Tips for Using Pandora Internet Radio in the Classroom

In the past few years I have found myself addicted to listening to Pandora Internet Radio while working at the computer, driving in the car, or doing chores, like mowing the lawn.  Why anyone would buy music, especially CD's, is beyond me.  I understand you don't want ads, but a minimal $4.00 a month, hooked to your iTunes account, and there are no ads to worry about.  This use of Pandora by myself got me thinking about how it can be used in the classroom.

1.) Background music can help keeps student from talking because music can keep people focused and attentive.  Our Art teacher is always playing music in his classrooms.  I am well aware that not every teacher would do this, but some might be interested in sharing the music that they like with their students.  At least it would introduce them to music not created by former Disney actors!

2.) We don't need to lose the Arts in the school system.  Music Appreciation is an important part of that.  Students could use Pandora to make their own stations and improve their musical tastes by discovering the music that is suggested for them.  Students will surprisingly discover music they like if they are just introduced to it.  Students could then do a project where the discuss their findings.

3.) Music has been proven to help students improve their study habits and attention, as well as organizing information.  I would often have a classical or instrumental music station playing while students are working on study guides or taking a test.  I surveyed my students before hand to make sure this was okay.  Remember, it is the TYPE of music that helps.  Most music with lyrics would have an adverse effect.

4.) Use Pandora Internet Radio as a reward.  Let students choose a genre of music to play during a classroom activity based on completion of a project or class average on a test scores.  Music is becoming a daily aspect of kids lives because it is so much more accessible (and I understand radio has always existed, but that has ads and much more talking...not just music).

5.) Social Studies could have students use Pandora to research music from different time periods.  Pandora allows users to easily search for music based on decades.  Recently I wanted to relive the glory days of the 80's music, and a simple search found me a station.  As teachers teach those decades in history, they could have a daily or weekly music check and play songs from that time period.   Another option, that I used in my class before, was to using Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire" to teach about History. 



6.) Pandora Internet Radio provides bios about the artist as well.  Musicians are influential people in society.  Having students research backgrounds of artist would be a good way for students to understand why they sing the songs they sing.

7.) Another feature of Pandora is that several of the songs come with the ability to see the lyrics.  English teachers could use this feature to teach about the meanings behind the music and the poetic substance of the music.  They could also collaborate with History teachers to discuss how music played a role in society.

8.) Elementary teachers can use Pandora Internet Radio as well because several of the Kidz Bop and music for elementary ages students is available on Pandora as well. 

9.) Business and Marketing Teachers would benefit from reading the Pandora Blog to learn how their business works and how they are able to play this music for free and/or for a small fee.  It is a pretty fascinating business model.

10.) Government teachers might be interested in discussing the Internet Radio Fairness Act which was recently introduced into Congress.  This would be a great opportunity for a real world and relevant lesson for students.  Students could write to their Congressman or Congresswoman encouraging their support for or against this Bill.

One thing about music; Ask a student...or even think of yourself, the minute you hear a song on the radio you probably can start singing right a long; sometimes no matter how old it is.  Music and memorization go hand in hand.  Shouldn't we be doing the same with our students?  Helping them learn in the best way possible, which sometimes includes listening to music.  I have been in several classrooms over the past few years and the most attentive students to an activity or an assignment were listening to music.  Some students cannot learn in silence.

Below is a video explaining Pandora on a Mobile Phone, and the process is fairly similar to the web version.


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Smore Pages

Recently I wrote a post about a new service called Tackk which provides users the ability to easily create web content on a single page.  Smore Pages is another option for doing creating a single webpage or web-flyer.  Smore Pages are easily available for viewing on Tablets and mobile phones, as well as Facebook.  Another bonus features is the analytics that it provides so that teachers and students can track the number of visitors, where they are coming from and what they did while visiting your page. 

Smore Pages is currently in Beta, and free to use.  Users will either need to log-in with Facebook or they can create an account using the general information of name, email, and password.  Smore Pages provides several options for embedding content and easily allows users to edit using drag and drop.  Each page has various styles and themes that can be utilized when creating a web-flyer.  For more information and to see it in action, see the video below.


These types of services appear to be the next thing in web-publishing and would definitely provides students with another alternative for producing content on the web.

Tuesday Teaching Strategy - Commit and Toss

Commit and Toss

Commit and Toss is a peer evaluation and writing strategy where students first respond in writing to a question or prompt.  Second, the students will wad up that paper and toss it across the room.  Each student then collects a nearby paper wad to read aloud in a GUIDED CLASSROOM DISCUSSION.  This might be a good time to rearrange your desks to better suit this activity.

