Music, Math, and Technology - Graphing Exemplar... Title Music, Math, and Technology - Graphing Designer's Name   Judith Mikes School  Fishcreek and Riverview Elementary Schools Stow - Munroe Falls City Schools School Phone #   (330) 689-6450       Email Address: judithpm@aol.com         About the Designer About Me I have been employed for the past 31 years with the Stow-Munroe Falls Board of Education. I received my B.M. in Music Education Degree, piano major and vocal minor, from Miami University and a M. Ed. in Special Education, LD/BD, EMR/TMR, and MSPH, from Kent State University. I achieved National Board Certification in Early Middle Childhood Music in 2002.  I have taught LD/BD for four years, as well as vocal, instrumental, and general music grades k-12 for twenty-seven years. As a Praxis III Assessor for the Ohio Department of Education, I am aware that "Working on the Work" is closely aligned with the framework of knowledge and skills in the four Praxis III Domains: Organizing Content Knowledge for Student Learning, Creating an Environment for Student Learning, Teaching for Student Learning, and Teacher Professionalism. Exemplar Grade Level: 4 Subjects Art/Music/Interdisciplinary   Intended Learning Standards Addressed This unit of study  aligns with the National Standards For Music Education - Content Standard VIII, the ODE Academic Content Standard Math Benchmarks by the end of the 3-4 program, A - D, the Ohio Fourth Grade Proficiency Test Learning Outcomes in Reading, Mathematics, Citizenship, and Science, and our school district's Fourth Grade Technology scope and sequence objectives. Ohio's Model Competency-Based Program: 1.  An understanding of the role of the arts in people's lives in which they       have come to appreciate the artistic achievements of their own and other societies, past and present. National Content Standards for music instruction: 6.c. Use appropriate terminology in explaining music, music notation, music instruments and voices, and music performances. 6.d. Identify the sounds of a variety of instruments, including many orchestra and band instruments, and instruments from various cultures, as well as children's voices and male and female adult voices. 8. Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts. Proficiency: Ohio Fourth-Grade Proficiency Test Learning Outcomes:  Writing - an informational piece (report) - the learner will use the writing process to make the intended message clear, as evidenced by:  a. A response that stays on topic b. The use of details to support the topic f. A response that shows an awareness of word usage (vocabulary, homonyms, and words in context) g.  A response that shows an awareness of spelling patterns for commonly used words, Reading:  1. Summarize the text. 2. Use graphic aids (for example, a table of graph) or illustrations to locate or interpret information. 7. Compare and/or contrast elements such as characters, settings, or events. Mathematics: 1. Sort or identify objects on multiple attributes (e.g., size, shape, and shading), (orchestra seating chart, kinds of instruments, numbers of instruments). 3. Conventional symbols of mathematics (geometric figures triangle, circles in instruments, square and rectangular mystery cases - what instrument is inside?) 24. Make or use a table to record and sort information (in a problem-solving setting using simple and complex patterns in nature, art, or poetry as setting) and make identifications, comparisons, and predictions from tables, picture graphs, bar graphs, and labeled picture maps (use of "table" to record and sort, information bar graph to chart numbers of instruments in the orchestra). Citizenship: 12.  Classify various economic activities as examples of production or consumption (production - musicians and ways they earn a living - performing in a professional orchestra - teaching private lessons). Science: 1. Create and use categories to organize a set of objects, organisms or phenomena (categories to organize sets of objects:  instrument families, size, pitch, materials, loudness). 2. Identify and/or compare the mass, dimensions, and volume of familiar objects in standard and/or nonstandard units (compare the violin, viola, cello, bass in relation to mass and dimensions). 3. Use a simple key to distinguish between objects (icons for word categories - instrument families). 10.  Explain the operation of a simple mechanical device        (trombone - slide changing length of tube and pitch). Technology Scope and Sequence: Grade 1:  Participate in class database or spreadsheet projects Grade 2:  Create a simple spreadsheet.  Create a chart from an existing set of spreadsheet data. Grade 3:  Use a spreadsheet formula to perform addition computations.       Create a frame and insert text and change attributes. Grade 4:  Convert the information from the spreadsheet to a graphic        representation (chart). Basic Operations and Keyboarding: Use keyboard shortcuts. Navigate between open document windows (maximize, minimize, close). Use "find" command to retrieve a file or folder from hard drive, floppy, zip, or server. Word Processing: Edit text with copy, cut, and paste. Create a database using a minimum of three categories (fields). Communication/Research: Use electronic encyclopedias, almanacs, indexes, or catalogs to gather information from as assigned topic. Concepts Our school chose a one-month, whole school, math unit focusing on graphing in which all classes determined their own specific content, and decided upon two different graphing techniques to exemplify their results, which were displayed throughout the building for all to view.  In music classes, students researched the members of the four families of instruments in five different orchestras, and presented their findings in graph form.  