I enjoyed the HOSA workshop because it was a good way to learn how different teachers are teaching music given everyone’s different situations. My internet connection was spotty during the workshop,
so it was sometimes difficult to keep up with everyone’s presentations when there was lag. I tried rebooting my router but it didn’t help. I liked how Mrs. Masuda-Kop showed us how to connect a link
to a picture in Google Slides so that the students can just click on the picture to take them to the link. I thought that the concept was similar to the agenda slide at the beginning of our lessons
on Smartboard where we click on the picture of the activity, and it takes us to the designated slide for that activity. I liked how Ms. Okinishi took us step-by-step through how to create and add
different resources in Google Slides. I think that the troubleshooting portion of her presentation was really helpful to me because I am not super good with technology, so I liked how she explained
what to check for in case things weren’t working. I liked Nicole and Minhee’s presentations because it was interesting to see how they have adapted their lessons given the restrictions of distance
learning. I thought that it was interesting how Nicole adapted a partner song like Tideo so that the students could still do it at home. It was also interesting for me to see what Minhee is doing
because I think she said that she teaches her lessons all through pre-recorded videos. Since Lauren and I are doing somewhat of a hybrid of what Minhee and Nicole are doing, it was nice to see how
they approached their lessons. The formative assessment techniques that Katie presented on are actually things that we have used at Highlands. We used Nearpod and Time to Climb earlier in the school
year, but we were having issues with getting all of the students connected, even though we were under the participant limit. I think that both of those resources are effective, but maybe with smaller
class sizes it is easier to get everyone connected and able to participate. Your website Punaewele is very fruitful with resources and ideas for music teachers to use during this time.
#2
Ashley Maeshiro(Sunday, 04 October 2020 16:07)
Mililani-Ike:
At Mililani-Ike this week, I worked with the second grade classes. I got to work with my focus class for the second time, and they did really well so I was happy. I taught two activities this week. I
did a label/practice do activity with the song Acka Backa, and a practice ta-a activity with the song Wee Willie Winkie. I had similar challenges with both of these activities because they both have
an ostinato to accompany the song. For Acka Backa, after we labeled do, I had the students practice do by singing the ostinato for the song on do as a drone while I sang the song. I played the drone
on the xylophone and did the hand sign for do while I sang the song since I could not sing both parts at the same time. I had a difficult time explaining and getting the students to sing the drone on
do while I sang the song. In Wee Willie Winkie, the students practiced ta-a through an ostinato that had ta-a’s in it. Similar to Acka Backa, the students were supposed to say the words to the
ostinato and pat the rhythm, while I sang the song. I think that for both activities, some students ended up singing the song with me instead of doing the ostinato or drone part.
In the classes, we also practiced creating four beat patterns using rhythms that the students have learned. The worksheet that I made for their homework this week was to practice ta-a by creating
four beat patterns using at least one ta-a. On Wednesday and Thursday, we practiced clapping and saying the rhythm syllables for four beat patterns verbally through call and response. Then, Lauren
went over how to do the worksheet with the students and how to turn it in. Many students struggled with using ta-a in their patterns. There were four boxes to indicate four beats for each pattern, so
Lauren explained to them that ta-a takes up two beats so the box next to the ta-a has to be empty, but many students still filled in all four boxes, or did not use ta-a. On Friday, when I did the
four beat patterns in class, I notated the patterns that we clapped and counted. I tried to explain that ta-a is two beats long so it takes up two boxes, and that’s why the box next to ta-a is empty,
but many students still were turning in assignments with errors. Although I think that having the students look at the rhythms that we were counting and clapping was beneficial, the classes today had
a lot more behavior issues compared to Wednesday and Thursday’s classes. I think that many of them were already in fall break mode and were getting restless. Basically the same amount of students
were turning in work with errors from today's classes compared to Wednesday and Thursday. As the students turn in work, I give them feedback and explain how to make corrections. Most of the students
who resubmitted the assignment after I asked for corrections were already at the MP level and went up to ME, but most of the students who were at the WB level did not resubmit. The worksheets are
somewhat optional because the students do not receive an actual grade.
#1
Ashley Maeshiro(Sunday, 04 October 2020 16:06)
Highlands:
At Highlands this week, I taught the choir classes and the symphonic band class. Clement gave me the opportunity to do activities in the class that I thought would be appropriate for the last week of
the quarter. I approached this last week of the quarter as a way to bring the quarter to a close. I tried to incorporate the concepts that we focused on the most during the quarter in these lessons.
For choir, I taught two verses of the song Oiwi e, and I used solfege to help the students learn the pitches. The song only has the solfege do-la, and the students only learned do-la so it worked out
well. I’m not a very strong singer, and singing in front of the students makes me nervous, so I think it caused me to have a difficult time singing in tune. For the symphonic band class, I decided to
do some breathing and long tone exercises with the students so that they could practice those things over fall break. We did a breathing exercise where I had the students hold up a piece of paper in
front of their face and blow a given amount of beats against the paper so that they could see how consistent their air was. We then transferred that to long tones. We also went over the eighth note -
eighth rest, eighth note - eighth rest rhythm. I had them write out the counting for quarter, quarter, half note, then four eighth notes and a half note, then eighth note - eighth rest, eighth note -
eighth rest, half note. We counted the rhythms individually, and then we went straight through all three measures a few times. The students then played the three measures on concert Bb on their
instruments.
