We had a Music job-a-like, back in March. One of the teachers from Suzhou brought some really scary resources. Scary as in... so amazing that she suddenly turned into some sort of goddess in my eyes. Each one was a PowerPoint of her entire unit. Title pages. Criteria. Deadlines. YouTube embedded videos. Worksheets. EVERYTHING. I was overwhelming. When I looked at these units, I felt like a first year teacher again. Then, I questioned how we can be working effectively through the creative cycle if the unit is so perfectly planned out. Where is the space for innovation, creativity, and teachable moments? 

Fast-forward to the summer. Sitting in a trailer (caravan) with no internet access, I decided to go through my own units and see if I couldn't "Power-Point" them (Power-Point has become my verb). It was pretty easy at first because I already had all the resources - I just had to drag them in. It was quick work, and I was feeling pretty proud of myself. However, once I started, I began to notice small problems. Some tweaks were needed to my units. Some lessons needed to be moved around. New activities. I found myself doing almost total overhauls of my tried-and-true units. And then I forgot about them as the summer went on and we began our transition back to China from holidays.

Cue the start of school. My main laptop died, but these Power Points were sitting in the cloud. I grabbed a loaner and opened up... organised, fun units. They are based on the Opus music textbooks. My grade eights are doing film scores at the moment. Before, the unit tended towards being more of a music appreciation unit before diving more into the practical aspects (Criterion A first, then B). However, this teacher from Suzhou advised us to think of each lesson as a workshop, instead of a lesson, and so I decided to put something practical and fun into every lesson. We started off with "The Last Emperor," which shows how music can set a film within a place and time. Reading (Criterion A). Then I transcribed a pentatonic piece for flute, violin, viola, clarinet, and trumpet and gave it to the kids in the class who could play instruments. Everybody else had either Chinese percussion instruments or G pentatonic xylophones. The class was really engaged and interested. I did a Kahoot quiz afterwards and found that the kids had pulled knowledge out of their performances. E.g. one of the questions asked which scale the film theme was based upon, and the majority knew it was G pentatonic because they had been pulling off their ^4 and ^7 bars every class.  When I said we were moving onto "James Bond," a loud cheer went up throughout the room. Now, I have the same instrumentalists in a practice room learning the orchestra part and I've got the rest of the class learning the melodic motif on guitars. We'll put them together on Monday. The kids are having fun, and so am I. 

​My experiment has been a success, and I'm going to continue 'Power-Pointing' the rest of my units for semester 2. 
Benefits:
- Everything is in one file and I don't have to go searching through folders
- I can walk in the door on Monday and know that I'm ready to go (even the YouTube videos are embedded and working properly)
- It's very easy to save my work to the cloud and to Atlas, because it's only one file
- I can screenshot or PDF the day's lesson and upload it to Seesaw so that the kids have our lesson notes before they walk into class. This is great because parents can see what their kids learned in the day's class and then watch the video of them performing and students needing support will automatically have the notes ready for careful reviewing
- It's pretty. As I've mentioned before... big kids like things to look nice as well. 
- I can upload their exam study guide the first day of class, and since it contains a vocabulary list, it helps the English Language Learners in their English for Cognitive Communication lessons.

The only thing that I'm not doing is giving timelines. I still need the flexibility to go through the creative cycle at the class' pace. 

Here's some pictures from my grade 10 unit, 'The Elements of Music.'

My clipart is purchased from Dancing Crayon Designs.

I've just had an email asking me about PYP assessments. I'm definitely not the expert in this area, since I haven't taught PYP in about 4 years. However, I do have the PYP Performing Arts teacher in the room beside me and I see what's coming out of her photocopier. 