They also created proficiency test format questions to have students read and interpret the information presented on their graphs in order to answer their questions. This graphing unit included graphing skills as delineated in our Math and Technology Courses of Study and our Ohio Proficiency Outcomes in grades K-4.  Our fourth grade students experienced a multidisciplinary unit connecting music, technology, and math, as they worked both independently and cooperatively to produce wonderful pie, vertical bar, horizontal bar, and line graphs.  These graphs clearly showed how many different instruments from each instrument family are in each of five different area orchestras.  The entire school population had the opportunity to read and interpret the information presented on these graphs in order to answer the accompanying student generated Proficiency Test format comprehension questions. The Learning Experience Lesson Plans: Objective:  My objective was to use interdisciplinary instruction combining music, math    and technology in order to participate in a whole-school theme on "Math and Graphing" with a short unit on "Instruments of the Orchestra and Graphing with Technology."  This unit also included students learning songs about instruments as well as creating graphs about specific orchestras.  This was an important and appropriate objective for my students as the entire school was trying to improve math scores in connection with out proficiency test results from last year.  Math, including graphing, was one of the areas where we saw a need for improvement.  In music class we were working with instruments of the orchestra and graphing with technology to be a part of the whole-school theme.  Goals: 1. Students will experience a multidisciplinary unit that connected music, math, and technology. 2. Students will use technology to compare and contrast five different orchestras:  The Cleveland Orchestra, The Akron Symphony Orchestra, The Stow-Munroe Falls High School Orchestra, The Stow Chamber Orchestra, and the Stow Youth Symphony.  3. Students will work independently and cooperatively to research the members of the four families of instruments of the orchestra of five different area orchestras.  4. Students will create a variety of computer-generated graphs to present their findings.  5. Students will mount and display graphs for public viewing. 6. Students will generate and display proficiency type comprehension questions to accompany their graphs. Students and Timelines: All fourth graders, approximately one hundred students, participated in this unit.  One fourth of each of five music classes (15 min. per class) was used.  This project can be adapted to third, fifth, or sixth grade levels, and used within a variety of teacher selected student groupings from individual to small or large group/whole class. Student Assessment Expectations: Students will know their expectations pertaining to this unit of study through informational class discussions and class handouts, which consist of a group project requirement sheet that contains step-by-step sequential explanation and a graphing assessment rubric sheet.  Individual and group grades will be given accordingly. Time Required:  Fifteen Minutes of each of five, sixty-minute, once a week music classes was required. Advanced Preparation:  My students had already studied the instruments of the orchestra in the fall.  They saw and heard demonstrations of various instruments including my playing two different instruments from each instrument family. They watched a video about the four families of instruments of the orchestra.  They also went on a field trip to E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall to hear the Akron Symphony Orchestra perform. Vocabulary: orchestra, instrument, percussion family, brass family, woodwind family, string family, piccolo, flute, oboe, English horn, bassoon, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, French horn, trombone, tuba, violin, viola, cello, double bass, timpani, cymbal, piano, snare drum, website, Internet, research, database, spreadsheet, chart, graph, proficiency test format, and assessment rubric    Procedures: Each week's music class will begin with the "Instruments of the Orchestra and Graphing with Technology" unit work.  Students will work independently and cooperatively as they complete their group assignment sheets.  Students work in their classrooms where they have more computers to research and work with, and then transfer to the music room for the remainder of their music class instruction.  Homework:  Students chose whether or not they wanted to work on this assignment at home, alone or with their group outside of school, or to just complete the assignments in music classes. Activities for the graphing part of each of five lessons: Lesson One:  Using whole group, small group, and one-on-one instructional strategies, as well as explanation, questioning, and discussion techniques and methods of delivery to start the "Instruments of the Orchestra and Graphing with Technology" unit, the sequence of this lesson included:  1) reviewing what the four families of the instruments of the orchestra are and then identifying the specific instruments in each family through question/answer format, 2) presenting and discussing this research project assignment that combines music - instruments of the orchestra, math - graphing, and technology - computer generated products, 3) each group of four students chose the orchestra that they will be working with by randomly selecting slips of paper from a basket, 4) using small group cooperative learning, handouts are distributed and students write the name of their orchestra on the handout that they are to research as well as the names of all group members, 5) students choose a group leader and an assistant leader who have the jobs of making sure that each group member is completing their chosen part of the work and assisting group members as needed; emphasis is placed on group leaders being familiar and comfortable working with the computer and being knowledgeable about creating charts and graphs; they are also responsible for collecting all group member's work and keeping it in a folder, 6) students choose and check appropriate boxes of a bulleted list of assignments for the project, 7) distribute rubrics for assessment of the final graph products, 8) continue small group cooperative learning and collaboration for remainder of time allowance, 9) return to the music room to learn the song "En le feria de San Juan," a verse and refrain song and add classroom instruments accompaniment.  