Stars' refelection.

Hey there! It's Ana María and Paula, the stars of this task. As this week we needed two stars for the task and we are only six Happy Flowers, we are sorry to announce that this week there won't be a curator post 😔. But don't worry, because this week has been really interesting and you will enjoy all of our posts!! 😜😜

Task 4 consisted of choosing an activity for Primary Education students from a book given by our teacher Linda and then carrying it out as if we were a group of students. After considering different activities, we picked "The Music Maker". Its objective was to create a song that recalled a certain subject with an application called JamStudio. We went for the subject "Feelings", and as the activity was meant for groups of three, we divided ourselves into two subgroups. Here you can see us working on our songs 😄🎶: 

This group formed by Ana María, Ana Isabel and Daniela was working on a scary song 👻 

This other group formed by Paula, Alicia and Elena was working on a happy song 😁

And these are the final results!:

However, the task didn't end here. After doing the activity, we had to answer some questions about it:

• What subject is this task about?

This task is about the subject of Music, as it is about composing a song.

• What level would be appropriate for this?

The most appropriate level for this task is the fourth grade, as it is prepared for nine years old children or even older.

• What is(are) the objective(s) of this task follow the Bloom Taxonomy?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d9/Blooms-pyramid.png

Knowledge: The children will be able to name the musical notes they have previously learned.

Comprehension: The teacher will play examples of compositions with a subject matter or theme, allowing students to guess what the songs are about. The teacher asks them why they think as they do.

Application: They have to compose a song with an app called “JamStudio”, in which they have to put into practice the chords they have learned. They are able to manage the app. Moreover, this song has to be related to the subject of “feelings”. 

Analysis: The students are able to identify each musical note and arrange them in chords that sound well. 

Synthesis: Given a list of musical notes and a stave, the students are able to create a composition.

Evaluation: The songs need to have a strong beginning and ending, trying to avoid being so sudden.

• What is the technology used on this task, and what is the technique/format this technology is focused on? (storytelling, robotics, images, diagraming, conceptual mapping… etc.)

The technology used on this task is an app called Jam Studio. It is focused on the creation of instrumental music. 

• What is the added value of using digital tools in this case?

This app enables everyone (kids and adults) to create songs in a very intuitive way, as it is not necessary to have any musical knowledge to use it. In order to make a song, kids have to try different combinations of chords and listen to the different styles available that each instrument has so it ends up sounding nice. In this task, they work on their creativity, on their musical ear and on their technological skills.

• What ethical problems could you (or your students or the parents) find doing this activity in the classroom?

The main ethical problem with this activity is that it is not suitable for completely deaf students. If this activity was adapted by using another application in which it was possible to choose the beat, with the help of their classmates these students would be able to participate. Sadly, in JamStudio, the beat is chosen by default. 

• What changes do you need to make to allow your students to do it from home?

This task is quite easy to adapt to a telematic format, as the main element to perform it is Jam Studio. It would be necessary to explain how the app works very clear to make sure everyone understands it. In terms of grouping, we see two options: make it individual or stick to the “group of three” format. In that last case, only one student would be able to use the app, but if they are using zoom, the student who is working on Jam Studio could share his or her screen so the others participate as well. However, if the students don’t have access to the Internet or to a computer from home, the task would have to change. Alternatively, the teacher could ask them to create a song by making sounds with everyday objects and recording it. 

Finally, we gathered all this information in a PowerPoint presentation. On Tuesday's online lesson we, the stars, displayed it to our classmates and our teacher by following the Pecha Kucha format (20 slides in 20 seconds each). If you want to take a look, here it is:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1NPrAjWmBWrche1moYkrxB0Qn468cD4kSjhQun4Zm1JU/edit?usp=sharing 

We would like to emphasize that this activity has been very pleasant and rewarding to carry out. We consider that this will help us in our future careers to take a different perspective when preparing assignments for the students. Having experienced the problems that emerge in the course of completing the activity has made us notice some aspects, like paying attention to the complexity of the activity and the time it requires, that will definitely affect the approach we will take when the time of exercising our job as teachers arrives.

This is it for this week!! We hope you are enjoying our learning journey and our posts 😄. 

See you after the break! 👋