Let's take the PYP production, for example. (And here is when I diverge into rumours, since it's just what I've seen in passing...)  The students learn to sing a song for the production, while in class. Towards the end of the rehearsal period, the students are assessed in class for their singing abilities. Can they sing this song? How are their rhythms, pitches, pronunciation, etc. Then, they go out and do the production. Some of them might not sing in production because some of them might be in the soundbooth or helping backstage. The production, of course, is filmed for parents and put on Vimeo. In the next two music classes, the students watch the entire show with reflection sheets in front of them and they need to answer questions. Was the singing clear? Were people using the correct blocking, etc? The reflection sheets are tailored to the age of the students, so if it's an Early Years student doing the reflection, then the teacher reads out the question and the students colour happy, neutral, or sad boxes. Meanwhile, the reflection sheets for grade 5s are much more complex. 

When I taught grade 5s, my assessments were often daily checklists. As the kids were in small groups working on their recorders, I had a checklist of things like:
- correct hand is on top
- air control gives a good tone
- rhythms and pitches are correct
- are they playing their own or a borrowed recorder
etc. 
I used Karate Recorder, which is a great curriculum (kids find it very motivating), and so I'd also simply look and see who was where in the curriculum. When it came time for reports, I had notes on learner skills (e.g. self-management) and academic skills (playing the recorder).

I hope this helps. 

This post is long over due. In fact, any post is long over due. I've just checked, and I haven't written anything since February 2, 2018. Over a year ago. I've come to realise that I don't have the passion needed for social media. My favourite bloggers put out articles twice a week, and I eagerly await them in my inbox. My current favourite vlogger only puts out videos every two weeks, and that schedule kills me with suspense. But me? If I put out a post every three months, then it's a good run. 

It's the same with emails (this is a massive apology!).  My friend Andy runs a fantastic blog called PYP PE with Andy.  In fact, he's the one who convinced me to setup this blog. He gave me excellent advice in the beginning, and the most important he stated was that you must respond to every email within 24 hours. He's a prolific poster, and as a result, he's become a motivational speaker who has given Ted talks. He's an amazing guy... and totally social media savy. Unfortunately, I don't have his passion. Normally, I forget that I have a blog, and then when I remember, I think, "Should I go on the treadmill, watch the latest episode of John Oliver, or write a blog post about I don't know what yet?" 

You are now thinking, "Wait a second... why did you write a blog if it's not your thing?" Well, it was my thing.  I did my masters at Boston University from 2010 - 2012, which was when I started this blog. I was still on the old MYP guide and my moderation results were coming back perfect, with high praises and no recommendations given. I was single. I had the time to make amazing posters and to hang out on a blog, making it look perfect. 

But then the new guide came out. We were told that everybody would be sent to training, but life intervened and it didn't happen. It meant that my team and I were left with no training and quite a bit of confusion over Criterion Aiii and Di. Then I adopted. Then I barely survived a house fire. Then my cousins, who are trained web developers, took a look at my site and told me it was 100% wrong and needed a total revamp. And suddenly, I was overwhelmed.   As you can see by the site, it's very pre-the-Next-Chapter. It talks about Developmental Workbooks, when it should be talking about process journals. The criteria on my sample assessments are all wrong. And yes, my cousins hate the colours and graphics. I feel like revamping would be a huge deal, and to be honest, I really like hanging out with my kid.  He's awesome. I would take credit for his awesomeness, but I adopted him at 3 years old, and he arrived awesome. We go hiking, and biking. We love kayaking, playing racquetball, and having picnics in parks. This week, I was teaching him how to rollerblade. 

Today, I thought, "That's it. This has to stop. I have to stop pretending that I have a website. People are emailing me for help, and I'm not responding well. I have to go online and say that this website is dead."  And then I logged on and saw my stats - I'm still getting 350+ people per day. 

This website is dormant. I check it maybe once a year. Maybe one day I'll become suddenly inspired and I'll revamp the entire thing. That'll probably happen when/if I ever get my MYP training upgrade. Until then, please read it with a discerning eye - not everything will be up-to-date or correct... and I might not answer your emails. Sorry!

As much as I want the kids to enjoy a never-ending round of creative cycles, I know that they need knowledge and skills in order to be fully, authentically successful in those cycles. That means there's a certain level of memorisation required. At the moment, my DP students have probably had five or six exams asking them to memorise the key signatures, in the past three years (gr 9 - 11), and they are still iffy on them. Meanwhile, my English Language Learner students always do poorly on my Criterion A assessments. Enter a book I received for Christmas - How We Learn, by Benedict Carey.