Lesson two:  Students will continue working on their graphing unit in their cooperative learning groups, and then return to the music room to learn the song "I am a Fine Musician," a four-part canon.  Lesson three:  Students will continue working on the graphing unit in their cooperative learning groups.  Some students will have their graphs completed and ready to print.  Students will then return to the music room to learn the song "The Orchestra Song," a five-part canon.  Lesson Four:  Students will finish up their graphs and print out their finished products for display.  Students will add a three-note recorder part to the song "En le feria de San Juan."  Lesson Five:  Students will matt their printed graphs with construction paper in preparation for displaying them.  (Student leaders will help the teacher to arrange and attach the graphs to butcher paper and hang the displays in the hallway during lunch recess time.) Extensions or follow up activities: To correlate to the above lessons, students could make I-book movies about the instruments of the orchestra including a picture of each instrument, the historical background in understandable student terms, and a sound bite that they research, locate, and download from the Internet, to provide visual and auditory components to their movies.  Perhaps the world of music featuring examples of music from different counties and cultures could be an additional I-book movie topic.  Another subsequent lesson could be to continue to use technology to learn about careers in music.  The students could complete their assignments of choosing, researching, and reporting on careers in music such as: band, choir, or orchestra conductor, professional instrumental musician, composer, the music publication industry, the musical instrument manufacturing industry, the Compact Disc industry, recording artist, songwriter, professional singer, church organist, rock band musician, music store, disk jockey, ballet dancer, stage manager, music teacher, piano teacher, piano tuner, instrument repair technician, etc. with individual or small group I-book power point movies. Evaluation/Assessment: I provided each student with a rubric of how his or her final graphing product would be assessed and graded.  We went over that as a class and students understood the requirements and what the parameters would be for this project.  Assessment was made by observation of students as they worked on their individual parts of the group's assignment as well as how they were working in their cooperative groups.  I used holistic assessment while working with the entire class.  I looked around, watched for facial expressions and body positions to see if students were at all indicating frustration or not understanding.  On-going informal assessment continuously occurs throughout music class.  This constant assessment is based on student responses to the questions I ask as well as to the degree of student participation and involvement in the class activities.  I interpret classroom interactions and use intervention or remediation as I modify my instructional strategies necessary to continue all students' acquisition of specific skills and knowledge.  I did small group assessment as students in their groups handed in their sheets and their finished products, their graphs of their orchestra.  The students received a small group assessment grade and an individual grade based on their individual part of the group work.  The graphing assessment rubric was used to assign unit individual and group grades. Materials Needed Slips of paper with the names of five different orchestras on them, group folders, individual student's assignment sheets and grading rubrics, and ten teacher-selected websites.  Students utilized classroom computers for research, locating necessary information to complete their projects, and printers for their finished graphs that were mounted on construction paper and displayed on butcher paper. Design Qualities Product Focus - students will have information presentation opportunities for their teachers, parents, other students and staff.   Clear and Compelling Standards - students know the expectations of the group project requirements from discussions at the beginning of this unit of study and handouts, which include assessment rubrics. Affirmation of the Significance of the Performance - students will display their graphs on a chart in the hallway for other students, parents, teachers, staff and visitors to view. Affiliation - students are working independently to improve their research skills and abilities to add to the whole group's overall product and presentation.  Student research and inclusion in group work will develop and instill a sense of group identity and togetherness while increasing self-discipline, creativity, patience, self-confidence, and success and fulfillment. Novelty and Variety - this project presents challenging yet enjoyable student assignments where students use technology in cooperative groups to research and prepare final products and presentations combining music and math. Choice - students may choose their part of their group's research and presentation assignment as divided into specific tasks on teacher handout sheet, including the types of graphs to display their research results. Authenticity - students are practicing their computer skills and techniques of researching in preparation for producing end products that share learned information with others.  