My third graders have finished their personal learning projects on the orchestra and composers. Just a recap from the beginning: we started first getting used to the technology and resources on our iPads through Schoology, then students were given goal sheets to help them stay on task with what they wanted to learn about during each music class. Students were also given sample learning targets to choose from to help them create a goal for themselves. As time went on, students were asked to choose one area of study to focus on for a project, using instrument(s) from the orchestra or choosing a composer from the list to study (Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Mozart, William Grant Still, Scott Joplin). They were able to work either independently or in a small group, and they were able to choose the medium in which to present their information as long as they met the proficiency requirements in the rubric (which I conferenced with them individually on to help ensure understanding of expectations and vital information to include). Finally, students got to work and after about 2.5 months (much of which by the way was trial and error and trial again on my part) we finally completed it. Below I have provided some of the final projects that were created with a digital medium. Many were very creative!

Above is a page from a student's work using explain everything to demonstrate knowledge and understanding about the Tuba! 

I was thoroughly impressed with the work of my students and I will definitely continue to use this unit in years to come, but obviously with changes to meet the learning that my future students would like to accomplish. I hope that this provided a little more concrete evidence of how awesome personalized learning can be and how meaningful it can be for students!

Now that we've completed conferencing on project ideas and topics, students are really on a roll! The information that they have gathered has been amazing. I've got students creating skits where they are role playing as Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, and Amy Beach. Or they are pretending to be principal instrument players in the orchestra explaining their particular instrument. Students are creating posters, students are writing speeches, students are creating books. I am so excited about the level of excitement my students have. It is nice to see kiddos say "Music is over already?" "We have to clean up? Can't I keep working?". I am impressed with many of my students and their information going above and beyond what has been expected of them in the rubric. 

Students above beginning their "script" for their project on Fanny Mendelssohn! In the pic collage, students are working on different projects, in different places in the room, using different mediums to showcase their learning about the orchestra and composers like Amy Beach, Clara Schumann, Fanny Mendelssohn, Scott Joplin, William Grant Still, WA Mozart. I am honestly amazed by their progress and am so excited to see the outcomes! At the end of the unit when projects are finished, students will present their work to their classmates!

So this week I began conferencing with students about the topics they were going to choose, the person(s) they were going to work with, and their ideas for how to present their project. Our classroom functioned as usual with students getting their research done and working on a set of goals, but I began asking for people who were ready to conference to come and see me. And they did. Some students chose to work on their own, some chose to work with a partner, some chose groups of 3. The majority of students have decided to work on a project dealing with some part of the orchestra, though a few have decided to work on a project about Mozart, Scott Joplin, and Amy Beach. We talked through the rubric together in these little conferences, they were given a version with the requirements to receive a proficient grade highlighted. Students were then asked to come up with an idea for how they would present the information. I have heard so many good ones! Some students are making books. Others are going to pretend they are the instrument players themselves and interview each other about the instruments over the DoInk Green Screen App. Some are creating posters, writing speeches, creating slideshows, you name it, they've come up with it! It is awesome to see creativity and an excitement to teach their other students about a topic they are truly interested in. They are taking ownership now and seem to really be enjoying what they are learning. I am excited to see how they can keep the focus and work going through the next month as they complete their projects. Look for some of the project highlights here as they start to come up!

My students are really on a roll with choosing their own goals and focusing on their task. Today I reminded students of the goals that haven't changed, where to get their goal sheets and what to focus on. I reminded them to use different resources and to ask themselves questions along the way to make sure their learning was meaningful. Some questions I modeled for them included: Is this string instrument played with a bow? Does this brass instrument have valves or does it slide? Is the woodwind instrument made of wood or metal? How will I know when an instrument belongs in the percussion family? These kind of questions guide the learning toward the target and goal for the day.