I'm only halfway through it, but I've learned enough to start prototyping some assessments in my class. In a nutshell, this is what I've learned so far:

- we tend to remember almost everything we've ever learned; however, all knowledge is stored in a retrieval system and much of it is systematically forgotten in order to keep our brains from exploding. Some knowledge is high value with high retrieval, some is high value with low retrieval, low value with high retrieval or low value with low retrieval.  When students cram for an exam the night before, they have high value with low retrieval, because the minute the exam is done, the information is now gone. The secret is how to move important information into the high retrieval set.

- In order to move information into the high retrieval set, we need to store that information in multiple locations in our brains. This is done through accessing it in high stress, interval situations in a variety of locations and settings. This point has two ideas, but I'll address the locations first.

•  If you want your brain to store important information in a variety of locations, you need to recall it in a variety of settings. This means, if you want to remember something important (like me trying to learn Chinese characters), you need to study one night in bright lights at the kitchen table in silence, but the next night in mood-lighting, with jazz, in the study, and the afternoon during a sunny day in the park. This way, when you recall the information, a triggered memory will help to pull the memory retrieval for you
• High stress situations featuring intervals? Studies from the early 1900s show that accessing information over staggered amounts of time increase memory retrieval, and that this is best done in assessment situations. At first glance, this is a 'no-brainer.' Everybody knows that studying over an extended period of time is more beneficial than cramming the night before. However, studies have shown that there are specific schedules for which memory retrieval is at its most efficient. If you need to prepare for an exam that is 2 1/2 months away, you need to study, and then put the material away for a full month. Then study, and then again two weeks later, and then a week later, and then two days later, and then the day before the exam, etc.  Academics wanted to know whether general study would suffice, and found out that, actually, exams are best for memory recall. And not just any exam... multiple choice exams are the best. (WHAT?!)
• Multiple choice assessments aid in studying. What a headline! Researchers found that students who studied from set notes had a lower retention because they did not need to engage in deeper level thinking that might have resulted in higher retention. The book's example was this - if you ask someone to study the name of the capital city of Australia, they would study, "Canberra." But... give them a multiple choice question that lists Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, and Canberra, and suddenly the student has to sit and ponder for a minute. One of these is the economic powerhouse of Australia, and another is the capital... which is which? 
• The last point, on this long topic, was on the value of a pre-test. (Again, the author was preaching to the choir, here. We all love pre-tests, right?) Studies showed that students given a pre-test performed better on assessments than control groups without pre-tests. Basically, the tests acted as a high-stress (high motivation) catalyst for entering information into a different section of the brain. 

What's my point?

Here's my prototype for this semester's learning.

My DP Music students have an exam in May of 2018. We've done Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque, and are now starting on Classical. Plus, they've done a variety of world cultures.  I'm going to start giving them interval-ed multiple choice tests throughout the next year. I'm going to use Kahoot because it's a) fast, b) fun and c) gives immediate assessment results to me. 

I've given my grade 6s a Kahoot pretest on general information about the history of rock, rock pioneers, and how to put together a rock ensemble. I downloaded their initial results from Kahoot. I'm going to give them the same quiz at different intervals throughout the semester, but under slightly different conditions. One time, I'll do it in the middle ensemble room; one time, I'll do it with the lights off using natural lighting; one time, I'll do it at the beginning of class, or maybe at the end of class. Then, I'll check the results of their final assessments versus last semester's grade 6 class (which is acting as my control). 

One question I had for myself was... would this be too time consuming? We all know teachers aren't supposed to work harder than their students (for efficiency sake); however, with Kahoot (shameless plug), the question generation is so fast that I can literally draw up a quiz in about 10 minutes. I've already set all my DP music quizzes for the next three months.

I'll revisit this topic in June, and hopefully I can share some good results with you. 

