I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th grade orchestra, 8th grade general music and general music for our Access students. I may not have a quiet classroom, but my students are busy learning to play their instruments!
All students at my school receive free and reduced lunch due to a community eligibility federal program.
My students are inquisitive, caring, and eager to learn. My school is very diverse racially, and I enjoy the diversity among our students. Students at my school want to succeed and do well in school. The fine arts budget at my school has been severely cut due to economic times, but my students continue to learn and our programs continue to grow.
My Project
Every student has a story that deserves to be told and shared. I am hopeful that one day in the future, my school will have one-to-one technology, but until that day, we will need your help!
My students need laptops to help facilitate project learning and tell the story of their life.
One project I use in my general music classroom is called "The Soundtrack of My Life." While completing this project, my students create Prezi presentations using five personal life events. They connect five life events to five songs that they know or have heard. I have had students discuss the loss of a parent, moving across the country and other major life events in these projects. For example, the song "When I See You Again" reminded a student of a lost loved one. Students add pictures of themselves and their loved ones throughout their presentation to help create a personal project. My students and I learn so much about each other while presenting these projects! Recently, I have had more and more difficulty utilizing the school's computer lab due to a huge increase of online testing in my district. I will sign up for the lab and then not be able to use it because of online testing.
I would like to be able to continue doing this project in my classroom. The laptops will be used for students to create "Soundtrack of My Life" presentations. They will also be used to allow music students to create musical composition projects (musical stories) using online platforms such as MuseScore and Noteflight. All students at my school have a Microsoft email account, so they will be able to email me questions and completed assignments using their email addresses. Please help my students tell their stories!
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