Ashley Maeshiro (Sunday, 04 October 2020 16:56)
HOSA Workshop:
I enjoyed the HOSA workshop because it was a good way to learn how different teachers are teaching music given everyone’s different situations. My internet connection was spotty during the workshop, so it was sometimes difficult to keep up with everyone’s presentations when there was lag. I tried rebooting my router but it didn’t help. I liked how Mrs. Masuda-Kop showed us how to connect a link to a picture in Google Slides so that the students can just click on the picture to take them to the link. I thought that the concept was similar to the agenda slide at the beginning of our lessons on Smartboard where we click on the picture of the activity, and it takes us to the designated slide for that activity. I liked how Ms. Okinishi took us step-by-step through how to create and add different resources in Google Slides. I think that the troubleshooting portion of her presentation was really helpful to me because I am not super good with technology, so I liked how she explained what to check for in case things weren’t working. I liked Nicole and Minhee’s presentations because it was interesting to see how they have adapted their lessons given the restrictions of distance learning. I thought that it was interesting how Nicole adapted a partner song like Tideo so that the students could still do it at home. It was also interesting for me to see what Minhee is doing because I think she said that she teaches her lessons all through pre-recorded videos. Since Lauren and I are doing somewhat of a hybrid of what Minhee and Nicole are doing, it was nice to see how they approached their lessons. The formative assessment techniques that Katie presented on are actually things that we have used at Highlands. We used Nearpod and Time to Climb earlier in the school year, but we were having issues with getting all of the students connected, even though we were under the participant limit. I think that both of those resources are effective, but maybe with smaller class sizes it is easier to get everyone connected and able to participate. Your website Punaewele is very fruitful with resources and ideas for music teachers to use during this time.
Ashley Maeshiro (Sunday, 04 October 2020 16:07)
Mililani-Ike:
At Mililani-Ike this week, I worked with the second grade classes. I got to work with my focus class for the second time, and they did really well so I was happy. I taught two activities this week. I did a label/practice do activity with the song Acka Backa, and a practice ta-a activity with the song Wee Willie Winkie. I had similar challenges with both of these activities because they both have an ostinato to accompany the song. For Acka Backa, after we labeled do, I had the students practice do by singing the ostinato for the song on do as a drone while I sang the song. I played the drone on the xylophone and did the hand sign for do while I sang the song since I could not sing both parts at the same time. I had a difficult time explaining and getting the students to sing the drone on do while I sang the song. In Wee Willie Winkie, the students practiced ta-a through an ostinato that had ta-a’s in it. Similar to Acka Backa, the students were supposed to say the words to the ostinato and pat the rhythm, while I sang the song. I think that for both activities, some students ended up singing the song with me instead of doing the ostinato or drone part.
In the classes, we also practiced creating four beat patterns using rhythms that the students have learned. The worksheet that I made for their homework this week was to practice ta-a by creating four beat patterns using at least one ta-a. On Wednesday and Thursday, we practiced clapping and saying the rhythm syllables for four beat patterns verbally through call and response. Then, Lauren went over how to do the worksheet with the students and how to turn it in. Many students struggled with using ta-a in their patterns. There were four boxes to indicate four beats for each pattern, so Lauren explained to them that ta-a takes up two beats so the box next to the ta-a has to be empty, but many students still filled in all four boxes, or did not use ta-a. On Friday, when I did the four beat patterns in class, I notated the patterns that we clapped and counted. I tried to explain that ta-a is two beats long so it takes up two boxes, and that’s why the box next to ta-a is empty, but many students still were turning in assignments with errors. Although I think that having the students look at the rhythms that we were counting and clapping was beneficial, the classes today had a lot more behavior issues compared to Wednesday and Thursday’s classes. I think that many of them were already in fall break mode and were getting restless. Basically the same amount of students were turning in work with errors from today's classes compared to Wednesday and Thursday. As the students turn in work, I give them feedback and explain how to make corrections. Most of the students who resubmitted the assignment after I asked for corrections were already at the MP level and went up to ME, but most of the students who were at the WB level did not resubmit. The worksheets are somewhat optional because the students do not receive an actual grade.
Ashley Maeshiro (Sunday, 04 October 2020 16:06)
Highlands:
At Highlands this week, I taught the choir classes and the symphonic band class. Clement gave me the opportunity to do activities in the class that I thought would be appropriate for the last week of the quarter. I approached this last week of the quarter as a way to bring the quarter to a close. I tried to incorporate the concepts that we focused on the most during the quarter in these lessons. For choir, I taught two verses of the song Oiwi e, and I used solfege to help the students learn the pitches. The song only has the solfege do-la, and the students only learned do-la so it worked out well. I’m not a very strong singer, and singing in front of the students makes me nervous, so I think it caused me to have a difficult time singing in tune. For the symphonic band class, I decided to do some breathing and long tone exercises with the students so that they could practice those things over fall break. We did a breathing exercise where I had the students hold up a piece of paper in front of their face and blow a given amount of beats against the paper so that they could see how consistent their air was. We then transferred that to long tones. We also went over the eighth note - eighth rest, eighth note - eighth rest rhythm. I had them write out the counting for quarter, quarter, half note, then four eighth notes and a half note, then eighth note - eighth rest, eighth note - eighth rest, half note. We counted the rhythms individually, and then we went straight through all three measures a few times. The students then played the three measures on concert Bb on their instruments.