Welcome to the ICS Middle School Blog!

Greetings!

 

This blog is here to showcase the incredible work that our students are doing in their classrooms.
We are so excited for what the 2016/17 year will be bringing!  Our teachers are ready to walk with students through the learning process utilizing amazing tools and strategies!  This is going to be a great year!

If you are interested in a specific grade, please click on the tags to the right for your specific grade level.
Thank you so much for your support and we look forward to sharing our learning experiences with you!

 

Timelapse Videos in Humanities

Students in 8th Grade Humanities were asked to retell what they learned about a particular battle that took place during WW1. Several students chose to use whiteboard and their Macbooks to create a time lapse video. These projects were completed in 2 blocks. The work they created in this short period of time is impressive! Check it out.

Reflections of a reluctant Smart Music user

Of note this year is the move by the band and strings groups to using Smart Music in a more intensive way. Made possible by the school purchasing Smart Music licenses for every student and intentionally focusing on the use of Smart Music as an integral part of the teaching process. Taking advantage of the school 1:1 laptop program, this has meant the students can all have access to Smart Music whenever it is needed at school or at home.

A great benefit of this is that this has eliminated long lines in the practice rooms, and the need to students to stay after school to complete assignments if they had not purchased a Smart Music subscription. Another major change has been the discontinuation of a paper practice journal, replaced by a Smart Music practice assignment.

As the Middle School Beginning Band teacher, in the past I have not put much emphasis on the use of Smart Music beyond making sure my students can use it to complete their assignments so that they had the skills needed when they move up to the Intrada Band. My feeling was that initially it was not much use to the beginners as they did not yet have enough control of their instrument to benefit in a meaningful way from what Smart Music offers.

This year we introduced Smart Music into Beginning Band much earlier that we normally do due to the changes in the way we are using Smart Music. Initial attempts were dramatic, mostly red notes and high scores of 2%! Reassuring the students that I would not be grading their Smart Music assignments (yet). Feeling smug that I was probably right in my assessment of its usefulness for the beginners; and thinking that I would just make sure that they know how to use it, and encourage them to integrate it into their practice time to help them create good habits for when they transfer into Intrada Band I decided to get back to helping them play. However a month later and their scores were now in the 60% to 80% range and they are enthusiastically talking about how they are using it at home to improve their playing I realize I may have underestimated its value for the beginners.

Initially in class I focus on breathing and making a good strong sound. Then once we have started to master that I have them quickly learn the first six notes. We can then spend time working our way through exercises that strengthen their tone, technique and breathing. One of the reasons I do this is so that they have something more interesting to play than the earlier exercises in the book, and it is more motivating as they feel like they are making progress.

Smart Music helps the beginners to move from merely practicing what we have been doing in class to actively learning while they practice. Smart Music allows them to:

1) Listen to their part before playing, this allows them to hear the music in their head which makes it easier to find the notes

2) Play along with their own part, accompanied or a click track

3) Click on a note to see the fingering

4) Forces them to match the speed which helps with Music reading, fingering recall, reaction speeds etc

5) Practice keeping on time, maintaining a constant speed throughout

6) Receive immediate feedback

7) See their progress as they improve

For myself as a teacher there are also advantages, for example

1) To move from the Beginning Band to the Intrada Band students need to audition for the Intrada Band teacher. Smart Music allows us to pre-audition the students to determine the best time for them to audition.

2) Allows for other Music teachers to offer diagnostic help if I have a student struggling

3) There are more options for reporting progress to parents

4) I can listen to their submitted assignments and provide feedback to them on the work they are doing at home. Then I can reassign the assignment and ask the student to resubmit based on my feedback.

5) I feel that I know my students better this year as I can hear them where they are at and plan more effectively to meet their learning needs in class.

Other classes/Teachers use Smart Music to

• Set a sight reading challenge, students get one chance to play a new piece and see how well they do.
• Set targeted and guided practice
• Reassign assignments to see how much a student has improved
• Use an assignment as a formative assessment, then once the student has had time to master the skills, the assignment is modified and reposted as a summative assessment.  

Miss Weldon says...

“I use it in all of my classes for practicing. Each week they have a smartmusic practice log where I can see what they've practiced and when. They also have playing assessments about every other week where I can hear how they are doing in their concert pieces so I can help them in class. It's totally changed my class and has been so effective!”

Beginning Band is a crash course in playing an instrument, and our of our goals is to transition the students into the full Band. One of the ways that this occurs is we take the beginning Band students into the Intrada Band for part or all of a number of lessons. This allows them to see what the band is like and the expectations of a band class. Smart Music allows us to take this integration phase one step further. The Beginning Band students can also join the Intrada Band Smart Music Class and thus see what their current assignments are, they can practice the same assignments and even submit them in Smart Music. This is very motivating for the students as they can set goals for their practice times.