I've just gotten an email asking what Criterion B assessments I use for my grade 8 movie soundtracks unit. I'm really proud of this unit because it's a great blend of performance and composition, and the kids seem to really enjoy it. So basically, I have the luxury of time and so we do two creative cycles.

Creative Cycle 1: Symphonic Concert
This is just something I made up out of my head, to be honest. I don't know if it's actually "a thing." I had a friend who went to see Dr. Who In Concert, and loved it. I started doing research and saw that there's Bugs Bunny in Concert, Back to the Future In Concert, Les Miz In Concert, etc. People love the soundtracks so much that they want to see them performed live. So why not do this in class? I called them Symphonic Concerts... though now that I type this, I think the name is all wrong... hrm... a reflection for next semester...

Anyhow, the kids have to pick a movie clip they like and decide which emotions they want to represent on screen. Then they need to get into small ensembles and perform a piece that would match the screen. Next, they go into a movie editing software, such as iMovie or Final Cut, and they place their recorded performance as a Picture-in-Picture against the movie clip. 

The kids love this task, and there are such interesting interpretations. Here's some examples...
- a serious group - they took a sad movie trailer and added very depressing music to it. Very effective.
- the silly group - they took the Jaws attack from the movie and played "Under the Sea" from The Little Mermaid.
- another silly group - they did a screen capture of someone playing "Plants vs. Zombies," but they wanted the audience to identify with the zombies instead. While the zombies were fighting the plants, the group played O Fortuna from Carmina Burana; when the zombies won and ate the brains, the group played, "Happy" by Farrell Williams. 

Creative Cycle 2: Composition
Thank you Aardman Productions! Several years ago, they posted four wonderful videos to the BBC Teachers website. These videos were stripped down to only voices. No foley effects or music. The purpose was for students to create their own soundtracks. The teacher package came with storyboards, as well.  Thus, creative cycle 2 is composing music using GarageBand.

Step 1: I have the kids go to www.bensound.com and download royalty free music in five different genres. They pick their favourite of the video clips and use GarageBand to export the videos using each the different genres. Then they do a reflection on how the different pieces manipulated the emotions of what what shown on screen. Basically, "What would this clip feel like with scary music? Or sad music? Or happy music?" Once they know what style of music they want, then it's time to learn GarageBand.

Step 2: MIDI Controllers, musical typing, or www.noteflight.com.  How the kids compose is completely up to them. Kids with a lot of advanced knowledge and skills will often go to Finale or www.noteflight.com and will compose using notation. This is good, but it does mean that the music doesn't always fit with what is on the screen. Once it is exported to a MIDI file, the kids have to manipulate it a bit to fit what is on the screen. Kids who have medium skills in music will often use the musical typing feature in GarageBand. This is a computer keyboard that corresponds to MIDI pitches in GarageBand. For the absolute beginners, they use MIDI Controllers. I have one boy, this year, who was absolutely panicked about composing. While he is a wiz at ukulele, he doesn't know notation. I gave him a MIDI controller. On his own, he went to YouTube and started watching video tutorials on how to compose EDM (electronic dance music) in GarageBand. His first attempt was great!

Step 3: Feedback. I normally give the kids a class or two to experiment and fiddle in GarageBand. Then I start having interviews and uploading their feedback to Veracross.

Here's the final evaluation sheet for you:

​* Showing proof of using the creative cycle. *

This is really easy when the kids are performing on instruments. I love Seesaw (www.seesaw.me) and use it all the time. The kids and parents love it, too. Basically, it's like a closed version of Facebook in which you can post audio, videos, images, etc. As the kids are discussing their ensembles and making plans, I'm taking sneaky videos. I also video their progress. Then, immediately (and I mean, within seconds), they can log onto their mobile devices and see what they did in class. They have immediate evidence of Criterion C ii and iii. Their playing gives them evidence of Criterion B.

How do you collect evidence when composing? I'm having the kids take screen captures every 15 - 20 minutes, and to also 'Share file to disk,' from Garageband. Then I'm having them annotate their screen captures. Nice and quick, just, "Here I was experimenting with using trumpets. I decided against them because they don't match well with the bassoon." And an audio file.

