Last Fall I designed a 6th grade field trip for my Foundations of Middle School class. I planned a field trip to Umstead State Park and put together this website with info about the trip, curricular connections, supply lists, maps, etc. For my math and technology assignment, I showed how the math curriculum could be explored through experiential learning on this trip. The following unit explains how teachers can teach and reinforce multi-step word problems involving rate of speed and volume of geometric shapes with the integration of technology. It is also valuable to teach students that a walk in the woods is sometimes what the brain needs in order to have an a-ha moment. [Read The Nature of a Math "Eureka!" - Going on a hike helped a professor solve and explain fractal patterns.]
Unit Information
Subject: Math
Grade Level: 6th NC Common Core Standards:
4c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions 2b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. Student Objective: Enjoy the great outdoors, use mathematical equations to solve for the area and volume of objects in their real environment. Use formulas to solve rate and proportion problems. Student Essential Question: How can math be used in the real world? Materials: 1 tape measure, 1 meter stick, 1 stopwatch, 1 mobile device w/ Planimeter App installed, Quizlet, Sketchcast. Unit Description:
Problem SetIntegrated Tech Tools
Quizlet Set courtesy of user 1000020725.
Perimeter: 1,386.15 yd
Area: 16.4 ac Point 1: 35.837583, -78.745734 Point 2: 35.838217, -78.745480 Point 3: 35.838885, -78.744794 Point 4: 35.839202, -78.744625 Point 5: 35.840007, -78.745502 Point 6: 35.839887, -78.746125 Point 7: 35.839193, -78.746590 Point 8: 35.838336, -78.746505 Point 9: 35.837257, -78.746981 Point 10: 35.836769, -78.747372 Point 11: 35.836606, -78.747382 Point 12: 35.836195, -78.747139 Point 13: 35.835373, -78.746379 Point 14: 35.835852, -78.745480 Point 15: 35.836323, -78.744963
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When asked to write an integrated technology for the arts, I immediately thought of this graphic motion piece by designer Esteban Diacono, which represents the song "Slowly" by composer Olafur Arnalds. It blends music, art and technology in a beautiful, emotional manner.
Ljósið from Esteban Diácono on Vimeo.
I came across this video when I was researching synesthesia, or the cross-wiring of the brain's senses. [A character in the book Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool has synesthesia. Another book with a synesthete as a main character is A Mango Shaped Space by Wendy Mass. ] Individuals with synesthesia might see color while hearing music, taste sound, or smell certain foods when hearing words.
Did you know that the artist Kandinsky was a synesthete? About art and music he said, "Color is the keyboard, the eyes are the harmonies, the soul is the piano with many strings. The artist is the hand that plays, touching one key or another, to cause vibrations in the soul."
While this video is not created by a synesthete, I like to think that it represents what a synesthete might see when listening to a piece of music, the motion designer bringing to life the theme of the music with different colors brushstrokes, and movements to hint at the deeper meaning behind the piece.
That deeper meaning, the message in a piece of music, art, or text, (THEME) is something that I always want my students to question. Theme can be deeply explored and expressed in the arts. This thought led me do develop an integrated lesson combining music, visual arts, and literacy. This is more of a mini-unit PBL rather than a one-day lesson. Lesson Plan
Grade Level: 5th Grade
Subject: Collaborative Lesson between Music, Art, and Language Arts. Objective: The learner will work collaboratively, compose music, create visual art, and write a story expressing a similar theme. She will create a multimedia presentation to convey that theme in an artistic way. Students' Compelling Questions:
NC Essential Music Standards: 5.MR.1 Use improvisation to create short songs and instrumental pieces, using a variety of sound sources, including traditional and non-traditional sounds, body sounds, and sounds produced by electronic means. 5.ML.3.2 Create compositions and arrangements within specified guidelines. 5.ML.3 Create music using a variety of sound and notational sources. 5.ML.3.3 Create rhythmic compositions using notation for whole, dotted half, half, and quarter notes; whole, half and quarter rests; and beamed eighth notes in duple, triple, and common time and which are arranged using a variety of sound sources. 5.CR.1.2 Understand the relationships between music and concepts from other areas. NC Essential Standards Visual Art 5.V.3.3 Create art using the processes of drawing, painting, weaving, printing, stitchery, collage, mixed media, sculpture, ceramics, and current technology. 5.CX.2.2 Exemplify how information and skills learned in art can be applied in other disciplines. ISTE NETS: 1b. Create original works as means of personal or group expression. 2a. Interact, collaborate and publish with peers, experts or others employing a variety of digital environment and media. 2b. Communicate ideas effectively to multiple audiences using a variety of media and formats. Objective: The learner will work collaboratively, compose music, create visual art, and write a story expressing a similar theme. She will create a multimedia presentation to convey that theme in an artistic way. Materials: Musical instruments or garage band, microphone, Pinterest, class website to house directions and resource links. iPads or BYOD, Field or similar sketching/ drawing apps, Google Docs, iMovie, microphone, strong internet connection. Unit Outline:
CONSIDERATIONS: This lesson can easily be adapted to suit upper grades. I designed it with a "technology rich" school in mind in which students are already fairly fluent with digital literacy. Scaffold, scaffold, scaffold to fit the needs of your learners. In Teaching Children's Literature, one thing I'm learning about is the importance of design. Illustrations in picture books have evolved over time. Initially, in "Dick and Jane" books, the pictures were symmetrical and representational. They simply showed exactly what was going on as described in the text. As children's literature has evolved, we've started to see other styles of illustration emerge.
