tools (calculators used to be cheating)

Marc Prensky

I am listening to Marc Prensky at the Kansas Career and Technical Education Conference, Feb 20, 2007. Some interesting points to consider:

• Listen to your students (or teachers). They know what they want. Really? I think students don't know what they want, they need exploration opportunities.
• Without support from the base (students/teachers/community) you cannot make higher level decisions (bottom up vs. top down)
• Today's learners are no longer limited by their teachers' ability and knowledge - Mark Anderson
• We shutoff students connection to the world (put them in the dark) instead of showing them the light
• School is about standards/credentials. After school is about learning (itunes, lego clubs, etc)
• The bureacracy of schools is limiting the programs and learning we can provide for students. Other organizations (Van Go, LAC, etc) will provide these opprtunities and reap the success of them.*
• If your kids don't learn, will you be fired? If you don't supervise your students, will you be fired? Security and safety more important than learning. I have to disagree here. Without safety students could not learn.