Conclusion:
It's always fun doing a unit that both the kids and the teacher enjoys! This one is great. 

My school (Nanjing International School) has gone in a bit of a radical direction this year by implementing strategy leaders in the primary and upper grades. It's a win-lose situation, to be honest, because I really miss my department head. However the benefits have been really great so far. One of our strategy leaders is named Luiz Mello and he comes up with really brilliant educational ideas. 

So here was my problem: Normally, I have classes of between 16 - 21 students and I run a beginner band program in grade 9. However, because of scheduling conflicts, I ended up with 4 students who are already highlight proficient on instruments. If the purpose of the unit was to act as an equaliser to get all students ready for the now-defunct grade 10 moderation, then what would I do with 4 kids who can already play their instruments very well? 

First, Luiz asked me what the main, core purpose of the unit was. That's easy - Identities and Relationships, focusing on health. How to learn an instrument in a safe manner. Really, a springboard into them learning how to learn. Couldn't they still do that? He reasoned. But I questioned the summative assessment, and that's when Luiz led me to a fantastic idea - Couldn't they do a one-man band featuring their main instrument and their newly learnt instrument, and show how they are aware of playing positions, breathing exercises, etc., on both? 

Well, this is my first time going through this iteration of the creative cycle, and I'm excited to see how it goes.  The end product should look something like this: Bohemian Rhapsody.

We talked through the task sheet using the smartboard, and then I typed up our notes and included the assessment criteria.  I'm attaching our notes below. The Word document has beautiful colours, but the 'ole copy/paste takes away my colours in Weebly (shrug). 

Grade 9 : Beginner Band Creative Cycle
Our bodies change, for better or for worse, when we start playing instruments.
Global Context: An Inquiry into identities and relationships (health)
Related Concepts: Role, Play & Composition
Factual Question: How does playing an instrument affect the human body?
Conceptual Question: Why are proper playing positions integral to my health and well-being?
Debatable Question: How can some pain be beneficial?
 
75% of your mark - written - process journal (A, C, & D) - 25% of your mark - practical - performing (B)
Your book is super important!
 
 
Your Task
    You have been studying how to play an instrument in a healthy way. You have been doing breathing exercises and ensuring that you maintain good posture and hand positions. Now demonstrate what you learned in a practical application – put together an ensemble using your new instrument. This task must be video-recorded so that your posture and hand positions are evident.   
 
For an example of this task, please see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsrolRORJT4
 
Planning Your Creative Cycle
 
Di: Inspiration

• From what you know about the new instrument you learned, what type of music would suit it best? In which musical direction / inspiration could you take a personal interpretation? Do you want to use Band-in-a-Box or GarageBand to add extra sounds?
• construct meaning and transfer learning to new settings

 
Cii: Brainstorming & Mind-Mapping

• evidence / proof of taking a long time to think of what piece to do; don’t simply pick the first piece you can think of, but rather do a really detailed search of many different possibilities
• Go find sheet music for both of your chosen instruments; decide whether you need sheet music for extra instruments
• You are only allowed to add extra instruments once you are finished and only if they are finished or not involved (a.k.a. please don’t pull other musicians away from their own projects.)
• demonstrate a range and depth of creative-thinking behaviours

 
Ci: Making a Plan

• What piece did you pick?
• Which instruments are you going to play?
• Which instrument is playing the melody line?
• ‘personal interpretation’ is what you want the piece to sound like. Remember à If your performance sounds exactly like the original, then you haven’t used your creativity to come up with a personal interpretation.
• develop a feasible, clear, imaginative and coherent artistic intention

 
 
Practicing Your Creative Cycle
 
Bi: Can you play your ‘beginner’ instrument? (SmartMusic)
-    Can you play the new piece you have chosen?
Bii: Can you apply your skills in an ensemble?