I let students loose and gave them the option of sitting in the hallway or in the classroom to work. I then offered students the chance to come to a mini-lesson on reading the note names using So-Mi-La. Most students chose to work on their orchestra instrument research, some students chose to research a composer of their choice, but I did have a handful choose to come to the mini-lesson. In the mini-lesson, we reviewed where to find mi and la if we knew where so was on the staff. Students were given a short song (Doggie Doggie) and asked to write in the notes where appropriate using S for So, M for Mi and L for La. Once they were finished writing in the notes, I had them go over to a colored xylophone to play through the song. They each used their own strategies to practice the rhythms and then added in playing the notes. They were told which key was So and then they  figured out which were Mi and La. Over 80% of the students who chose to do this activity were able to play through the song without mistakes by the end of class using So- Mi- and La. I also put up a S-M-L listening game from SMARTExchange on the SMARTBoard for students to practice aurally identifying correct So-Mi-La patterns. The students seemed to really like this. 

To get a flavor for what our classroom looked like and sounded like this morning, as well as to hear from students directly what they were working on and learning, feel free to skim through and watch the video below!

Last week I tried to focus the learning in more by giving students goal sheets where they could determine their own goal based on the two pathways and then use the goal sheet to help keep their thoughts organized as they work through the goal. While the learners worked on this, I went around conferencing with students on their own level trying to help guide them toward an appropriate goal and toward using appropriate resources to help with this goal. As I worked through this, I found that having a goal and having a place to organize those thoughts was important and helped keep students on task, but having to create their own goal was more challenging and took up too much work time. 

This week, I changed it around. I offered two learning targets for working on the composers and 3 targets for working on the orchestra that students could choose from. They were asked to only choose one to goal to work on in one area, and use the goal sheet to help them work through that goal for the day. I also went through the resources that might help with each goal in Schoology. This all took place during a 5 minute mini-lesson. Students were then able to go on their way and begin working. I made sure to conference with students throughout, asking them about their goals, asking them how their resource was helping them work toward that goal, and discussing with them about the things they discovered as they worked toward their goal for the day. Students then were asked to put their goal sheet into their music folder, which gets left in the classroom, as a means to reflect upon their learning when we next meet, and choose a new goal that might come naturally from their previous work. 



A lot has changed since we began our journey and a lot will continue to change. Students know and understand that this is an experiment and a new way of learning and that change is a part of that. Hopefully this will help keep the students focused and will give them a better opportunity to learn more. 

​Goal Examples Below:

So, it is that time of year again when every music teacher packs a bottle of advil/excedrin/tylenol something that will help with the headache that is bound to come from teaching and listening to the recorder. This year, I am trying a new approach that I am hoping will keep the squeaking, and loud sounds to a minimum, while still allowing students to learn the important musical skills that come from playing the recorder. Just as I am trying a personalized approach to learning with my third graders, I am also trying to personalize the approach to learning for my fourth graders as well in their recorder unit. 

In my school district, only fourth graders learn to play the recorder in preparation for the switch to band or orchestra in the fifth grade (and choir as well). Our elementary schools are set up K-4 while 5-6 are at the intermediate school. Once I had my students either A) Get their own recorder from home approved by me or B) buy their own recorder through our school, I began to set up a Schoology folder for the recorders in their music courses. 

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Inside the Recorder Folder are more folders:

Inside those folders are resources to help the students learn as they go. I included the Recorder Karate Songs that they can learn as well as the submission folders for each song in the folder labeled Recorder Karate Songs. I also included some Care of/Technique/History of the Recorder sheets in the Must-Know folder. There are worksheets on note reading and playing the recorder to complete in the worksheets folder. 

The folder that I want to have the most attention today though, is the Practice Songs and Video-Lessons folder. It is in this folder where the self-paced self-taught aspect of personalized learning is really present. In this folder, I created videos of myself teaching each of the notes that we are learning, with where they are located on the staff, how to play them using the recorder, and then I play through some practice songs with them (not Recorder Karate Songs) to highlight just the note we are working on. Students have the option to play these videos and use them to help them learn to play at their own pace. They can move through the new notes as quickly or as slowly as they need to in order to be successful. Below is a sample video of me teaching a quick lesson on how to use the recorder properly:

When students arrived for the first day of recorders, I went through the expectations of using the recorder in class with them. I then went through the schoology folders with them giving examples of how to find resources based on different needs. In order to up the responsibility even more, students have a specific folder for their class where they need to check in each music time if they have their recorder. If they forgot their recorder, they leave the space next to their name blank. Students know that if they have 3 or more blank attendance spots by the end, their 21st century skills grade will reflect it. They also keep track of their belts in this folder. 