And with other styles of illustration, we also see the evolution of text-picture relationships to include.
Not really ever having taken an art class, I wasn't sure how to evaluate a book based on its design. Sure, I could tell that Journey, by Aaron Becker is a beautiful book. I just wasn't sure why. This infographic (below) and this awesome video created by designer/ author Carter Higgins helped me understand the basics. Design in extremely important in a picture book. And in a wordless picture book like Aaron Becker's 2014 Caldecott Honor Book, it plays an important role in helping the reader understand what is going on with only visual cues. Check out my video explaining how Becker uses design to propel the plot, convey mood, and express a theme. Still Interested? Check out...
One of the summer classes I'm taking through NC State is called Technology Integration Theory and Practice. Among other projects, I'll be designing content-area lessons for a science, math, language arts, social studies, PE/ health and fine arts class. All of these lessons will involve using technology in a way that supports the curriculum. I'm excited about this project as I'll be moving to 5th grade next year and will be able to create materials for my future students and colleagues.
My first lesson is a science lesson. Science was always my least favorite subject in school, and since I've always avoided it, it is probably my weakest subject. I decided to form a lesson plan based off of what my 6th graders are currently learning from their science teacher (I teach language arts). That way, I figured, my students could help me with the content information, and it might prove useful to the science teachers in my school or at least serve as a study tool for the students. Right now, the students are studying a unit called "Growing and Flowing." Their essential question is "How do plans survive and reproduce?" The students have already learned (through flipped videos, teacher instruction, diagrams, etc.) about the parts of a flower and how it reproduces. But... according to their teacher, many of the students didn't do too well on the last quiz because they're not studying and haven't committed their learning to memory. I decided that an "expression of learning" activity in which students taught their peers (or even younger grades) to identify the parts of the flower and their functions, could increase students' mastery of the standards. Explain Everything is an app that worked well with this activity. Below you will see my lesson plan and a "student sample" that I made with the help of Jaden, Sarah, Ajay and Alex. Thank you for teaching me about the parts of a flower and their purposes! Thanks too to Ms. M, science teacher extraordinaire, for checking over my science facts. Suzie Studentface's Student Example:A few weeks ago I handed in a letter of resignation to the Wake County Public School System. Although I love North Carolina, my school, and my community, I feel like it's time to move on to the next adventure. I am sad to go. In fact, since I made this decision I've often felt a twinge of guilt. How could I leave in a time when many North Carolina teachers are moving on to higher paying jobs either out of state or in different fields? Working hard to earn a Master's degree and not being compensated for it makes it easier to leave. Giving all of my time and energy to a job for five years, working hard to become a team leader, department chair, directing school plays, and sponsoring after-school clubs, and then having my tenure taken away makes it easier to leave. But the friends I've made, the connection I feel to my community and my school, my love for my profession and my students, and the feeling that North Carolina is my home make it hard to say goodbye. I'm not leaving the teaching profession all together, (I don't think that would be possible for me), just changing my job title from North Carolina teacher to International Educator for the next few years. Teaching internationally has been a dream of mine for a long time now, so I'm excited to share that I will be teaching 5th grade in Kuwait next year at the Universal American School. Kuwait is a small country in the Middle East with a population of around 3 million people. It's very tiny compared to the United States. See a size comparison below comparing Kuwait to North Carolina from ifitweremyhome.com. Many people I've spoken with are worried for my safety as there is a lot of media right now about dangers in the Middle East. I have talked with several individuals who are living in Kuwait now or have in the recent past and they all say that they feel safer in Kuwait than when they lived in the United States. There are many American interests in Kuwait (buisness, oil, education), there are several American military bases in Kuwait, and as a culture, it is just safer (no guns, no alcohol). Here's an interesting comparison from ifitweremyhome.com about what life is like in Kuwait as compared to the states. I am eager to experience a new culture, to feel what it's like to be the one who is "different." In a time when our media misrepresents the Middle East and there's a lot of cultural misunderstanding, I am eager to listen and learn. I also suspect that traveling internationally will deepen my appreciation for my American citizenship and the rights that it allows me. There's a lot to do before I leave. I need to finish out the school year with my 6th graders and say goodbye to my students, colleagues and friends (and clean out my classroom, yikes!); finish my Master's degree in New Literacy and Global Learning from NC State (I have three classes to go this summer); figure out all of the tricky paperwork involved in getting a Visa to teach in Kuwait; sell most of my possessions; visit family in Illinois; go to the UK with my best friend, and hopefully learn Arabic. It's going to be a crazy summer, and it's going to be hard to have so much change happen at once, but I think it's worth it when you're pursuing your dreams. And as corny and idealistic as that sounds, that's what I'm doing.
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Jill Zappiateacher, grad student, bibliophile Archives
October 2015
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