• Practicing
• Make sure you are on SeeSaw; Miss Keus will take constant, regular videos and images of you
• Take progress videos on your own
• demonstrate the acquisition and development of the skills and techniques of the art form studied

 
MEANWHILE
ciii - Reflections showing that you were problem solving in creative and interesting ways

• evidence of using creative thinking (see creative thinking behaviours list from your process journal)
• demonstrate a range and depth of creative-thinking behaviours
• demonstrate the exploration of ideas to shape artistic intention through to a point of realization.

dii - Feedback from teacher, friends, family, and peers. Also, give feedback to others.

• feedback is helpful, kind and specific. It helps you to improve.
  •           That was so bad.
    •           Your personal interpretation isn’t evident and your timing is off. Try using a
    •          
• create an artistic response that intends to reflect or impact on the world around them
• critique the artwork of self and others.

 
Polishing & Performing Your Creative Cycle
 
Filming:

• Decide which instrument is your ‘scratch track.’ (Try to make your melody line be your scratch track.)
• Record yourself using GarageBand * You don’t need headphones. BUT it would be wise to record using headphones and a metronome. This will allow you to use GarageBand or Band-in-a-Box at a later stage should you decide to go a different direction mid-creative cycle.
• When you are ready to record the real performance for real, borrow Miss Keus’ DP recorder and record using a microphone and an XLR cable. Record yourself using your iSight camera as well.
• Use iMovie or Final Cut to put together your video. Export it as a video file and then import it into GarageBand and/or Logic Pro to ensure that the sound / music is high quality.
• demonstrate the application of skills and techniques to create, perform and/or present art.

 
Evaluating Your Creative Cycle
 
At the very end…
diii - Final evaluation and play your video in the school assembly

• critique the artwork of self and others. 

I haven't done the training for the Next Chapter yet. Since it's almost 2017, and it came out in 2014, I really need to stop calling it Next Chapter and simply call it MYP. I'm happy that we got an extra year of grade 10 moderation, under the new MYP guide, because that served as my professional development. What I wanted most feedback on was the difference between Criterion A3 and D1. While there was no specific mention of it in my moderation, my report came back with no changes or suggestions, so I assume I'm on the right track. 

While clearing out the 'dump' folder on my desktop, I came upon a mental meandering about those criteria that I had done with my grade 10s.*  I've decided to share my thoughts with you today.

Just to give you some background... the unit is a grade 10 soundtracks unit. We open up with Criterion A: Knowledge and Understanding. There, we learn about the power of silences, mickey-mousing, source music, underscoring, the history of music soundtracks, leitmotifs, voice as an instrument, etc. Then, the students have to compose 1:40 of music based on an Aardman's production clip that has all sound removed except for the voices. 

One day, at the start of the creative cycle, we were talking about what creative thinking looks like:

(I love to colour as I type)

But back to Criterion A. Criterion A is how students use their knowledge of movie soundtracks to compose while Criterion D is more how the movie stimulus influenced them. Therefore, in my grade 10 moderation, I broke these strands into two distinct ideas:
1. Is the composition's technique correct? Criterion A.
2. Does the composition match the vision shown on the screen? Criterion D. 

Here is an example. Let's say the student writes...
"While watching the clip, I noticed that the penguin character is very evil, and that he's introduced during a clap of lightning. I had to decide whether I wanted to play this clip as a parody, with funny music, or whether I wanted to follow the action on the screen and make the character evil as well. But is the character evil or very evil? I could maybe use minor chords in a lower register to make him sound evil, but perhaps using a series of diminished chords, repeated in the upper register would make him sound super evil."   For me, that's Criterion D because his/her artwork is based upon a stimulus. He is composing a response to what he sees on the screen.

Now let's say the student writes...
"There doesn't appear to be any sources of music in this clip, so I'm going to use underscoring music instead. There should be two pieces of music present - when the dog turns off the light and then when the penguin starts to change the robot pants. I think the best way to show the difference between the two scenes would be to have a period of silence when the thunder rolls. Silence is important because it emphasizes the action on the screen. As the penguin starts to build the robot, I'm going to have a choir come in and sing some really creepy, "ooooh" over top of the drill sound."  That would be Criterion A because his/her artwork is based on the technical knowledge gained in the class, and the composition is highlighting their understanding in how to apply it. 

