921-Borges,+Lisa

Lisa Borges June 21, 2010 Final Project __**Creating a Wiki on an Indian Instrument**__

__**Grouping**__: 2 or 3 students per instrument **Time**: 2-3 weeks (10-15 class meetings)


 * __Objective__**: For students to learn about and develop an appreciation for a particular Indian Instrument. During the research process students will learn to us a social bookmarking site. Additionally, students will learn about and explore with collaboration tools such as Google docs, Google sites and or wiki spaces. Students will demonstrate their understanding through the creation of a multimedia rich wiki. **__Goals are for students__**:
 * To learn about music in another culture.
 * To develop an appreciation for their instrument
 * To learn about an unfamiliar instrument
 * To understand how the instrument was created
 * To provide a summary on the history of the instrument
 * To understand how the instrument is constructed
 * To understand how to instrument is played including performance techniques
 * To understand and explain how the instrument has evolved
 * To use correct musical terminology (such as pitch, sound) when describing the instrument
 * To use a social bookmarking site to collect and share research
 * To successfully use a blog to participate in class discussions, offer feedback, and ask and answer questions
 * To use online collaboration tools to create their product (such as google docs and sites)
 * To work collaboratively with peers to develop a wiki
 * To successfully incorporate video/sound into their wiki
 * To draw upon their prior skills and explore and discover new ones

__**Project Overview and Introduction**__ One of the most essential skills in today's workplaces is the ability to successfully collaborate with others. The advance of the Internet from a basically static entity to a read/write environment has drastically shaped the way people "work together" on tasks. For this lesson, you will work in a small group to explore a classical instrument from India. Through research, you will learn about its history, construction, and how it is played. Synthesize what you learn and create a summary of your results. The following questions should be answered.


 * Did it come from or was it heavily influenced by another instrument or country?


 * How has it or the way it is played evolved over time?


 * How is the instrument constructed? What materials or processes are used in its creation?


 * How is the instrument played (performance techniques)? What types of sounds are produced?


 * In what ways is the instrument used and why is it used?
 * What type of music is it used in (genre). Find a sample to include in your final product.


 * Are there any famous songs or performers associated with your instrument? * How is your instrument related to a contemporary one? Did it evolve from yours? how and why?

The primary tool you will use for your research will be the Internet, but feel free to enhance your exploration by visiting the library or drawing from other sources you might have available to you. Most of your collaboration will be done online though the use of Google docs, Gmail, and either Wikispaces or Google sites. Your end product should be a wiki about your particular instrument which addresses at least all the aspects touched on above. In addition to text, your wiki must include video and song files. The end result should be succinct, yet comprehensive, interesting, visually appealing, informative, and professional. Finally, there will be a classroom blog set up to answer any questions you might have. All groups must post at least once to the blog and must respond at least once to another team's questions and or comments. This is a higher level project with room for a lot of freedom and creativity. Be responsible and have fun!

__**Other information to consider for Wiki:**__ Instrument classification (Idiophone, membranophone, chordophone, aerophone). Range of musical instrument (Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, Bass, Contrabass) Time periods through historical development


 * __Lessons:__**

__ Day 1 __ Introduce project concept and read through Project Overview (see below). Announce groups. Students select instrument (randomly from hat) and seats for session. Students begin brainstorming ideas and start rudimentary search.

__ Lesson 1 (Day 2): Using diigo Preparation__: Have them install the Diigo toolbar via Firefox (IE won't allow it) if necessary. //If this step is necessary, make sure students sit in the same seat each time they are in the lab or they will have to install the toolbar each time.// Previously, have set up a work group for each of group of students by managing members through the Diigo teacher console. The advantage of doing so through the teacher console is that if you use the same class list and need various groupings in the future, it is easy to re-assign members. Also, you will have access in order to need to check what students are bookmarking and what they are highlighting, Make sure when you create each group, you go into the alert settings and un-check to notify you whenever anyone posts to it.