Overall Smart Music has proven itself to be a valuable tool in helping the students to master their instruments, providing a versatile assessment tool both for teachers and the students. It has allowed students to more easily identify their weak areas and address these through targeted practice while providing support to them through helpful features and immediate feedback at home.

While at the start I would have said that I was a reluctant Smart Music user, I can now see the benefit to the students as they use it as a tool to improve their playing and prepare themselves to move to the next Band.

For more information contact you friendly Band or Strings teacher, they will be happy to tell you more about this amazing resource and how it can benefit your playing

Hip Hop Dabbing in Algebra

It always amazes me with what becomes popular or what videos go viral on the internet.  These last couple of months the 8th grade students have been obsessed with Dabbing.  This type of dance move is actually pretty simple.  Lift one are in the air and bring your head down into your other arm like you are sneezing.

I realized that this would be a great math problem.  I decided to use dabbing as a warm-up for finding slope.  Students had to take a picture of their dab and then find the slope of their dab.  They used google drawing to overlay grid paper so they could come up with two points.  From there, they could find the slope.  It was awesome, because students were then talking about what a zero slope dab would look like and an undefined dab.  They were using Algebra vocabulary to describe their dab.  Below are some pictures of students dabbing.

Pear Deck Gives Instant Feedback

In 8th Grade Humanities we are using Pear Deck, an interactive presentation software, to give students an opportunity to instantly respond to questions and prompts. In the pictures below Students were given 2 minutes to draw an illustration showing what they learned from the Immigration Simulation. The beauty of Pear Deck is that students receive a google document telling them everything they drew or wrote during the lesson. Any notes they took are instantly saved in their Google Drive!

Create Using Piktochart

In 8th Grade Humanities we are having students create digital infographics using a website called piktochart. Students were given instructions to research immigration into the United States in the early 1900s. They then needed to list the push and pull factors that may cause them to leave their homeland and come to the U.S.A. Doing this digitally allows students to insert pictures that they find on the web, as well as use other graphics to help communicate what they have found.

Using "Pear Deck" to Foster Authentic and Meaningful Conversations in Facegroup

The question I posed to my 8th graders in Facegroup was:

"It is easier to be kind than it is to be harsh." Do you agree or disagree?

 Using an online classroom app called "Pear Deck", the girls were able to drag a blue dot somewhere on the spectrum between 100% Agree and 100% Disagree. Then, once all girls had answered, I revealed their answers on the screen. In live time, their answers registered. Very quickly we saw that we had a wide range of views on this!

We would never had discovered this if we had had this discussion another way! Using this app, it was safe for the girls to share what they truly thought. They weren't raising their hands in front of their peers or being the only one with a certain view point. By using Pear Deck, they were able to make their own choice, free from peer-influence. THEN we were able to use that as a springboard to have a discussion on why they placed their dot where they did.

Why do you think it is easier for us to be harsh with one another?
What makes it hard for us to be kind?

We ended Facegroup time with each girl drawing a picture (also in Pear Deck!) that represented something 8th graders could do to be more kind to one another.

Pear Deck allowed us to have discussions that would have been very difficult to have otherwise.

Check out this 50 second video that explains what else Pear Deck can do:

 

Public Service Announcements

8th grade TAPS students planned and produced a short television Public Service Announcement in groups, with the purpose of reaching a specific target audience in order to persuade, change an attitude, belief or behavior, inform an audience of a risk or help an audience care about a topic or issue that they have the power to change or fix.

Unit objectives included:

• Using persuasive skills to compel the audience to feel called to action or change their behavior or viewpoint regarding a topic that truly matters
• Intentionally targeting a particular audience in purposeful ways and analyzing how their methods specifically impacted that group of people
• Creating a video performance that is polished, well-timed, creative and sincere

Here are two PSA's below, that are relevant, sincere and are executed effectively.  The first outlines the dangers of cyberbullying and how we can respond.  The second centers on Breaking Gender Stereotypes.




Catherine Widdifield

Podcasting the Passion Week of Jesus

For our final unit in 8th grade Bible we have the opportunity to study the Passion Week of Jesus.  This year I wanted to experiment with our process of understanding the events leading to the crucifixion of Jesus.   To do this, we completed a unit long group project of podcasting.  

We are able to record the podcasts using audio-techica mics

How We Did it...

GarageBand is our Recording tool!

Students were tasked within their group of creating a news team that would be reporting live from Jerusalem during the Passover week.  Each day in class a report was presented to the class, a "State of Jerusalem" if you will, that presented the events of the city in relation to the "prophet" Jesus.  Students were required to retell the events of the day, investigate three questions that arose as they heard the report and analyze one element of the events that would help them come to a greater understanding of the day. 
For each of the 7 lessons, students would write out their word for word scripts, prepared for recording just in case.  Their scripts were written on Google Drive, which allowed me to give instant feedback on what they were writing.  This way there was no guess work on what was expected.  All of this information collected and created would be presented in a podcast that was recorded in class.  

