Pop Culture: How Might We Design a Better Music Experience?

Today, we are going to run a 20 minute design flashlab.  How might we design a better listening device?

We'll use DEEP design thinking to do this.

Discovery.  We'll start with making a list of all the devices we use to listen to music 1 min.

Empathy.  We'll make a massive bug list of what annoys about our listening devices. See what we like, dislike.  5 min.

Experiment. We'll dig into the maker cart and come up with prototypes for better listening devices.  They may be tiny.  They may be massive.  10 min.

Produce.  We'll share and quickly get some feedback.  4 min.

Consider building something like this for your project due this week.

Then you will have time to work on your projects, blogging, Pinterest and more.

Blog. 3+ Posts.

Curate.  1 Pinterest Pin.

Required Critical Creativity Blog Post Options.

Option 1. (From my friend Amy Burvall)   Analog Remix Found Poetry: Developed by David Theriault (another friend of mine) who has an excellent blog post/lesson plan about this with ideas for all disciplines. You can create the Burrough effect by laying two poems or lyrics or any text next to each other (he even suggests chapters from a textbook) and manually creating the found poem using a variety of techniques (“blackout poetry” is always a good choice, but you can get more fancy).

Option 2. Sketchnote the lyrics to a favorite song of yours. What are sketchnotes?

Option 3. Create a YouDubber that takes a current news story and puts a song on top of the footage for a an intentional effect. Explain your thinking.

http://www.youdubber.com/

Design & Submit. Music Culture Projects.  

Due. Wednesday. 10.7.15.

We start our film unit on Wednesday with a nice bridge: film score composition, sound tracking and music supervision.

AP Lit: Last of True Grit, Opening of Our Work with J. Alfred Prufrock

This Monday and Tuesday, will be putting a bookmark in our work with True Grit.  We will inevitably come back to Portis and his work because that's how this class works -- building connections, finding patterns, reading and re-reading, uncovering layers and intentions.

Verse 15.

We'll open with a Verse 15.  Trying to name what I want us to be doing each class, opening with a cold reading and a close reading and annotation.  Verse on days we've been focused on prose.  Prose on the days we've been focusing on verse.

So today, thanks to my friends on the #aplitchat Twitter chat (click on it -- it's a real thing and they are neat folks) we'll be looking at Barbara Crooker's "And Now It's October" via The Writer's Almanac.

15 mins.  We're going to hold ourselves to that.  We can always continue the discussion . . . on the blogs.

Elements of Fiction & Sketchnoting.

Extending from our work with the LEGO metaphors, we'll identify the key elements of fiction & determine Portis' development of each in True Grit.

We will use this as the basis for our first intentional work with sketchnoting as I will show you techniques for turning doodles into ideas and ideas into pre-writing.

I may have posted this list before, but here are a few resources around sketchnoting you may find helpful.

Here are a few resources to help:

First Time Sketchnotes on Sketchnote Army

Sunni Brown's Doodle Revolution 

And...

• how-to-draw-faces.jpg (500×286)
  Austin Kleon's faces in simple shapes
  
  
• drawing-alphabet.jpg (500×286)
  Austin Kleon's simple shapes for anything
  
  
• Periodic_Table_of_Typefaces_large.jpg (3150×2100)
  
  
• Developing Your Core Handwritten Font For Sketchnoting
  
  
• Kleon's visual-elements.jpg (500×286)
  
  
• Inside-Cover-Page-1.jpg (1062×762)
  
  
• 6-Fundamentals.png (400×482)
  Letters, Bullets, Frames, Connectors, Shadows, Peeps

Show Your Learning.

Blog. 3+ Posts.

Req'd Critical Creativity Challenge. Sketchnote T.S. Eliot's "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock"  Document your process as you go.  Simple as that.  

Due. Friday. 10.9.15.

Read, Annotate & Literary 3x3.  Eliot's "Prufrock." 

Due. Next Class.

Study. Vocab Quiz 1.

Next Class.  We keep pushing it back because I keep forgetting to remind you.

See the link to the list on the right hand side of this blog.

Expect a Quiz a Week for the Rest of the Month.

Don't Quiz Well?  Retake as Many Times As You Like.

Or. Create a roots-based product to demonstrate your knowledge.

