Skills with Sketchy
I so hated missing class last week; even more so, because of attending the funeral of a good friend I had known since high school. I was glad that you didn't get to HanDBase. I'm excited to learn more about it and happy I didn't miss that class!
I've been spending lots of time with Sketchy, finding ways to incorporate it into music class. One of the things we spend lots of time with is rhythm patterns, time signatures, writing rhythms, clapping them correctly and so on. Kids easily get confused with quarter vs. half notes and so on - and it gets even more confusing once the corresponding rests are added to the equation. With Sketchy, I can give each note and/or rest its own color, and then I can manipulate the animation so that just the eighth note moves, or quarter note, and so on. Patterns can be beamed to students; they can identify the jumping note, or the yellow note, and so on. It creates a sort of working flash card program. The kids can create their own patterns in various time signatures and beam them to classmates and to me. I'm REALLY liking Sketchy!!!
I took my 5th graders to the computer lab this week so they could begin to design their own garage band project. They were SO quiet and attentive! I told Tony I want his job - the kids seem to be really in to anything connected with computers! They had a great time. Tony explained a few things about saving their compositions; I showed them a few different kinds of samples, and then we let them experiment with sounds, instruments, melodies, and patterns as they created their own compositions. We gave very few guidelines - I know that, for myself, I learn the most when I just go in and play around with an application. Their compositions, after only about 20 minutes, are amazing! Tony mentioned that we might come up with a CD of scary pieces, dramatic pieces, comedic pieces, and so on, that could be used to accompany WillowCam and our WebRadio program. The plus of that, aside from learning more about both technology and music, is that music becomes more important as it becomes more closely connected and integrated into other subjects and projects.
I become more amazed with each new application and am in awe of the technology that my students have absorbed. They truly are like sponges; I think, in part, because they don't question why - they just do it!
I've been spending lots of time with Sketchy, finding ways to incorporate it into music class. One of the things we spend lots of time with is rhythm patterns, time signatures, writing rhythms, clapping them correctly and so on. Kids easily get confused with quarter vs. half notes and so on - and it gets even more confusing once the corresponding rests are added to the equation. With Sketchy, I can give each note and/or rest its own color, and then I can manipulate the animation so that just the eighth note moves, or quarter note, and so on. Patterns can be beamed to students; they can identify the jumping note, or the yellow note, and so on. It creates a sort of working flash card program. The kids can create their own patterns in various time signatures and beam them to classmates and to me. I'm REALLY liking Sketchy!!!
I took my 5th graders to the computer lab this week so they could begin to design their own garage band project. They were SO quiet and attentive! I told Tony I want his job - the kids seem to be really in to anything connected with computers! They had a great time. Tony explained a few things about saving their compositions; I showed them a few different kinds of samples, and then we let them experiment with sounds, instruments, melodies, and patterns as they created their own compositions. We gave very few guidelines - I know that, for myself, I learn the most when I just go in and play around with an application. Their compositions, after only about 20 minutes, are amazing! Tony mentioned that we might come up with a CD of scary pieces, dramatic pieces, comedic pieces, and so on, that could be used to accompany WillowCam and our WebRadio program. The plus of that, aside from learning more about both technology and music, is that music becomes more important as it becomes more closely connected and integrated into other subjects and projects.
I become more amazed with each new application and am in awe of the technology that my students have absorbed. They truly are like sponges; I think, in part, because they don't question why - they just do it!
posted by Becky @ 11:19 AM
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