The orchestras they researched are:  The Cleveland Orchestra, The Akron Symphony Orchestra, The Stow Chamber Orchestra, The Stow-Munroe Falls High School Orchestra, and The Stow Youth Symphony. Organization of Knowledge - the information and step-by-step sequential instruction is clearly explained on the class assignment handout sheet.  Student work will be organized as students follow these guidelines. Results This music utilizing technology project was very successful.  Students worked independently to improve their research skills and abilities contributing to the while group's overall end product.  All students participated, completed their assigned tasks, and produced wonderful pie, vertical bar, horizontal bar, and line graphs that clearly showed how many different instruments are included in each of the five orchestras.  Inclusion in group work developed and instilled a sense of group identity, which also increased self-discipline, creativity, patience, self-confidence, success, and fulfillment.  The line graphs that compared all five orchestras were an offshoot that the students came up with after they had completed their assigned group work.  Overall, this was a worthwhile unit and project that I would definitely repeat each year with my fourth grade students. Reflections Students experienced a multidisciplinary unit that connected music, math, and technology.  They successfully worked independently and cooperatively researching, gathering data, and producing wonderful pie, vertical bar, horizontal bar, and line graphs, which identified and compared different instruments from four instrument families within five different area orchestras.  Students then generated and displayed proficiency type comprehension questions to accompany their graphs.  Inclusion in group work developed and instilled a sense of group identity, which also increased self-discipline, creativity, patience, self-confidence, success, and fulfillment.  Exemplar Attachments Student Handout Sheet: Name___________________ Room___________________ Instruments of the Orchestra and Graphing with Technology 1. Choose an orchestra to research.  (Names of five orchestras are on slips of paper in a box and Mrs. Mikes will choose a slip for each group.) 2. Our assigned orchestra: ______________________________________________ 3. The teacher divides the class into five groups (alphabetically by last names, equal boys and girls, with four or five students in each group). 4. Choose two group leaders.  The group leaders make sure each group member is completing the assigned work and assists when necessary (students that are knowledgeable about computers).  The group leaders collect group members' work in a folder and work with Mrs. Mikes to prepare final graphs and comparison charts for display.  Name of Group Leaders____________________ and ______________________ Members of our group: ________________________________     _______________________________   ________________________________     _______________________________ ________________________________     _______________________________ 5. Each group member completes one part of the project: Put an X in front of the letters to show which part of the project you worked on.    ____A.  Research the assigned orchestra on the computer to find out the kinds               and numbers of each instrument included in this orchestra.    ____B.  Complete the "Instrument Table Grid" with the numbers of each instrument                   in your assigned orchestra.    ____C.  Create computer-generated graphs (pie, vertical bar, horizontal bar, or line)            to show research results.    ____D.  Print and assemble graphs and put paper-matting background on each                 printed graph and turn into Mrs. Mikes.    ____E.  Think of two questions for students and others that pass by our graphing            display to answer by using the information presented on the various pie,                vertical bar, horizontal bar, and line graphs.  Present answer choices in            proficiency test format with a circle to color in before each answer choice,           and turn in to Mrs. Mikes. Resource List and Bibliography: People:  Parent Volunteers        Volunteer Classroom Teachers Book:  "The World Encyclopedia of Musical Instruments" Anness Publishing                  Limited, Max Wade-Matthews, Royal College of Music, London, c.                  2002 Software:   "Instruments of the Orchestra" - Grolier CD Rom            "Professor Piccolo" CD Rom Equipment:  Computer(s) - use whatever resources are available from one                                computer to an entire class of I-Book laptop computers Speakers:  Children's Concert Society of Akron, Ohio - small group in-                    school instrumental musical performance Audio/visual:  Optional videos:  "The Magic of Symphantasy," "Peter                       Ustinov reads The Orchestra," and "Once Upon a Sound" Field trips:  E. J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Akron, Ohio to hear and see                    the Akron Symphony Orchestra performance      Teacher selected websites:                    http://www.lehigh.edu/zoellner/encyclopedia.html                    http://www.discovereso.com/instruments.htm                    http://library.thinkquest.org/22673/orchestra.html                    http://www.wam.umd.edu/`kschwei/ioo_menu.html                    http://www.mathcs.duq.edu/iben/home.htm                    http://www.sfskids.org/templates/instorchframe.asp?pageid=3                    http://205.180.85.40w/pc.cgi?mid=14461&sid=7271                    http://webtech.kennesaw.edu/lland/webquest.htm                    http://www.dsokids.com/2001/rooms.games.html                    http://www.nyphilkids.org/main.phtml?                    (students may add to this list