It's all about evidence.

Revise. Synthesis 1. 

Due. ASAP.  Revise as many times as you like.

Final Revision Due. Monday. Oct. 27.  

Pop Culture 3B: Country v Hip-Hop, Music & Politics

Today you will be rotating through two experiences to explore the presence of politics in music as well as the relationship between country music and hip-hop.

Most of the resources you need are here on this blog post and there will be tools at each station to help you better build your understanding.

Here are the two key playlists.  The graphic organizers you need are here and here.

Country vs. Hip-Hop


Music and Politics

Show Your Learning.

Music Culture Project Rubric.  

Project Due. Wednesday.  Oct. 7th.

Blog. 3+ Posts.

Due. Friday. 10.2.15.
Pinterest.  1 Post.
Due.  Friday. 10.2.15.

Here are three options for creative blog posts for the week:

1. Musical Roots.  Choose a band or artist and create a map of that band's musical influences back at least three layers deep.  Explain your thinking and post links/embed content that shows evidence of your thinking.  Use our work from last week and today to inform this. 

2. Create a Beat for the News.  Use Beatlab.com, Garage Band or another beat generator to create a beat to be played while a news story (from this week) is being viewed, heard, or read.  Post the link to the news story, embed/link to the beats, and explain your thinking.

3. Musical Color Palette.  Use Colourlovers.com to create a color palette for your musical tastes.  Name each color and explain its association to the music to which you connect.  For example, I might create an off-white color & call it "Middle School Hip-Hop Mindset" when the depth of my hip-hop knowledge went to Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice (yup), and 3rd Bass with a little Fresh Prince and Rob Base on top of that. 

Any of the the above could be expanded upon and further developed into your Musical Culture project due next week.  Consider this a way to build a first iteration or prototype for your finished project due next Wednesday, Oct. 7.

Eng 9. Playlist for Other Rubric and How to Post Your Links on Blog Tracker.

Hi folks,

I thought this rubric was shared with you on a previous post and it was not.  I'm apologizing for that now.  It is the same criteria as what we put up on the whiteboard in the room -- it is just more descriptive and provides more feedback.

Reminder, part of the project was to create a piece of "cover art" for your partner's playlist.

Turning in Your Blogs.

Here's a brief video to help you turn in your blog posts properly on the blog tracker.  I take you step by step.  By Friday, you should have nine posts up, including your Playlist for Others, ideas/designs/process for your Cardboard Challenge, and a 5 Card Flickr that tells the story of solving a problem.  (These have all been described in earlier posts.)

What else could you blog about?  Here are some ideas:

• Oreo Challenge. Manilla Folder Challenge.  Lego Challenge.
• Any and all of the graphic organizers so far with an explanation explaining what it is and your thinking.
• Any draft or planning or sketchnoting or doodling so far with an explanation of your thinking.
• Your Thirty Circles.
• Poetry.  Creative Writing. Reflections. Things You are Seeing that Make You Think. 
• Comments and Critiques and Dialogues
• Videos That You Want to Talk About.
• Music That You Want to Talk About.
• Memes That Make You Think and Laugh And Think.
• Articles That Make You Think.
• Post-Its and sorts with explanations.  
• Anything at all that shows your thinking.  Any of the work you do for class that shows your thinking.  

Here are a couple of links to sample blog posts you could use as guides.  These show you the sort of thinking and explanations that should be included.  These are not perfect posts -- these are good examples to help you see what meets the standard for thinking and content.

Sample 1. Sharing Work from Class.

Sample 2. Creativity Related to Class.

Also, here's a video showing some of our problem sorting thinking from class today.  Really cool work today everyone.

Show Your Learning.

Blog: 3+ Posts 

Creative Blog Post. #ShowYourWork on Your Global Cardboard Challenge design.

Sketches. Doodles. Maps.  Lists. Ideas.  Mini Makes. (Manila folder challenges) 

Due. Friday. 10.2.15 

Study. Roots Quiz #1  FRIDAY. (We should have taken this last week.)

Use the Quizlet to Help You Study.

Know the Root & What It Means.