The following recordings are some exemplars that were recorded live in class.  Enjoy!

Sunday Report by Podcast Infusion

Monday Report by R.E. 

Tuesday Report by Rise

Thursday Report by Brought to Light

Good Friday Report by Last Week

Good Friday Report by Emmanuel

Crucifixion by EPM Radio

Crucifixion by What Do You Think?

Here are a number of videos and posters that our 8th grade students created. They needed to create a public service announcement telling how we, as members of the global community, can get involved in issues of justice or oppression in the world.

A field trip to Washington D.C.

Our 8th grade humanities classes recently "travelled" to Washington D.C. to take a virtual tour of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. I have personally visited the museum twice and it is an unforgettable experience. It was incredible to watch my students "tour" the museum and see (on this side of the ocean) the exact same artifacts and exhibits I visited.

We were able to completely change the tone of our conversations. Instead of just talking about the events of the Holocaust, they now had images to associate with them. There is something sobering about seeing the actual "stars of David" worn by Jewish victims, the milk cans buried in the ghettos that preserved the memories of the Jewish families who lived there, and countless photographs and stories of Holocast survivors.

Our students live in a small world after all. This generation of students, more than any generation before them, is able to learn about the world, its cultures, and history in a dynamic way due to the technology available to them.

A field trip from Hong Kong to Washington D.C., USA.
All in a day's work.

Classdojo for PE

One of the things that makes PE frustrating is that there are so many good things happening that sometimes we miss them, this is why the PE department continues to use smartphones/ipads etc in order to capture much of what happens. This also helps inform summative and formative assessment.

Classdojo is something we use for a number of different aspects of our teaching but one of the great features is the 'Class story' function which allows me to post pictures and videos that I take during class. It also allows students and parents have access to these and are able to 'like' and comment on content. It is a great way for parents to see, in real time, what their students are doing in class at that very moment.

Here is an example of its usage with my 8th grade boys doing some gymnastic movements.

Reflecting using video footage in TAPS

As part of our Children's Book Reading unit, focusing on conveying meaning through vocal and facial expression, students were required to film and reflect on their reading performance.  Students used their laptops to film, then uploaded this footage into their TAPS folder.  They filled in a self-graded rubric (uploaded googledoc), noting specific strengths and areas for improvement.  

Students then took this information, and recorded some 'Feed Forward' - to ensure that they're aligning their areas of growth, to our next book buddy session and will be specifically looking for these aspects in their next footage collected.

Standards and Benchmarks:
1.0 ARTISTIC PERCEPTION

• Processing, Analyzing, and Responding to Sensory Information Through the Language and Skills Unique to Theatre.
• Students observe their environment and respond, using the elements of theatre. They also observe formal and informal works of theatre, film/video, and electronic media and respond, using the vocabulary of theatre.

Comprehension and Analysis of the Elements of Theatre 1.2 Document observations and perceptions of production elements, noting mood, pacing, and use of space through class discussion and reflective writing.

Feed Forward by anonymous students:

Feed Forward
On the next session, I would like to work on vocal tones, because I felt that my performance in this session was not that good. My voice was at times monotone, and it did not capture the attention of the 2nd grader.		I felt that my gestures though, were plenty and spaced evenly throughout my presentation. I felt that they pulled my buddy into the story.		I feel that I should also work on eye contact, because I rarely look at my buddy while reading, with meaningful eye contact.

For my third session, I want to focus on maintaining long and meaningful periods of eye contact by finding a good time to pause and look at my book buddy. I can do this by planning out where I am going to pause and memorize a few of the next words so I can speak while looking at my buddy. I also want to make sure that when I am making eye contact it doesn't get too long or too awkward, because that would creep my buddy out. Another thing that I want to focus on, is my voice. I want to be able to do more with my voice by portraying more emotions in it and changing it to match the characters of the book.

Mrs. Catherine Widdifield

Using Technology in Beginning Band to Excel.

Learning an instrument can be daunting at first. When a new student arrives at ICS they need to join one of the instrumental groups. If they chose to play a band instrument, they first come into beginning band where they learn the fundamentals of their chosen instrument. We aim to accelerate them to the point where they can join in one of the performance bands. This can be tough, especially if they don’t already have a strong musical background.

Today's students have the advantage of technology to help them on their journey. It allows them to focus on weak areas, and get specific help where they need it most.

If a student is struggling with note identification or music theory, I found that http://www.musictheory.net/ is a great tool to help students learn the names of the notes and the basics of music.

Often students are able to read the music, but trying to make the connection from the music to the fingering proves difficult and at times frustrating. The website http://www.musicracer.com/ is a great tool, allowing students to practice identifying the fingering for their instrument.