__Model:__ Demonstrate how they can bookmark, highlight, and even share sticky notes. Have them watch tutorial via the LCD projector or via shared folder (only first 4 minutes needed). Point out that they can use any of the Vimeo tutorials for help. __//Notes//__: *If several people highlight the same article, they should use different colors so they don't highlight on top of one another. Tell students that it is better to "share" the bookmark after highlighting rather than vice-versa.
 * Point out the fact that they can copy and share images as well
 * In order to delete existing highlighting, point to the highlighted section, get the pencil tool, right click, and choosing delete
 * Updated highlights happen, but you won't see the update reflected in the time/date stamp. That only shows initial bookmark date/time.
 * Give a little time (like 1 minute) to allow cached pages to refresh

__ Lesson 2 (Day 4): Google Docs __ Explain the need and advantages of collaboration tools. Ask students how they think they will communicate ideas and share resources. Explain options (i.e. flash drive, e-mail) and then model use of Google docs. Explain that there are multiple tools (even Microsoft is joying in with the use of Skydrive), but they will probably use docs the most. Show how to add collaborators (invite people to a file) both in docs and with Google sites. Show how they can chat with collaborators. As a future mini-lesson, demonstrate how to revert to previous versions. Remind them that their work is accessible from anything with internet access, so they can work from home or even a portable device. Suggest that they use Google docs to create an outline to put notes for the specific areas to cover: introduction history construction performance genre samples, media support famous performers Evolution

__Lesson 3 (Day 5): Using a blog__ __Preparation__: Establish classroom blog. Go into settings to adjust visual layout and to set permissions so that any student may offer commentary. Set comments so that they need to be moderated before being posted to site. Adjust date/time stamp to Eastern to correctly reflect time of posts. Set up link to blog from classroom web site so students can easily navigate there. Blog location: [] __Set-Up__: Ask class how we usually communicate in a classroom (i.e. Written responses or raised hand). Ask them the advantages and disadvantages of doing so in a traditional classroom format. Ask them to suggest the potential benefits/problems if it were done online in a social networking or chat forum. Record responses on board for future reference. Explain what a blog is and tell students they will be using one for several communication pieces while completing their next project. __First Post__: After students have been introduced to using Diigo (a social bookmarking and highlighting web site and online tool), and once they have been using it comfortably for a few days, ask them to post a review listing any positives and negatives on the classroom blog. Prompt:

[|Diigo, What Do You Think???]
After working with Diigo, post you comments on the product below. Please list + before any positive comments and - before any negative ones.

//Notes: After actually using this with my class, I would make the following changes in the future://
 * //Set a required number of sentences for the response or the students are much too brief//
 * //Make sure on a daily basis that the blog is allowable through the school filter, it was blocked on 2 separate days for no apparent reason, but it made it difficult to require it as part of the grade.//
 * //Have students write their review of Diigo once the majority of the research for the project is complete.//

__Second Post__: During the course of the project, encourage students to ask questions using the blog as the form of communication. That way, answers can be posted for all students to see. Also, if you find that a question is being asked repeatedly, post it along with its answer to the blog for future student reference. Example of post: [|How do I chat with collaborators using Google Docs?] ** If more than one collaborator is logged on and using the shared doc, you will see it indicated in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Simply click on the other users name and you can begin chatting with them. Be careful, not to get sucked into having conversations that aren't related to your project.

//Notes: This didn’t work out the way I had hoped because I set the blog up for comment moderation. I needed to do the comment moderation because I had to fight with IT to even allow the blog access. But, because I needed to approve every comment, students felt discouraged and impatient about asking and responding to other questions. Instead, the blog became a message board of issues I noticed the children were having as they progressed through the project.//

__Adaptation/Differentiated Instruction__: Instruction and modeling are presented in multi-modal format with visual projection along with oral instruction. For students with physical or cognitive limitations, expectations regarding blog entry length and correct grammar/spelling conventions can be adjusted.

__Assessment__**__:__** Students will be assessed based on the following criteria/checklist Are postings made by deadline? (25 points) Do postings reflect thought/effort? (25 points) Is posting proofread and spell checked? (25 points) Is posting appropriate and relevant? (25 points)

Score from blog entries to be added to total score for interdisciplinary unit once complete.

Lesson 4 (Day 6) : What exactly is a wiki? Explain what a wiki is and how through their existence, the information on the web has changed and is in fact in a state of flux. Tell students that they are creating a wiki using their choice of software tools. They may use Google sites (which they have previous experience with) or use a site content management system created just for the purpose (i.e. Wikispaces). Show students past examples created in both types of forums. Briefly discus and model as necessary the following: adding collaborators, making public, reverting to prior copies (revision histories), inserting images, formatting text, and inserting gadgets.