The discussion led by the teacher, promotes an environment in which all students participate in evaluating and revising the student responses to the question(s).  Because Commit and Toss involves the entire class, it lends itself to brief writing exercises or sharing how to solve problems.

Implementation:

-         Use the activity when learning to write thesis statements.

-         Use the activity in Science classes to discuss hypotheses.

-         Use the activity to have students share understanding of a problem, article, video, or story.

-         Have students write the steps to solve a problem and then check for mastery through discussion.

-         Check understanding before reviewing test material.

Thursday Thoughts on Curriculum - Rigor and Relevance

Most of us are probably familiar with the "Three R's."  In reality, you can combine the relationship into the other two categories.  Rigor can be defined as "The quality of being extremely thorough, exhaustive, or accurate." Relevance can be defined as "The relation of something to the matter at hand."

One movement gaining ground are PLC's (Professional Learning Communities).  In the beginning, a lot of teachers and schools have struggled with exactly how to use the PLC's to better their teaching.  They were often treated as department meetings or a community for sharing.  In reality, a PLC is not a just a meeting or just a community for sharing, it is an opportunity for teachers to improve their teaching.

We can't realistically expect students to improve if we as teachers don't also take the necessary steps to improve as well.  Teachers can use the concepts of Rigor and Relevance to tune and improve their assignments.  Teachers in their PLC should be discussing the strengths and areas of improvement for an assignment in an open discussion.  In my experience, we find rather quickly that our classroom activities aren't as good as we thought they were.

When you examine the relationship between technology and Rigor/Relevance, it can be easy to see how incorporating technology can increase the knowledge and application of a lesson or activity.  High relevance in a lesson requires the student to apply what they are learning to situations and analyze the information to evaluate its validity.

The use of technology allows students to be creative and innovative in their development of a final product.  Students can use technology to collaborate and communicate on an assignments, something that in the future is almost a necessity.  Most assignments utilizing technology require students to research and evaluate the information for the assignments.

There are several Web-based tools out there that allow for increased Rigor and Relevance.  Whether students are using video and audio to create podcast, or creating a Prezi, several of these tools provide students with the opportunity to apply their learning in new ways.  Rigor and Relevance existed long before the technology did, but the options for student application were often limited to Posters and brochures.

Technology allows the teacher to utilize project-based learning which is a pivotal part of having high rigor and relevance lessons  Taking these projects that students have created and presenting them makes it relevant to the students and their classmates.  The use of collaborative websites such as Twidla allows for interaction that fosters thought and learning.  Using a site like Diigo allows students to collect their research and inquiry into the content.  Blogging provides students the ability to take what they are learning and discuss it and apply it to their own lives.

The more students can create, the higher the rigor and relevance of your lessons.  Technology in its current state has allowed several avenues for students to create.  The other great aspect of technology is the various sources of information and reference we can provide our students to learn and educate themselves.

I have learned that the more relevant an assignment/lesson/topic is to the student, the more rigorous that you and the students will make it.  Technology provides just ONE avenue to make that the case. 

Tackk

Tackk is a simple webpage builder or presentation tool that is innovative and very use friendly.  On the main screen you have the ability to add a title, subheading, picture, headings, and paragraphs.  You can also add in various media such as YouTube videos, Instragram photos, music, and sounds.  Other features include the ability to add a button that will take you to an outside link as well.

What is great about Tackk is that there is no sign up required.  Signing up and logging in does allow for saving the various websites you create.  Each page allows users to easily adjust colors, fonts, backgrounds, and other features, such as adding a Map or Comment section.  Users also have the ability to choose whether they want them to be shared publicly.  There are also several themes that one can choose from as well.

Creating an account does provide more features for the user, such as a custom link and the ability to save your page, because the page will expire if an account is not created.  You can see some other features as well below.  Every Tackk comes with its own generated link that can easily be shared.  You can also preview your page as well.  One negative, from an education standpoint is the ability to browse others that have been created and there is no way to censor those.

Each page you create also has stats that you can see, such as the number of visitors and last time it was edited.  As a teacher, this would be a valuable tool as well to keep up to date how often students are working no an assignment using the software.  There is also an option to Print, which would be a good option as well for turning in a final product for evidence.

You will also notice from the logo at the top that Tackk is in Beta.  I do see a lot of uses for this in education however.