Students create music video in class with help from AEA
On a cold November day, 40 fifth-graders in one of the state’s larger school districts had a unique learning opportunity using tools and skills available through the AEA. Some of the students wrote the narrative for a video the group planned to produce about rainforest animals. Others in the group composed music for the video, and still others worked on illustrating it. Some of the students contributed in all three ways.
This cross-curricula project was the brainchild of an AEA technology consultant; an elementary music teacher; and the school’s art teacher.
The project required students to use skills from many subject areas including music, art, reading, math, science, social studies and history. Students picked up instruction in how to use GarageBand, an Apple Computer application for making music.
“I wanted to touch different disciplines and tap into the strengths of students,” the technology consultant explained. “Technology is an effective tool that, when integrated into the curriculum, enhances learning and broadens the knowledge that is normally taught from textbooks or lectures. It’s not a replacement for those teaching methods.”
The music teacher was excited to participate in the project, “At our school, we have bought into the use of technology to teach music skills but, unfortunately up to this point, not to this magnitude. I was thrilled to have our students participate because each of them got to experiment with their own technology. We usually have to share one computer among two or three students during our computer music week. This is a great opportunity for our students! ‘Mr. Jeff,’ as the technology consultant was called, had the students at ‘hello.’ Not only were the students thrilled to have someone teaching them about technology through music, they were, in a word, engaged.”
Jeff recounts many classroom situations like these when teachers watch him teach students about technology, and they can’t believe their eyes.
He says many teachers beg for answers to questions like, “How did you get Johnny to sit so quietly and participate in class?” Jeff’s answer is the same each time, “We engage them!”
“Students need to learn through tools that are applicable today. Technology is their world. This is one way teachers are connecting with students,” explained Jeff.
Without that connection, students can become distant, bored or worse yet, belligerent.
Not at this urban school on a brisk November day! In fact, a student with a behavioral disorder was invited to the classroom to learn GarageBand. No one could have picked him out from the group for having behavior problems during the technology session.
When asked by his teacher if he was glad to be invited to the learning session, the boy gave a resounding, “Yes!” The final product, or trophies, of this project will be DVDs created about animals’ lives in a rainforest. The project should be completed in February.
“These students are learning life skills that can be applied in a career some day,” explained their music teacher. “The students are following a procedure to make a product, and there is room for creativity.”
Jeff added, “It’s neat to witness a moment when a child realizes they have an untapped ability and someone believed in them.”
This is an actual story, but the names and specific identifying information have been changed.