Lesson 5 (Day 8) : Incorporation of Video and Sound Model on smart board some additional resources (available through links on website). Collectively brainstorm ideas for final product. Find videos and sound clips to support understanding. Explain and show examples of how video clips and songs should extend and enhance learning. Don't simply use the first 5 results they find. Clips should have corresponding captions to illustrate to audience their relevance and purpose. If needed, show students how to use a tool like zamzar.net to convert files into different formats if needed by wiki software program.

Lesson 6 (Day 10): Elements of design reviewed. Discuss as a class what makes a wiki visually strong or distracting. Look at prior students examples and brainstorm a list of visual strengths and weaknesses. Expand on any topic that might be missed. Possible topics include: complimentary color schemes, readable font size, using font size to draw attention to section headings, having text wrap around images, gadgets or video boxes, spell checking and proofreading (Firefox does it automatically as a browser component as opposed to IE which you will have to remember to run a spell check.) Illustrate for students how to use a table when having difficulty making images or sections of text next to one another.

Final Thoughts: Conduct any min-lessons as the need arises. Refocus students as needed. Read through project rubric with them. If time permits, have them score a prior group's wiki and see if their assessment matches yours so that they have a better understanding of how they will be scored.

Closing :
 * Have students give short oral presentations summarizing their findings.
 * Have students assess at least two groups wiki's and score them using project rubric.

__**Project Rubric**__
 * **With distinction** || **Meets Standard** || **Below Standard** || **Attempt Made, Serious Errors** ||
 * Content of wiki is very detailed and comprehensive, yet succinct. Content is complete and demonstrates understanding by making larger connections. All target questions are answered. Construction, performance techniques, exemplar artists or pieces, genres, and evolution are accurately depicted.
 * 40 Points** || Content of wiki is fairly detailed and more or less comprehensive. Content may be incomplete, or does not demonstrate complete understanding. Many target questions were answered. Construction, performance techniques, exemplar artists or pieces, genres, and evolution are generally depicted.
 * 30 Points** || Content of wiki lacks detail and specificity. Content is incomplete, and rarely demonstrates complete understanding. Few target questions were answered. Construction, performance techniques, exemplar artists or pieces, genres, and evolution are generally not depicted.
 * 20 Points** || Content of wiki is poorly, or not detailed. Target questions not answered. Does not describe construction, performance techniques, famous artists or pieces, and evolutions.
 * 10 Points** ||
 * Writing is thoughtful, concise and easy to understand. Sentences flow logically. Work has been thoroughly proofread and spell checked for errors.
 * 15 Points** || Writing is thoughtful, concise and easy to understand. Mostly, sentences have logical flow. Work has minor spelling and grammatical errors.
 * 11 Points** || Writing is not easy to understand. Sentences lack logical flow. Work has several spelling and grammatical errors.
 * 7 Points** || Writing is poor. Sentences fragmented. Work has many spelling and grammatical errors.
 * 3 Points** ||
 * Student actively leads, or participates heavily in research and project work on a daily basis for duration of class time: No time wasted.
 * 25 Points** || Student actively participates in research and project work on a daily basis for duration of class time: little time wasted.
 * 19 Points** || Student participates in research and project work, but does not make efficient use of time: Much time wasted.
 * 13 Points** || Student does not participate in research and project work: Very little or No effort invested.
 * 7 Points** ||
 * Wiki is visually appealing. Text is easy to read, good balance of empty/filled space. Colors are complimentary.
 * 10 Points** || Wiki is well organized. Text is easy to read, good balance of empty/filled space. Colors are generally complimentary.
 * 7 Points** || Wiki is not visually appealing. Text is not easy to read, and page space is cluttered.
 * 4 Points** || Wiki is disorganized, and poorly designed. Text is many different sizes, and there are too many contrasting colors.
 * 1 Point** ||
 * Wiki incorporates at least two exemplary video and/or sound clips that clearly extend the understanding of the topic explained
 * 20 Points** || Wiki incorporates at least two working video and/or sound clips that support the understanding of the topic explained.
 * 15 Points** || Wiki incorporates at least one working video and/or sound clips that support or extend the understanding of the topic explained
 * 10 Points** || Wiki does not incorporate relevant video and/or sound clips.
 * 5 Points** ||
 * Total Score: ||  ||