Other Evidence of Learning:  In addition to the taking the quiz, you may want to create a roots product that demonstrates your understanding of the roots and what they mean.  Some of us struggle with quizzes as a way of proving we know something, but if we get a chance to use our knowledge, we knock it out of the park.  Consider writing a story, a set of instructions, making a video, recording a podcast, building something on Minecraft or in LEGO, recording a song, drawing a comic strip, or some other way of showing me that you know those roots and what they mean in a way that shows you truly understand. 

Due.  Friday. 10.2.15 

Eng 9: Suiting Up for Cardboard Challenge: Day Two: Discovery Phase

Dream Time.

We'll start today with Dream Time to get our brains opened up.  Expect doodling . 10 min.

Roots. 

Then it will be a dive into Roots 1 and a mashup game we call "Frankenword."  Remember there is a quiz on Friday.   I'll also show you how your "Frankenwords" could be used to create more evidence of your vocab understanding.  (10 min.)

Cardboard Challenge Day Two: Discover Phase.

We'll start  with three stations.  You'll need to spend time at each generating ideas on Post-Its.  (15 min.)  

Station 1.  Problems Worth Solving (personal, school, local, statewide, nationwide, worldwide)

Station 2.  Joys Worth Bringing (What makes you smile, laugh, happy cry?  What about others?)

Station 3.  Passions Worth Sharing (Your interests, likes and loves as well as those of others)

Then we'll divide into three groups to sort the Post-Its into trends, identify interesting outliers, and see how this will help us with our Cardboard Challenge work. (10 min.)

Suit Up.  Who will you be working with during the Cardboard Challenge?  You may work in groups of one, two, or three.

At this point, there should be enough time left in class to blog about your work today, post to your blog, and turn in your playlists.  On Friday, we'll start with a quick 2x2 grid activity.   This will help us determine ideas for our cardboard challenges.  And you'll have the rest of class to experiment with the maker cart materials to create prototypes of what will become your cardboard challenge.  (Next week -- you'll have Tuesday and Thursday to build, document and blog.

Show Your Learning.

Blog: 3+ Posts 

Creative Blog Post. #ShowYourWork on Your Global Cardboard Challenge design.

Sketches. Doodles. Maps.  Lists. Ideas.  Mini Makes. (Manila folder challenges) 

Due. Friday. 10.2.15 

Study. Roots Quiz #1  FRIDAY. (We should have taken this last week.)

Use the Quizlet to Help You Study.

Know the Root & What It Means.

Other Evidence of Learning:  In addition to the taking the quiz, you may want to create a roots product that demonstrates your understanding of the roots and what they mean.  Some of us struggle with quizzes as a way of proving we know something, but if we get a chance to use our knowledge, we knock it out of the park.  Consider writing a story, a set of instructions, making a video, recording a podcast, building something on Minecraft or in LEGO, recording a song, drawing a comic strip, or some other way of showing me that you know those roots and what they mean in a way that shows you truly understand. 

Due.  Friday. 10.2.15 

Pop Culture: Music Culture Continues & Blog Options for the Week

We only managed two out of three today and that's ok.  We're going to make up for it on Thursday with piles and piles of songs and politics and country and hip-hop, though we did get started today by talking about the unifying nature of hip-hop and country as essentially storytelling.

It may be one reason why this song has found such an audience.

All of that thinking came about from mapping musical roots up on the board.  I'm  going to post you some post-game thinking of which you may want to take advantage in the service of your musical roots project.

Here is the explosion of lines and doodles that were my marker board today.  I was trying to rush.  Wish I had taken my time . . .  y'know . ..  I might just do a sketchnote today to capture what I missed and through which I rushed . . .

Um. . .  yeah.  This.  The cow in the middle is the US.  I think.  I was manic.

A big deal.  Taylor Swift. Kendrick Lamar.  Even when T.Swift goes back to her country roots & even when Kendrick Lamar goes back into M.A.A.D. City, they are both storytellers at heart.  

The 1970s were a pivotal time for underground music.  Punk in England.  Hip-hop in New York. All informed by the migration of sound and people from the Caribbean and the economic struggles.  Hip-hop grew out of street dances & emceeing & rap culture out of the need to share their stories -- later it grew more aggressive.  Punk grew out of rejection of normalcy and authority -- it was aggressive from onset but less a need to share story & more to express raw emotion -- though really, all music tells a story.