Testing for Belts:
Students have two options for belt testing, they may come to me and play their recorder karate song live or they may record themselves playing it using their iPad as a video camera and upload that video to Schoology. If they test for me they get immediate feedback and suggestions for improvement if needed or they earn their belt right away. If they choose to send a video, they need to watch for me to comment on their video with feedback letting them know if they earned a belt or if they need to try again and where they need to practice and show improvement. Students are welcome to test at their OWN PACE. All I asked is for all students to complete at least level 6, and if they are unable to get there, then together that student and I will figure out a goal together to find success another way. Students may not test every time they come to my class. I only do face to face performance tests once a week.

Classroom Management: Are they really being productive?
I would say 95% of my fourth graders are really trying to be productive during each class period. There are just a few here and there that get lazy, or try to procrastinate their way out of doing things. The beauty of personalizing the learning is that the students first hand will find out that procrastination and laziness will not lead to success in the long run. At first they will think they can get away with it, but as their peers move farther and farther ahead in the learning process, the few that are behind begin to be more aware of it and start to realize the mistake of waiting too long to start practicing. It is a good lesson to learn in elementary school to help students prepare for the world of instrumental music and the expectations as they get older. In order to make sure they don't get too far behind, once a week (the non-testing days) I call kids to my desk to "conference" with me. The "conference" is a 2-3 minute check-in where students discuss what they have been working on and show me a little bit about what they know. I am not asking them to test, I am just asking them to demonstrate that some understanding about the note reading, the connection to the pitch and the placement of the hands on the recorder, and the understanding of rhythms. This seems to keep most of my kids on task during class as they never know who is going to get called or when they will get called. Not every student will get called to conference during a check-in day and I usually try to call kids at random, or at least call who I notice needs to conference. It also gives me a chance to try to mini-lesson one on one with students who might need that extra help. 

The way I have set-up this unit on recorders allows students to choose what they want to learn about with the recorders and when they want to complete it. They come in and decide what they are working on, set their daily goal, and work to complete it. They check in with me semi-regularly, they get to work at their own PACE. It gives them a little freedom and helps to relieve the stress for both the students who work faster than their peers and don't want to be stuck doing something they are well able to do, and for the students who need a little extra time but don't want to embarrass themselves by asking for it. Each student is responsible for their own learning in their own time. I just set a deadline for April 15th and allow students to work toward that on their own. I will keep posting here to update you on how this particular unit is going, as it is experimental for me too!

TSo, after a couple snow days and changes in schedule, I am now ready to share what I have learned so far since starting this personalized learning journey with my third graders. After explaining all of the resources and going through each part of schoology assignments with my students, the feedback I got was that they were feeling stressed and overwhelmed about the amount of choice. Many admitted they weren't comfortable with that much choice and weren't sure what I expected of them, so I changed somethings around. I kept my discussion pages, kept all the information on Schoology, but I simplified the project information and told students that for the first few weeks, they don't need to think about the projects at all. I asked them to erase any project fears from their memories. I also told them that for the first week or so, I would not be holding any mini lessons as I wanted students to get as comfortable with the idea of choice as possible. I also had students only make a choice between the orchestra and the composers to help lessen some stress and ease them into it.  I functioned during these classes as a "tech coach" helping students utilize the resources they had in the best possible way. I started to end the choice based learning time about 5 minutes early to discuss what they had done. In three columns, I asked students who chose to learn about the composers share any information they had in their own words. I did the same for students who worked on the orchestra as well. During the last lesson of the first week, I added the choice to sing along with So-Me stories, written by Stuart Manins, with the CD reading along and helping reinforce pitch for students as they worked together in a small group. That option was then added to the columns we discussed at the end of class. Below is a picture of one of the third grade discuss what you learned columns. I used this to show students that they were learning on their own, and didn't need me to stand in front of them in order for them to leave the classroom with something new in their brain that they didn't learn before. When I asked for feedback from students about the personalized learning "experiment" as we call it, most students said they were feeling more comfortable and they were excited that they were learning on their own. They really were proud of being able to leave class with their own new information to share with their classmates who were doing other things, and also their parents. Many students also shared comments about their learning in the discussion pages on Schoology as well. Simplifying and taking the process a little bit slower and easing the students into choice and voice in their learning was much easier for them to understand the importance of their learning and to feel more comfortable about the "experiment".