Do not forget our ever present phone or other device, I encourage students to download a chromatic tuner app to help them practice with their pitch. This is especially helpful for trombones where they need to practice the accuracy of their slide positions. Another very helpful app they can download is a metronome app.

Last but not least is SmartMusic. Well-known to the students as part of their regular class assignments, SmartMusic allows the students get immediate feedback on their playing, including correct notes and timing. It is also very helpful for the beginning band students as it challenges them to play along with the music without stopping and with the correct timing.

If you would like to see for yourself the progress that they are making, you can have them log in and show you the results from the tests that they have done in the past as well as previous recordings of those tests.

Need to know more? Talk to the band teacher, they are excited about seeing the students be challenged, and grow as musicians!

Mr. Wilson

Grade 8 "Fakebook" pages

As part of our introduction to a new unit on "The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression" students had to research an influential person from the 1920s. Students choose figures ranging from musicians to entrepreneurs, from celebrities to scientists. They used their laptops to research each celebrity and then created a "Fakebook" profile of their celebrity. They used the question "how has your person contributed to society for good or ill?" as their guiding question and then presented some of their ideas to the class. Check out the students researching below.

Jesus Vs: an Infographic Story

Currently in 8th grade Bible (the study of Jesus) we are exploring some characteristics of Christ.  As we analyze these different characteristics, students are able to present their findings through different projects.  Specifically for our lesson on Jesus as a Rule Breaker, students researched the different people groups that opposed Jesus using biblegateway.com.  From this research they designed infographics to present their findings.  This was all done in class using a variety of apps such as piktochart.com and Google Drawing. Overall, the objective was for students to analyze and present the different people groups that opposed Jesus during his ministry.  Here are a few infographics!

Mathletics - Grade 8

 All students in Algebra 1 and Introduction to Algebra classes  have access to the Mathletics Online program.

The work in this program aligns with the Common Core Curriculum followed in the maths department. Students use the program to practice and embed skills and processes learned in class.

They can work through problems at their own rate, and are able to repeat activities to improve.

Topics for Study

There is also the ability to compete, in real time, against other students around the world, within ICS, or just within their own class.

The report section allows students and teachers to view progress made re maths topics, 'live' competition against other students, time spent on the program, and certificates awarded.

Progress made on learning activities.

Certificates Awarded

One student's progress

Storytelling in Bible Class

A majority of what is covered in 8th grade bible is looking at the stories of Jesus ministry and exploring the themes to discover deeper understanding.  One important aspect of this process though is KNOWING the story.  Unit 2 in 8th grade is about knowing the stories of Jesus early ministry to the point where students can re-tell them.  As a final project to this unit, students are given the opportunity to re-tell the stories through many different mediums.  Students are given a menu of 15 options and they can pick how they would like to re-tell the stories. The main objective is for the students to know the ins and outs of the story rather than simply memorizing the scriptures. Below are a few video examples of what students have done.

Example 1: Jesus turns water into wine
This student did an incredible job creating an animation through a tecnique called "stop motion".  She took 582 pictures of drawings that she created on a whiteboard.  Then using iMovie she strung them all together and added a voiceover to tell the story.  Truly an incredible work.

Example 2: The Temptation of Jesus

This student tells the story of Jesus temptation by recording herself drawing out on a sketchbook.  She then creates a time-lapse video and provides a voice over to enhance her story. 

Students have been thriving with creativity as we have integrated new opportunities in the classroom.  I am looking forward to what students will be able to accomplish this semester!

MS News!

3 years ago, while at an education conference, Mrs. Bartell and I started wondering why we were sharing important information via Word documents and Schoology posts.  Besides the lack of engagement from simple text, there was no way of knowing whether or not the messages were being received.  6th grade news was born!

The following year 7th grade news was added, and this year we have gone to a full MS News with separate grade level specific news still being done.  We also migrated from just using whatever open classrooms we could find to utilizing the 5th floor media lab and some of the more advanced equipment available in there.

The best part of the news team is that it is student led.  16 students this year have come together to gather news, write scripts, direct, act as news casters, and edit video.  We also have a lot of fun in the process!

Thanks to YouTube, we now know how well we are reaching our audience.  This year we are averaging 150 views for MS News and about 35 views for each of the grade level news videos.  We hope those numbers will continue to grow as we continue to get better at what we do!

A Chinese story

This is a Chinese story which students can listen to in their spare time. The difficulty for international students to learn Chinese is that they don't have a "language environment". Think about how we learn our first language. We listen to our parents to speak it everyday and know how to speak even no one really teach us intentionally. That's what we called "language acquisition". For second even third language learning, the most efficient way is to immerse in the target language. One way to do this is to listen to all kinds of listening materials.