__** Modifications **__:
 * Carefully assign groups based on student's needs, strengths, and weaknesses.
 * For students in need of lesson modification, provide specific questions for answering and adjust project length accordingly. For students with severe learning disabilities create shell structure of wiki or allow for student to create PowerPoint Presentation instead of site based wiki.
 * Other possible countries for exploration: Iran, India, Nepal, Japan, China, Morocco, South Africa, Greece, Australia, Pacific Islands, Cuba, Trinidad/Tobago, Russia, Brazil

__**Alternative idea**__: > Prompt: "Identify an instrument native to the country you have been assigned. It should be an instrument unique to the culture and people of the country you have selected. It should be a folk instrument commonly used in traditional settings such as religious or political ceremonies. Do not choose modern instruments such trombone, snare drum,piano, etc."
 * Have students explore a particular country and pick multiple instrument indigenous to the traditional music of that culture/country.

1. Creativity and Innovation Students demonstrate creative thinking, construct knowledge, and develop innovative products and processes using technology. Students: a. apply existing knowledge to generate new ideas, products, or processes. b. create original works as a means of personal or group expression. c. use models and simulations to explore complex systems and issues.
 * __ NETS Standards Addressed by Lesson __**:

2. Communication and Collaboration Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: a. interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. b. communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. c. develop cultural understanding and global awareness by engaging with learners of other cultures. d. contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.

3. Research and Information Fluency Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students: a. plan strategies to guide inquiry. b. locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. c. evaluate and select information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks.

4. Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students: a. identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation. b. plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.

5. Digital Citizenship Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students: a. advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. b. exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity.

6. Technology Operations and Concepts Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: a. understand and use technology systems. b. select and use applications effectively and productively. c. troubleshoot systems and applications. d. transfer current knowledge to learning of new technologies. Examples of student's finished projects can be viewed here.

Borges June 18, 2010 Deliverable # 3

Dear Dr. Geismar, In the past few weeks, I have attended several technology meetings with you and other staff members from buildings throughout our district. While our meetings have been good, we all seem to leave each one with a host of ideas and opinions to still discuss. During the last meeting, you asked if the people present would be willing to serve on a technology committee. I believe there were a lot of hesitant people because we are unsure of the level of commitment and time the committee would need. Additionally, our last few meetings have been primarily with middle and high school staff leaving no voice from our elementary school personnel. In an effort to produce a more effective means of communicating our ideas, and an arena where we can collaboratively work towards technology initiatives, I suggest the creation of a technology committee blog. A blog is a online place where articles, comments, and thoughts can be posted and responded to. A blog would allow for asynchronous meeting times which would be most conducive to all our busy schedules and allow participants from all schools and even from the community if so desired. As time progresses, we could move towards collaborations in the form of shared documents perhaps through a wiki. There, we could develop things that were mentioned in our meetings such as technology policies and the technology plan required by our school improvement teams and the state. Such blogs have been used in several school districts such as [|Cave Creek Unified Arts District] in Arizona who created one to collaborate on pros and cons of their current technology plan. [|Ridgewood High School] in Illinois uses their technology blog to record meeting minutes and communicate the results with all interested parties. If such an arena sounds conducive to you, I would be more than willing to set it up using blogger. While there are many blog hosting arenas out there, I am suggesting blogger because it is free, one of the most popular, and it synchronizes nicely with the Google accounts many staff members already have. All I would need is a list of names of participants, a determination of whether you want this private or public, and to know who if anyone should be in charge of comment moderation (to prohibit unprofessional or unfavorable postings, just a safety measure). The only other thing I would need is to make sure the filter allows access to read and post to such a forum. I can forward the blog address to our IT director so that he can add it as an exception URL. If any of this is unclear or confusing, I would be more than happy to meet with you one on one to discuss your concerns and help you navigate this new frontier. I truly believe that its adoption will be a step towards more effective communication and technology integration in our district and that discussions on its board will help bridge the gaps between our schools. Sincerely, Lisa Borges

