5 March 2010 Meeting Notes

Here is some of what was sketched out at our meeting this morning regarding this coming week at iTec:

  • Have all of the “I am…” variation pieces ready to present at the end of class Monday
  • Tuesday begin more work with Frooty Loops, emphasizing the connection between body percussion and beats
    • Begin in a large group; I suggest that we have four mentors demonstrate what we will next be having the kids do in small groups of four: each person is assigned a part of a drum set (bass, snare, cymbal, high hat) and directed by a mentor in creating a beat
    • Split into small groups of four, each of which is directed by a mentor in this way
    • Either immediately afterward or even simultaneously, transfer this beat into Frooty Loops; this may require that the computers already be out if we decide to have them translate their beats instrument by instrument
    • Follow up this activity with a short lesson on pattern
      • Begin by showing some examples of visual patterns; ask students to identify the “elements” that make up the pattern, where they begin and end, how many times they repeat
      • Switch to Frooty Loops, were we show three (or more) examples- a short, simple pattern of just two or three repeating sounds; a more complicate pattern where each element is eight beats long; a last, non-pattern, possibly a scale- and again ask the students to identify what makes or doesn’t make them a pattern
      • At this point have students identify the patterns in the beats they created earlier in small groups
      • Bring in examples of popular songs (Party in the USA anyone?) and have students identify patterns there (verse, chorus, verse, chorus, chorus) -- this will help to connect the lesson to “real life” and answer the “so what?” question!
  • Wednesday, add a verbal, language arts element to the beats they created the day before (i.e. poetry, rap) and beginning filming clips or taking still photographs that they can put to this song, they idea being to put more emphasis on the music portion of the project by making video to fit a piece of music as opposed to the other way around
  • Thursday, finish up gathering footage/photos and import, convert, and edit
    • At this point we will need to show everyone how to convert their Frooty Loops beats into Windows MovieMaker-- worksheets!
    • Present finished videos to the class

As always, add or edit where you see fit. Hope this helps!