So that's now how I separate A3 and D1. Sure, I've seen a document floating around that says A is head-knowledge and D is heart-knowledge, but how can teachers criterion-assess someone's heart? It's too fuzzy and vague. We always have to go find proof.  That's why, for me, I've separated the strands like this:

Grade 6 Compositions
D: Heart Knowledge: After studying Chinese drumming and watching several live performances, how have you used them as a stimulus to create your own drumming ensemble?
A: Head Knowledge: Which instruments are involved in Chinese ensembles? How do costumes play a roll? Which rhythms are stereotypical? How do the different non-pitched percussion instruments interacting with each other throughout? How do hand positions influence not only the sound but the look of the ensemble? 

Grade 7 Performance
D: Heart Knowledge: We have looked at how locations inspire musicians to create and perform because often the best music grows out of personal experience. How has this unit inspired you to perform a particular song? How is the location of this song special to you?
A: Head Knowledge: How does the form and orchestration of the song emphasize the lyrics? In your personal interpretation of the song, how will your group arrange it to highlight the meanings you found?

Grade 10 Compositions
D: Heart Knowledge: After studying rondeau, how have you used them as a stimulus to create your own? 
A: Head Knowledge: How do you compose a rondeau? What is its structure? Which key does each section use? How are phrases built?

Those are just a few of my ideas. I'd love to hear how you are working with A3 and D1. If you have any comments, please leave them below - I'd love to discuss with you. 

​*I have a SmartBoard (love it!) and I often type as I talk. This helps me keep a record of what we are discussing, lets me copy and paste to our homework programme (Veracross), and helps the learning support and English language learners to have visual support for the lesson. 

My grade 10s are doing a jazz unit at the moment. This, in itself is not amazing. What is amazing is that I'm enjoying teaching it. You see, until recently, I really hated jazz. (How is it even possible for a music teacher, of all people, to hate jazz?!?!?)

When I was in my undergrad, my friends and I attended a jazz piano master class. It was my very first exposure to jazz - ever - and so I didn't really know what to expect. Pianist after pianist sat down and played music that I could only describe as noise. It was like they'd taken their hands, slammed them down in dissonant, random manners, and played whichever rhythms fell on the keys. I sat in disbelief. Afterwards, the jazz adjudicator would stand up and say something cool and suave, like, "Yeah man. That was smooth. That was hip." Again. I sat in disbelief. That unfortunate incident started my dislike of jazz, which unfortunately remained for almost 15 years. Then came my masters. I decided that enough was enough, I was a grown up and it was time to like jazz. I purposely took a course in jazz composition and arranging from Boston University. Then I filled my iTunes library with jazz and made it become my daily listening routine. I was working on the assumption that the more I listened to, the more it would become my new normal, and that one day I would even like it. In school, I started encouraging kids who seem to have music in their souls. I started throwing jazz lead sheets at these kids, recommending listening tracks, and giving them jazz performance gigs. Soon, the music department started to think that jazz was cool, and these kids started to get some street red. Did my experiment work? I think it did. Last week, I was chill-axing to some music and quite enjoying it, and suddenly I realised that it was free jazz! It was that dissonant, chaotic mess that I used to hate! But now I was liking it! ... and just in time, too, since this is my first cohort of DP Music, and we've got An American in Paris by Gershwin! (Luckily I quite like jazz now, and am happy to dive into it!)

My grade 10 jazz unit has a key concept of aesthetic, with related concepts of interpretation, play, and composition. (Do you see where I'm going with this?) 
Statement of Inquiry: Jazz is a polarising genre.
Factual Question: How can chaos be structured?
Conceptual Question: Who determines what sounds good?
Debatable Question: Why is it impossible to hate jazz?

(I like the last question, because I do think that it is impossible. Even when I professed to dislike it, people would say, "But what about Gershwin?" and I'd respond, "Well, obviously I'm not talking about Gershwin!!!!" LOL.)

