Technology Grant

Hooray! My Edina Education Fund Grant was accepted and approved! I would like to thank Abby Hilbelink, my student teacher this year, for all her help in compiling costs of various products, looking up standards and for giving me feedback while I tried to wordsmith the best way to make my case. I'd like to thank George Lundgren for blazing the trail and being the first of my colleagues to successfully complete a grant like this thus inspiring me to do the same. I'd like to thank my mother, the English teacher and Author who drilled into me the importance of grammar, proofing and an inherent ability to write well. I'd like to thank my father for bringing home that first Apple IIe which began my experimentation with technology and fanned the flame of interest in creating with it. Finally, I would like to thank my wonderful husband for his continued support and inspiration. Someone once asked me who of the two of us was more techie and I emphatically answered that he was. I learn so much from him and am so thankful for his willingness to share his knowledge.

Below is part of the grant request.

EDINA EDUCATION FUND INNOVATION GRANTS PROGRAM APPLICATION

1/ Grant Application Overview

1-1. Project Title:

iPads for collaboration, composition and performance

1-2. Descripe the project idea and how the funds would be used:  

The main purpose of the iPads is small group composition and the performance thereof which fulfills many of the National Standards in Music Education (numbers, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7). Groups of two or three students would collaborate to create and compose rhythms and melodies using the SMARTnotebook app (standards 4 and 5). Then, using the Apple TV already in place, groups would project their compositions for the whole class to see and perform (standards 2, 5, 6 and 7). 

In addition to the primary purpose listed above, the iPads will be used to create learning stations for a program called “Recorder Karate” which develops independent musicianship in which students will work in small groups with iPads, jack-splitters and headphones to watch tutorials from the teacher YouTube channel, mrsprowell1, or listen to examples of songs for their skill level at the teacher website mrsprowell.com then practice that music together. This allows for differentiated instruction while I meet with individual students at the same time. 

They will also be used to create group collaboration stations for note recognition and practice, instrument identification, and virtual instrument practice using apps, and the five-way jack splitters and headphones.

Finally, they will be used as student responsive devices for informal assessment activities with programs such as socrative or kahoot. Funds would be used to buy 10 iPads with cases, 10 five-way jack splitters and a class set of headphones as well as 10 SMARTnotebook apps and 1 power strip.

1-3. What are the goal(s) of the Project? *  

The primary goal of this project is to enhance student creativity and collaboration in creating compositions as a group. In the past we have used paper manipulatives to compose but sharing compositions in this format is limited. With the addition of iPads and the use of AppleTV we can project student compositions and perform them in a way we have not been able to before. Students will use the SMARTnotebook app in which they download a notebook file that includes instructions and manipulatives. In their groups they will move the rhythms or pitches to create a song then practice it together. Finally, they will project their composition with AppleTV for other students to watch while they perform or to have the rest of the class perform with them. The compositions can be saved in the app or as a screen shot and used for assessment later. 

A secondary goal is to create a flipped classroom or stations model for student learning. Students can collaborate and learn musical concepts in small groups while the teacher works with individuals or small groups to remediate or enhance learning thus providing differentiated instruction. This will be most useful in a program already well establisted in the music classroom called "Recorder Karate." In this program, students are given 3 songs at each "belt" level, 2 of which they need to pass with fluency, accuracy, and good technique in order to move on to the next level. At the completion of each level, the student receives a yarn "belt" to tie around the bottom of their recorder. To help them in this program, I have created a thorough webpage (mrsprowell.com) with the sheet music, sound clips, recorder fingerings and helpful hints as well as a YouTube channel (mrsprowell1) that has video tutorials that show students how to read the music, play the new note, and for the lower belts, how to play the song. While one student is being tested by the teacher, the rest currently work in small groups. The goal of adding iPads and headphones is that students will use this time to work in small groups accessing the web-based help that has previously only been accessed at home and on an individual basis. 

A final goal is to aggregate data on student learning and comprehension through informal assessment activities using the iPads as student response devices as well as saving compositions after they are finished and recording their own performances and saving them.

1-4. This project most closely aligns with the following District Initiative(s) or Goal(s)

The Edina mission statement speaks of educating all individuals to be learners who possess skills, knowledge creativity, self-worth and ethical values. Working together to create fulfills this in a myriad of ways. Students must learn to collaborate with respect towards each other, listening and making compromises, and ending up with a finished project that they can stand behind. This process of sharing ideas and being listened to, as well as the process of creating creates in itself a sense of self-worth. Furthermore, having one’s creation performed by others is an extremely fulfilling experience. Working with iPads and accessories within apps not only teaches students responsibility for materials, but also the responsibility of being accountable to one’s group or ensemble. And, of course, they are using 21st century technology to do the creation and sharing which gives them foundational skills to thrive in a rapidly changing, culturally diverse, digital, global society.

1-5. Describe the student population served by this project: 

Each week over 400 students, K-5, come through the doors of this classroom and will have multiple opportunities throughout the year to uses these materials in a variety of ways.