Jamaica.  Caribbean.  Huge, massive importance in music culture.  Colonialism and slavery brought African sounds to those islands where they collided with indigenous sounds.  Those beats and rhythms and instruments then made it to North American and the US.  Those formed the backbones of blues and jazz -- jazz especially the most uniquely American music form.  Blues was really the transformation of spirituals into song.  Once blues was recorded, it started making its way across the Atlantic to England where it had major influence on The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin, Cream and The Who.  All five of those bands established themselves first as cover bands, covering amped up version of blues, country and rockabilly records.  

A lot going on here but basically a focus on economic struggle times being a motivator of musical innovation.  I wonder if this is true in our first real digital era as well.  Who came about in 2007 or so and has had a major impact?   

Here are just some of the songs I got to and didn't get to.  Really check out that early stuff and see how much it informs the music you enjoy.  It gets to a place quickly where there are so many genres it become difficult to draw an exact timeline.

Music Culture Project Rubric.  

Project Due. Wednesday.  Oct. 7th.

Blog. 3+ Posts.

Due. Friday. 10.2.15.
Pinterest.  1 Post.
Due.  Friday. 10.2.15.

Here are three options for creative blog posts for the week:

1. Musical Roots.  Choose a band or artist and create a map of that band's musical influences back at least three layers deep.  Explain your thinking and post links/embed content that shows evidence of your thinking.  Use our work from last week and today to inform this.

2. Create a Beat for the News.  Use Beatlab.com, Garage Band or another beat generator to create a beat to be played while a news story (from this week) is being viewed, heard, or read.  Post the link to the news story, embed/link to the beats, and explain your thinking.

3. Musical Color Palette.  Use Colourlovers.com to create a color palette for your musical tastes.  Name each color and explain its association to the music to which you connect.  For example, I might create an off-white color & call it "Middle School Hip-Hop Mindset" when the depth of my hip-hop knowledge went to Beastie Boys, Vanilla Ice (yup), and 3rd Bass with a little Fresh Prince and Rob Base on top of that.

Any of the the above could be expanded upon and further developed into your Musical Culture project due next week.  Consider this a way to build a first iteration or prototype for your finished project due next Wednesday, Oct. 7.

AP Lit: Guidance Visits & True Grit

Hi folks,

Guidance will be visiting on Monday and Tuesday, so I'm keeping our plans flexible.  Whatever time we are afforded will be focused on True Grit.  The nature of the work will depend entirely on the amount of time we have.  I hope we are able to make something things to help us with True Grit.  I sure do enjoy making things and seeing how making things helps others to understand.

Here are some absolutes.

Synthesis Essay 1.  Due Wednesday.  Submit by sharing your Google doc with me.  Huzzah.
How to Read Lit.  Chapter & prompt week.  See below.
Creative Blog Challenge. Color Palette.  See below.
Vocab.  Quiz NEXT week.  See below.

Blogging.  3+ Posts.  

Due. Friday. 10.2.15 

Creative Challenge.  Create a color palette for True Grit on Colourlovers.com.  Post a link/embed screenshot.  Name each color and provide an overall title for your palette.  Be intentional.  Then explain your intentions with a brief rationale for each color.  

Need an example?  

Read.  How to Read Lit Like a Professor.  "Every Trip Is a Quest . . . "

Answer the Following Question in a Blog Post: Based on your understanding of Foster's POV, what do you believe he would say about True Grit? To what extent would you agree with him?

Due. Friday. 10.2.15

Design & Submit.  Synthesis Essay 1.

Due. Wednesday. 9.30.15

Study. Roots Quiz #1  Monday/Tuesday next week. (We should have taken this last week.)

Use the Quizlet to Help You Study.

Know the Root & What It Means.

Other Evidence of Learning:  In addition to the taking the quiz, you may want to create a roots product that demonstrates your understanding of the roots and what they mean.  Some of us struggle with quizzes as a way of proving we know something, but if we get a chance to use our knowledge, we knock it out of the park.  Consider writing a story, a set of instructions, making a video, recording a podcast, building something on Minecraft or in LEGO, recording a song, drawing a comic strip, or some other way of showing me that you know those roots and what they mean in a way that shows you truly understand. 

Due.  Monday/Tuesday. 10.5-6.15