We've watched the PBS documentary on the history of jazz. We've played the 12 bar blues. We've studied the modes. We've played ImprovPathway's improvisation exercises (the kids enjoyed that!). Now they are arranging jazz standards for small ensembles. They need to give me a lead horn, a second horn, a horn doing accents and ornaments, rhythm piano and guitar, bass, and drums. This needs to be done from a jazz fake book that comes with a straight melody (meaning, they've got to use anticipations, delays, and non-chord tones to turn it into a jazzy piece without losing the original melody line). Has the task been successful? I would say yes and no. Yes, it was very successful because the music coming out is very cool. The only problem is classroom management - I think next time we need to have pairs instead of threes because there was always an excuse why one person wasn't doing much work. Next year I'll tweak it, but not remove it because it did work really well.

I'm uploading the task sheet and final evaluation. 
​

Here's a late Christmas present for you - my grade 7 composition rubric. Now that the holidays are over... and I have a few days more until school starts... I'm just finishing up a few reports. Time for grade 7. I went searching for the rubric that I gave the kids, gave it a few tweaks, and have uploaded it to the blog. It's in the rubric section, but I'm also popping it onto the blog for those who don't want to go searching for things.

The unit is attempting to be a transdisciplinary unit for grade 7 Humanities' Tourism unit. In Humanities, the kids get into groups of 2 or 3 students and plan a tourism booth that promotes a particular country. In music, we've been looking at how locations provide inspirations for musicians. Our Criterion A "hooks" focused on "Frankfurt, I'm Sorry," by Spirit of the West. In this song, the band sings about how when they first went to Frankfurt, they hated it a lot, but then realised they were wrong and wanted to apologise. Next, we looked at The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R.," which is actually a joke song written with The Beach Boys when the two bands were on holidays in India. For the first creative cycle, the kids had to choose a song about a location and perform it for the class. They choose Sweet Home Alabama (America) and Verde Vino (Brazil), etc. For the second creative cycle, we looked at lyrics and different songwriting techniques to help get messages across. The kids *loved* the lesson on why Eminem is one of the greatest lyricists of our time. Finally, they had to get into groups of two and compose a piece of music about a specific place.

Why do I say we are "attempting" to be transdisciplinary? It's because our school works on the semester system for some subjects (including music) and has electives for some subjects (including music). This means that some kids may not choose music or may choose it in the wrong semester. We just figure... if the kids take music in the first semester, they enter Humanities in second semester already knowing how to write a song, but if they take it in the second semester, they will be in music when Humanities starts their tourism exhibition. Perfect timing on way, pretty good timing another. 

This is me procrastinating on my reports... I'd better get back at it!

I'm writing exam study guides at the moment for my grades 9 - 12s. Instead of searching for theory graphics on the internet, I've just decided to make up my own. I'm dropping them into my blog because I don't have a page specifically for theory. 

We are an inclusive school with a very large English Language Learner population. Yesterday I went to Learning Support coach and asked for some advice, and he suggested that I give an illustrated study guide instead of my normal prose. He said this way he could also help the kids if they should come into his office in the next few weeks. Done! So here is my rough and ready study guide. I've sectioned the criteria like this:

Criterion Ai: General music knowledge. This might or might directly relate to what they are doing on their instruments. I consider this to be the "grammar" part of learning. Sure, they might be playing treble clef instruments, but when they get to DP music, they are going to need to know the alto and tenor clefs. 
Criterion Aii: Knowledge in original context. Now we have music terms that they have directly seen in their method books (Standard of Excellence). This is now placing music in the most original of contexts for them --- in their very own playing. They've seen ties and slurs in their sheet music... can they remember the difference?
Criterion Aiii: Knowledge through their own artwork. This, for me, is the creative cycle. My kids are just finishing up their creative cycles now. I've differentiated for them, so they are all on different pieces. I have some advanced students doing trios, I've got some still doing the Standard of Excellent accompanied solo pieces, and I've got a few students who are on a modified program and are working on completely different books. Do they know which clef their music uses? Do they have repeat signs? What's their time signature? 

​I'm going to attach the study guide, but if you just want the images I've made, I'm including them below.