It’s week seven already! I think that my piece is coming fairly well. I am a little bit nervous to play hands together, but I think that I just need to trust that I have practiced enough and that everything will come together. That being said, this week, I decided to take a look at a different tutorial of the song that I am learning and comment along as I watch.
I very much enjoyed this version. I found the simplicity of it very pleasing to hear, and I liked the variation in the notes that they added. However, I still like my version the best 🙂 It has also reassured me that the piece that I am learning is actually quite difficult, and it’s okay that I am not getting it right away. I often find that I am very hard on myself when I cannot get something perfect on the first try, which is evidently unrealistic and a tad unhealthy. Listening to a simpler version of the piece makes me feel proud of my efforts and excited to continue learning!
This week I was able to code with Anna and Elsa! This game is a great introductory tool, especially for younger kids, as coding on its own can be very overwhelming and scary. By using characters that kids are familiar with, it allows them to feel more comfortable with the topic, and by extension, more open to learning! Aside from simply learning to code, this game is a great way to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. If something isn’t working, students must find a way to break it down and figure it out. As well, it fosters creativity, and can force students to come up with out-of-the-box solutions. These are skills that will be useful to students for years to come, across all aspects of life.
After completing the Anna and Elsa workshop, I was able to create the above pattern using all of the skills that I had learned. If I had more time, I would have loved to try and actually make the shapes, instead of simply clicking “create a snowflake” or “create a circle.” By clicking on the photo, you can see my program run in real time!
I was also able to play Bad News, a game that lets you impersonate a corporation or important person and spread disinformation on Twitter. I was able to obtain all six badges– impersonation, emotion, polarization, conspiracy, discredit, and trolling. By the end of the game, I had become a conspiracy theorist, emotional manipulated, and all-around terrible person with a final follower count of 17 684.
Although this is a fun and humorous game, it is all too relevant to our world today. This game is a great tool for students to learn to recognize misinformation as it comes up, as well as just how easy it is for someone to be untruthful online. Because this is such a serious and important topic, introducing it to students through the use of a game is a great way to get them engaged and ready to listen and learn.
Sketchnoting is a tactic that can be very beneficial for students. The act of linking words and drawings together reinforces topics in the memory, increases engagement in the lesson, and allows for connections to be formed across concepts. During class, I was able to complete a series of sketchnoting basics. As demonstrated below, the aim of sketchnoting is not to create the most beautiful or detailed drawing. In fact, the opposite is true– it is most important to create images as quickly as you can so you can move on to the next concept.
Although this was the first time I had formally heard about sketchnoting, it is actually something that I have been doing for most of my academic career. I have always found it beneficial for my memory when I include a simple diagram or drawing about a concept that I am learning. Although it may not be traditional or official sketchnoting, in my previous astronomy course, it was always so much easier for me to commit concepts to memory if I was able to connect it to a picture or drawing. As you can see from my notes below, the drawings are quick and oftentimes ugly, but they get the job done.
Eventually, I hope to be a teacher of French kindergarten or grade one. Sketchnoting could be difficult with this grade level, as there is not much note-taking going on– it is almost always hands-on or some form of worksheet. This is not to say that drawing would not be useful to these students. Especially when learning a second language drawings can help form connections between the English word and the French word. When students are just starting out, drawings can be invaluable in the classroom– students are able to express themselves in ways that they would never be able to articulate, especially in a second language.
I can’t believe that I am halfway through my Free Inquiry Project! I am very proud of how far I have come; from my first video to this one I have cut the playing time essentially in half. Despite this, this week, I played the right hand melody almost a minute and a half faster than the left hand accompaniment. I am not sure why this may be, as I actually felt as though my left hand was stronger this week. To be honest, I got quite frustrated recording my playing this week. I kept making mistakes, particularly with my right hand, that I had not made before. The more frustrated I got, the more mistakes I made, and so on. I decided to just walk away and take a break for a couple of hours to calm down and re-centre myself, and was finally able to produce a piece that I was proud of.
Image Credits: Lorenzo Spoleti
This will be my last time playing hands separate. From now until the end of term, I will practice the piece hands together. Although I feel a bit daunted by this fact, I am confident in my ability and am excited to see and hear my practicing pay off. One thing that I think is important to remember is that I can continue to practice hands separate if necessary. Although my goal is evidently to play the piece hands together, there will be certain sections that I will find more difficult than others, and will need to practice more often– both hands separately and hands together.
It is week five and things are going great! Both the left and right hand are coming along nicely, and I am feeling more and more confident about beginning to try hands together. I can definitely hear and feel the improvement, and I believe that I am on track to “perfect” the piece by the end of the term. Of course, it will never be perfect, but I believe that by my last submission I will be able to play the piece hands together at the right tempo with little to no mistakes. Fingers crossed!
