Category: EdTech

Final Music post

C7BBDE0C-2B34-4494-9916-23D5F0F646F0

Photo by Nathan Dumlao on Unsplash (sanddial)

This will be the final Ukulele post for the semester. So far this term I have learned how to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Baa Baa Black sheep. I have also began learning to play ‘Jammin’ by Bob Marley and ‘Skinny Love’ by Bon Iver. Initially for my music growth plan I had hoped I would be able to play all these songs confidently, however, I seemed to hit a block and never passed the block yet. I still am struggling with the transitions into G chords, and am really struggling with the strumming patterns for ‘Skinny Love’. I have also had difficulty in tuning my Ukulele into the E-major chord which is required for the simpler version of ‘Jammin’, but have watched multiple tutorials and think I have gotten how to tune correctly. I definitely did not meet my music goals entirely this semester, however, I am so grateful that we had this opportunity to explore a new way of learning through inquiry, and that we had the opportunity to explore a new instrument. I will be using this new knowledge a lot in my future teaching career, as with failures I have learned what I would do better next time. For example, I would have made smaller and more attainable goals as opposed to focusing on learning so many songs. When I had made my initial plan I did not consider many things, but with more knowledge I could now make a more accurate learning plan for myself. I have asked for a Ukulele for a Christmas present, and I am hoping to continue to explore this lovely instrument and be able to use it as a tool in my future teaching.

 

Photo by Ali Yahya on Unsplash (guitar smash)

 

Art projects with my son post 6

This week I got to do some art projects with my son ( as well I’m showing some of his daycare drawings at the top of this post). He did some stamping with me with a dampened sponge as seen below. I think it turned out quite well, but then of course he wanted to paint the coffee table a bit too (luckily the paint is washable) 

This week we also painted these snowy mountains for a bit of a seasonal vibe. I placed the painters tape and just put little blob of paint on the canvas and James did the rest. This is definitely a method that could be used with elementary aged children as well! 

Music Post 4

I have still been having a lot of trouble in transitioning between chords fluently. When I play each chord individually, they sound like they are supposed to, however, it seems whenever I need to transition -specifically from and to the G-chord- the chords sound clumsy. I find that my fingers are larger than I anticipate and I accidentally touch a string I shouldn’t which makes the strum sound flat and dull.  I have been trying to improve this by just practicing specific transitions back and forth that are needed for the song I am working on, Skinny Love by Bon Iver. By isolating the specific transitions and not having to focus on the rhythm or strumming pattern it makes it easier to work on the dexterity needed in switching between chords. I have made a decent amount of improvement of switching from G to F but am still finding it very difficult to get a clear G sound when I am switching from F to G.

Photo by Samuel Ramos on Unsplash

Twinkle Twinkle – no vocals

Small painting

This week I was feeling pretty stressed with being midway through the semester so I just felt like doodling. For this painting I used painters tape and painted the different sections a different colour. I then doodled with a thin sharpie in the black space the tape left, and lastly I put a little razzle-dazzle sparkle here and there. 

Video Editing

Today we had a guest speaker come to our class to discuss Video editing. We mainly discussed iMovie and practiced editing a video in class with some support. I found editing to be more complex than I had originally thought it to be, and struggled with doing some of the tasks that were recommended.

Learning about the complexities and different layers to editing was interesting, and useful because it will be something that I use in the future as an educator.

1st painting and colour blending practice

I began playing with acrylic paint this weekend and started my first painting on canvas. I haven’s finished it yet, but will post an updated picture once it is done. My inspiration came from looking up simple painting ideas for acrylic paint, and I found a picture of a kitty looking at the moon and decided to do my own take on that. The three cats will be modelled after my three cats: King, Charlotte and Sadie. Initially I was feeling quite frustrated with painting because the paint was not covering the pencil marks on the canvas… and I made a couple of mistakes with where I was using the black paint. However, I reminded myself that I am doing this as my inquiry project as a way to reduce stress, and that my paintings do not need to be perfect they just need to be myself expressing myself on canvas. I did find blending the paints and seeing how different brush strokes look on paper to be very relaxing and fun.

getting the ball rolling

I started my twitter account today, I have had an account in the past but never really knew how to navigate and use it as a tool. I am excited to explore this resource a little more, and find more ideas or concepts from other educators.