The picture below shows students at work using their 1:1 devices to explore the pathways of the orchestra and composers(Mozart, Joplin, Grant-Still, Amy Beach, Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann). You can see that students were using a lot of different resources on their devices to learn about the pathways in different ways. Students chose a pathway at the beginning of class, and delved into it using the resources they chose from the Schoology page. 

Below is a tiny chunk of video showing students who chose to work on their pitch matching and music reading using the So-Me stories by Stuart Manins. It was taken toward the end of class, but these ladies were singing throughout the class along with the books. 

As promised in my post from yesterday, I am going to explain how I set up the SLMRD pathway for my students to work on. This particular pathway is a lot more hands on and requires a little bit of time with me. The first thing I did was find a great So-la-mi SMARTNotebook document from SMARTExchange. I downloaded it, and put it up on the SMARTBoard in my classroom, then I went over it with the students a little review on how to read So, La, and Mi. This SMARTNotebook document will stay up in my classroom over the next couple weeks so different students can experience it and practice in small groups on their own as they explore more about reading notes in solfege. I also made sure to set up a folder in Schoology that included information about the long term and short term goals and targets to think about as students work on reading the notes and project information. Unlike the composer and orchestra pathways, this project is not optional for any student. While they are able to choose whether or not they would like to demonstrate their learning on the composers or the orchestra, all students must complete a singing or playing assessment using SLMRD. I did make sure to add an extension option using composition for students who wished to go above and beyond just reading and playing or singing the notes. 

Students are also required to add to a discussion page on their note reading progress each time they choose to focus on that particular pathway in class. 

So basically, that is the behind the scenes set up. Whether or not this set-up is going to be fruitful to adding to the learning experiences of the students is still to be noted. Each time students come to class I expect them to choose a pathway and get to work. I provide mini-lessons for students each time they come to class that they are welcome to attend if they feel it will help their learning process. Every music class has a 15 minute mini-lesson focus on reading the music on solfege and every other class has a 15 minute mini-lesson on either the orchestra or the composer of the month. I am planning to conference with students in groups every 3 weeks in place of a mini-lesson to make sure that they are on track, putting effort into their studies and discuss possible project options with them. To be honest, I am a little nervous about whether or not my students, especially since they are in 3rd grade, are able to handle such responsibility yet or be able to handle such projects, but I am hoping they will be able to surprise me and exceed expectations. Will they choose to spend their entire class times on their iPads or will they try to do more hands on learning? Time will tell.  Will my students be responsible enough to come to a mini-lesson with me? I hope so. We never try to  let students take control, to give them the power to choose and decide for themselves. I am hoping that by allowing the learners to take responsibility of their own education, even at such a young age, will have positive impacts not only on their academic growth in music, but also will inspire a passion and love for music that they discovered and came to terms with on their own!


Happy Personalizing!

--Lauren

So, after I set up the expectations for the project, the long and short term goals, my next step was to get the information out there. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, below are a few screenshots of my set-up in Schoology. 
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As you can see, I have a few things from earlier in the year (concert season). Pay attention to the last three folders: Note Name Games, Orchestra Links, Composer of the Month. Those are my three pathway folders. There is also a Solfege Discussion page for students to add their thoughts about what they did with DRMSL during a mini-lesson or in their own breakout work time. It is outside of a folder because our solfege activities are more hands on and use less technology. 

Next I am going to show you inside the folder for Composer of the Month

In January, our composer of the month was Mozart, so there is a folder dedicated to him as well as a discussion page about him. Our February Composers are Scott Joplin and William Grant Still, so there are folders and discussion pages for them as well. In March, my composers of the month are Amy Beach, Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn. Since Personalized Learning is so much about giving the learner a voice and choice as well as the ability to pace themselves, I just put everything they needed out there and told them not to worry about the month constraints. They can work on learning about any of those composers at anytime before April. All I require is that they add something meaningful to each discussion page for our composers. I also made sure to link to our district log-in page for iCurio, a child friendly research database, so that they can find their own articles and videos about the composers. Notice that they also have access to the learning targets/project information at any time, this will help them remember what the goals are when we are learning about the composers and what questions to ask themselves in order to check their learning. It also includes information on the final project. 

