Keys to Smarter Kids

Jim De Boer
jdeboer@remc7.k12.mi.us
Longfellow and Maplewood Elementary Schools, Holland School District, Holland, MI

TI:ME Technology Areas Addressed:

Electronic Musical Instruments
Sequencing
Internet

Level:

Elementary

Class:

General Music

Equipment:

Tools: Yamaha MIE (Music in Education) keyboard Lab, Macintosh computer with modem and internet access, soft-ware usic Timeä or Finaleâs ãAllegroä.

Duration:

Minutes

Prior Knowledge and Skills:

MENC Standards Addressed:

MENC 2: Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
MENC 3: Improvising melodies, harmonies, and accompaniments.
MENC 4: Composing and Arranging Music within specified guidelines.
MENC 9: Understanding Music in Relation to History and Culture

Materials:

Objectives:

Snapshot: Elementary music classrooms will use a MIDI Yamaha MIE lab to learn musical concepts, play and com-pose songs, and become ãSong Palsä with other students from classrooms across America and around the world.

Outcomes:
1. Musical Outcome: Students will perform on key-board instruments, alone and with others.
2. Musical Outcome: Students will show their knowledge of basic musical concepts through their use of the keyboards and answers to quizzes
3. Musical Outcome: Students will play original songs and share the song(s) through the internet to other classrooms from outside our school dis-trict.

Invitation: How can we use technology to teach students music? A MIDI Yamaha MIE keyboard lab is a natural hook to interest the student in music. Through the key-board lab students learn to play along with songs, record songs, enter answers on quizzes, and share songs with other classrooms on the internet.

Interactions: Students will work as a group and inde-pendently as they learn to play the keyboards. Advanced students (who have taken lessons for 2 years or more) will use their own keyboards and work on their own projects overseen by the teacher.

Situations: Students will work on their keyboards as the teacher instructs them verbally and from the computer. Students will respond to questions and play along with songs with teacher monitoring via the computer and by walking around the room. Quizzes will be taken at the end of each lesson to record the students ability at mastering the musical concepts for that module. Students receive, and teacher records the record of their progress immediately after answering each question.

Students will, with teacher assistance, record songs on their own and send it to other ãSong Palsä via the internet.

Performance Tasks: (See Assessment Rubric)
1. Students will know how to read a basic musical score
2. Students will know the notes on the keyboard
3. Students will be able to play in rhythm with other students and the accompaniment track
4. Students will be able to play the notated rhythms on the music
5. Students will be able to change instrumental sounds on the keyboard
6. Students will be able to enter their answers to ques-tions by correctly pushing the correct sequence of key(s) and ãenteringä their answers
7. Students will score 80% or higher on all quizzes
8. Students will record a song and save it
9. Students will play back their original song with the student keyboard
10. Students will send the song (with teacher assistance) to another school on the internet as ÎSong

Procedures:

Evaluation:

Assessment: Students will be assessed as they take quizzes after each music module in the lessons through the MIE lab. They will hear their scores, and their scores will post in the teacher computer. Students will also be assessed as they play their songs individually for the class

Rubric – Note: A full printable pdf version of the Performance Assessment Rubric may be downloaded from http://www.holland.k12.mi.us/technology/pioneers/deboer/de boer.rubric.pdf. A pdf of the Scoresheet may be downloaded from http://www.holland.k12.mi.us/technology/pioneers/deboer/deb oer.score.pdf.

Project: Play along with a song on the keyboard, answer questions about musical concepts via the keyboard, save and play an original song (via student computer).
Outcomes:
A Students will perform on keyboard instruments, alone and with others.
B Students will show their knowledge of basic music con-cepts.
C Students will play original songs and send the song(s) on the internet to other classrooms from outside our geo-graphical area.
SCORING
3: yes, 2: in progress, 1: no

ASSESSMENT ITEMS AND CRITERIA

Outcome A

Item 1 will know how to read a basic music score / The stu-dent will:
3 play the correct notes along with the listening track
2 play most of the notes with the listening track
1 plays few or no notes

Item 2 will know the notes on the keyboard / The student will:
3 receives 90-100% correct on note tests
2 receives 50-90% correct on note tests
1 receives less than 50% correct on note tests

Item 3 will be able to play in rhythm with other students and the accompaniment track / The student will:
3 consistently play in rhythmic sequence with the song and others
2 usually play in rhythm with the song and others
1 does not play in rhythm with the song or others

Item 4 will be able to play notated rhythms on the music / The student will:
3 plays the rhythms as written
2 plays most of the rhythms as written
1 does not play most of the rhythms written

Item 5 will be able to change instrument sounds on the keyboard / The student will:
3 be able to change the keyboard to the sound the teacher requests
2 sometimes be able to change the sound the teacher re-quests
1 not be able to change sounds

Item 6 will be able to change rhythm sounds on the key-board / The student will:
3 be able to change to the rhythm that is requested
2 be able sometimes to change to the requested rhythm
1 not be able to change rhythms

Outcome B

Item 1 will enter their answers to questions by correctly pushing the correct sequence of key(s) and ãenteringä the answer. / The student will:
3 be consistently be able to ãenterä answers
2 sometimes ãenterä answers
1 not ãenterä answers

Item 2 will score 80% or higher on all quizzes / The student will:
3 score 80% or higher on quizzes
2 score 70-80%
1 score below 70%

Outcome C

Item 1 will record a song and save it / The student will:
3 record a song and save it
2 needs help to record a song
1 is unable to record a song

Item 2 will play back their original song with the student keyboard / The student will:
3 playback the song
2 need help to playback the song
1 not be able to playback the song

Item 3 will send the song (with teacher assistance) to another school on the internet / The student will:
3 is able to work with the teacher and computer on e-mail-ing the song
2 is inconsistent in ability of working with the teacher
1 is unable to work with the teacher or student

Follow Up: