Ms. Douthit's Techno-Logic

March 7, 2011
by Lisa Douthit

Today's Music Is...

JAZZ

Jazz music dates back to the turn of the century and is mostly connected to the cities of New Orleans, Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. It was a blend of West African black folk music that became intertwined with European music which a great deal of classical music. These first connections became Blues and Ragtime. One of the greatest things about Jazz is that it brought together so many people from diverse backgrounds. This is much more common in music today, but not at the time when jazz developed. Early jazz also made very strong statements of freedom, creativity and American identity.

According to the Passion 4 Jazz website;
"Jazz is not the result of choosing a tune, but an ideal that is created first in the mind, inspired by one's passion and willed next in playing music. It's unique expression draws from life experience and human emotion as the inspiration of the creative force, and through it's discourse is chronicled a history of a people."

This is not untrue of other genres of music but certainly has strong ties to the area we live is, which is why it is our genre of the day.

As you explore this genre today, please choose one style, artist or song to share with the rest of the class. Give a short background of the music, why you chose it and have a music sample ready for us to listen to. Also be sure to save the URL of the place where you found this artist, so we can make a link here. Our class will then respond my creating at least one comment on that artist/song or style.


The links for this project can be found at Hear the Music wiki.



0 comments

September 7, 2010
by Lisa Douthit

What''s Happening in Technology?

Students are working to learn lots of new tools this year, in addition to gaining knowledge in Digital Citizenship. New web 2.0 tools have been the focus to get students ready for the collaborative work they will being engaging in with teachers and other students.

These tools include NoodleTools, an online research, organization & citation tool. A student working in NoodleTools can work at school and access the very same work at home over the web. Teachers can comment and communicate progress with the student in the same manner and as the student finishes their research, information can be shared directly to GoogleDocs, another web tools students will be using this year. In GoogleDocs, students can share documents with teachers or other student collaborators and create settings for each shared person that allow them to edit or view the document. Students can collaborate on documents, while teachers can offer editing tips, reviews and comments right on the students work paperlessly!

As students become comfortable in these skills through beginning assignments and authentic excercises, they will begin integrated projects in curricular subjects.

Younger students are learning the foundational skills that will lead them into multimedia and technology standards-based project that integrate curricular themes and topics with their technology knowledge. This includes getting to know the computer, navigation, safe use in the lab and on the computer, keyboarding, and applications.

0 comments

Filter by Tag