Each pathway folder, like the composer folder above, has access to several resources to help students access information and explore, as well as access to short and long term goals, and project information. 


Finally, I want to show you an example rubric that I created using Markboard for the orchestra pathway. I used this rubric creator for the composer pathway as well, but I think that one needs a little tweaking still. Note that we use a 1-4 rubric to evaluate proficiency. A 1 is minimal understanding of a topic, a 3 is proficient and a 4 shows exemplary work and understanding beyond what was expected. I used the categories and levels given by Markboard and created my criteria around that. 

So you have now seen a little bit about the Orchestra pathway featuring long and short term goals, as well as a project description, from my last blog. You have also seen a little bit about the composition pathway, featuring how I set up each pathway folder with resources. In my next update, I will add a little more about how I set up the SLMRD Pathway.


Happy Personalizing!

​-Lauren

We had an optional work day on Friday because of the end of the quarter, so naturally I spent that entire day in my classroom getting ready and excited for the next "unit" for my third graders. In the next several weeks, I am going to let my students decide what curriculum path they want to choose, which they would like to create a project on, and what questions need to be answered in order to demonstrate that learning occurred. I put together three curriculum paths for my third graders.

1) The Orchestra Pathway: students need to demonstrate an understanding of the instruments in the orchestra by sight and sound. This is a benchmark that needs to be covered and assessed before the end of the year. I chose this as one of the options for this unit because it really doesn't require me to stand up and lecture. The best way for kids to get interested and understand the orchestra is to let them discover and explore it. 


2) DoReMiSoLa - Note Reading Pathway: Students will be able to read, sing, and play melodic patterns on DRMSL. This is a benchmark that also needs to be covered before the end of the year. A lot of this will be covered in mini-lessons or conferences with me as students decide when they would like to learn more about it. 

3) Composer of the Month Pathway: This doesn't really go with an assessed benchmark, but it does fit in with relating music to history and culture, and gives students the opportunity to listen to works by the composer and maybe connect with it on a more personal level, enhancing a love for classical music!

"Planning" Personal Pathways
A lot of "planning" went into this experiment of personalized learning, but not the traditional kind of planning that I have been used to.
First, I took all three pathways and created  folder for each in our classroom management system Schoology. I then began to take a look at my benchmarks for each category: knowing about the orchestra, learning to read pitches with solfege, connecting music to history, and started to think about what was really important for students to think about as they were learning and what did I want them to be able to know when everything was said and done. I provided documents in the folder that gave the Long Term Goals: concepts that needed to be shown for learning and growth by the end, and Short Term Goals: Examples of small learning targets that could be completed in a lesson or two. I provided some guided questions for students to ask themselves with each pathway to check their learning process, and then created a Rubric that would help them as they were thinking of some kind of project to demonstrate their growth. Once the long and short term goals, guided questions to check learning, and the rubric were created for each pathway, I set up a project. I asked students to create a project to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of certain questions that related to the long term goals. I gave students a choice between creating a project for the Orchestra, or creating a project on the composers. 

Below is a screen shot of my "planning" This was shared with students to guide them through the orchestra pathway and the project expectations if they chose to focus heavily on this pathway. 
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It is important to note that while students were given the option to choose a pathway to focus on for their project, I did want to hold students accountable to learning about each path. I created discussion pages on Schoology in its corresponding pathway folder. Students are required to at some point to cover all of the pathways and add to the discussions in each, but can choose one pathway to focus their project on. So, if a child focuses on the orchestra for their final project, then they will take a little quiz about the composer's from me at another time. If a child focuses on composer's for their final project, they will take a quiz about the orchestra for me later in our studies. The students and I went over how the discussion was like one big group note-taking session and encouraged students to use it to help each other. I have been pushing Digital Citizenship in my classroom and how they need to use the online resources to contribute to their own learning and the learning of others. 

Stay tuned for more information on how I set up this personalized unit and the resources that I used. There is a lot that went into setting it up, too much for one blog post, but so far the set up has been pretty fun and not exhausting!



Happy Personalizing!

-Lauren