Lisa Borges June 11, 2010
 * __Deliverable #2__**

I have decided to conduct a mini-lesson on how post to a blog and include a requirement to post as part of the scoring rubric on a 2 week multi-disciplinary unit on Indian instruments. For students to successfully use a blog to participate in class discussions, offer feedback, and ask and answer questions surrounding a short term group project. Establish classroom blog. Go into settings to adjust visual layout and to set permissions so that any student may offer commentary. Set comments so that they need to be moderated before being posted to site. Adjust date/time stamp to Eastern to correctly reflect time of posts. Set up link to blog from classroom web site so students can easily navigate there. Blog location: http://mrsborges.blogspot.com/ Ask class how we usually communicate in a classroom (ie. Written responses or raised hand). Ask them the advantages and disadvantages of doing so in a traditional classroom format. Ask them to suggest the potential benefits/problems if it were done online in a social networking or chat forum. Record responses on board for future reference. Explain what a blog is and tell students they will be using one for several communication pieces while completing their next project. After students have been introduced to using Diigo (a social bookmarking and highlighting web site and online tool), and once they have been using it comfortably for a few days, ask them to post a review listing any positives and negatives on the classroom blog. Prompt:
 * __Introduction__**:
 * __Objective__**:
 * __Preparation__**:
 * __Set-Up__**:
 * __First Post__**:

[|Diigo, What Do You Think???]
After working with Diigo, post you comments on the product below. Please list + before any positive comments and - before any negative ones.

//Note: After actually using this with my class, I would make the following changes I the future:// o //Set a required number of sentences for the response or the students are much too brief// o //Make sure on a daily basis that the blog is allowable through the school filter, it was blocked on 2 separate days for no apparent reason, but it made it difficult to require it as part of the grade.// o //Have students write their review of Diigo once the majority of the research for the project is complete.// During the course of the project, encourage students to ask questions using the blog as the form of communication. That way, answers can be posted for all students to see. Also, if you find that a question is being asked repeatedly, post it along with its answer to the blog for future student reference. Example of post: If more than one collaborator is logged on and using the shared doc, you will see it indicated in the upper right hand corner of the screen. Simply click on the other users name and you can begin chatting with them. Be careful, not to get sucked into having conversations that aren't related to your project.
 * __Second Post__**:
 * [|How do I chat with collaborators using Google Docs?] **

//Note: This didn’t work out the way I had hoped because I set the blog up for comment moderation. I needed to do the comment moderation because I had to fight with IT to even allow the blog access. But, because I needed to approve every comment, students felt discouraged and impatient about asking and responding to other questions. Instead, the blog became a message board of issues I noticed the children were having as they progressed through the project.//

Instruction and modeling are presented in multi-modal format with visual projection along with oral instruction. For students with physical or cognitive limitations, expectations regarding blog entry length and correct grammar/spelling conventions can be adjusted.
 * __Adaptation/Differentiated Instruction__**:

Students will be assessed based on the following criteria/checklist Are postings made by deadline? (25 points) Do postings reflect thought/effort? (25 points) Is posting proofread and spellchecked? (25 points) Is posting appropriate and relevant? (25 points)
 * __Assessment:__**

Score from blog entries to be added to total score for interdisciplinary unit once complete.

Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students:
 * __NETS/ISTE Student Standards__**
 * 2.** **Communication and Collaboration**


 * a. || interact, collaborate, and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital environments and media. ||
 * b. || communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. ||

Students apply digital tools to gather, evaluate, and use information. Students:
 * 3.** **Research and Information Fluency**
 * b. || locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. ||
 * b. || locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media. ||

Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources. Students:
 * 4.** **Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making**
 * a. || identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation. ||
 * c. || collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. ||
 * c. || collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions. ||


 * 5.** **Digital Citizenship** Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior. Students:
 * a. || advocate and practice safe, legal, and responsible use of information and technology. ||
 * b. || exhibit a positive attitude toward using technology that supports collaboration, learning, and productivity. ||
 * c. || demonstrate personal responsibility for lifelong learning. ||
 * d. || exhibit leadership for digital citizenship. ||