One tool that I found particularly helpful when I was beginning to learn the piece was the PlayScore 2 app. This was a simple app that I downloaded on my phone at no cost. It allowed me to take a photo of the sheet music, and it would play back the notes exactly as they were written. This was incredibly helpful as, although I knew the melody, every arrangement of a piece is a little bit different. This allowed me to hear exactly what the piece was supposed to sound like before I had even sight read it. It is much easier to sight read a piece when you have heard it before, which is exactly what this app allowed me to do.
Image Credits: PlayScore 2
I am very pleased with the way my inquiry project is turning out. One of the main reasons that I chose to learn a new song was because I am so busy now, and I never get a chance to just sit and play piano. I used to sit at the piano for hours a day, and now I am lucky to sit down for half an hour a week. This project has forced me to take time out of my day to intentionally do something that I love, and I am so happy that it has.
After running my blog through the WAVE Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool, I was pleasantly surprised that my website did not have too many accessibility issues. When I pasted my blog link into WAVE, it went line by line, link by link, and colour by colour to determine any accessibility issues I might have.
Image Credits: Anna Palmer (Alternative text is embedded in this image)
Although this may look like a lot of issues, the only actual accessibility problem is the contrast. The grey text on the white background provides a very low contrast, which can be difficult to see. I will of course look into changing this as soon as I can.
This is an aspect of digital accessibility that I had never considered. I have always had excellent vision, especially in relation to colours, and have never had an issue discerning one colour from another. Now that I know that this can be an issue, as well as how easy it is to mitigate, I will try to provide as much contrast as possible whenever it is applicable.
For my accessible video, I used the video I made at the beginning of the term of my introduction to Rich. I think that this was a good video to use, as I was talking clearly and relatively slowly the entire time. I made it accessible by adding Youtube automated captioning. Surprisingly, the captions were relatively accurate. The only words that I had to update were proper nouns such as “Shawnigan” and “UVIC,” which is to be expected.
The captions on the video may have to be turned on manually.
The use of 3D printing and design in the classrooms provides many educational opportunities that have never been seen before. For example, 3D printing allows students to express their creativity in ways that they have never before been able to. As I was not a particularly artistic child, I know that a program like this would have captivated me much more than traditional painting and drawing. Further, students are evidently far more likely to be engaged with a lesson that they can relate to. As children spend more and more time on screens, a lesson that incorporates technology such as this is a great way to allow students to do an activity that is at the same time educational and interesting to them.
Of course, 3D printing is not a plausible lesson plan for all students or schools. The machines that are used are extremely expensive, and while 3D printing can be great learning tool for students, for schools with limited financial resources, there are many necessities that must be acquired before considering additions such as these.
By using the Tinkercad website, I was able to design and submit my own creation. I was able to choose essentially any form that I wanted, and alter it in size, shape, and colour so that it would fit in with my design. I really enjoyed the experience of formatting and finalizing a design to be printed. In all, this program was much easier to use than I was expecting. I had a bit of a tricky time with alignment, but when I realized that I could input coordinates manually, I was able to get all of me letters to match up in size and positioning. I have included a photo of my design below, and I am very excited to see how it turns out!
It is week three already, and I definitely think that I am making progress with this piece. My right hand is coming along very nicely — I am making fewer and fewer mistakes each time I practice. The same goes for my left hand; however, I definitely feel that it is a little bit harder. Although the right hand is far more complex, as it is the melody, I have an easier time with keeping the tempo. As you can see and hear from the videos, I still make mistakes as I am playing, but I am confident that in a week or two I will be able to start playing hands together. Further, the length of the videos for both my right and left hand lessened by about three to four minutes from my last videos, indicating that I am getting better and making fewer mistakes.
Image credits: Markus Gjengaar
I noticed while I was playing that the majority of my mistakes — with both the right and left hand — were near the end of the piece. As I thought about why this might be, I realized that I practice the first part of the piece more often than the end. This is not something that I do purposefully; however, anytime I mess up when practicing, I often go back to the start to try again. Although this doesn’t necessarily sound like a problem, if I am continuously going back to the start of the piece and re-playing the parts I know well until I make a mistake, I am effectively practicing the parts that I mess up. Now that I am aware of this, I will adjust my practicing strategies accordingly. Instead of restarting the entire piece, I will focus more on specific measures of the song that I need to improve.
I have decided that I am not going to post videos updating my progress every single week. Instead, I think that video updates every two weeks will allow for more drastic progress to be seen from video to video. That being said, I am continuing to practice and improve both the right hand melody, and the left hand accompaniment. Both parts are coming along; however, I feel that I am having an easier time improving on the right hand. This is to be expected, as the right hand is playing the melody, which is definitely easier to pick up.
This week, I thought I would provide a little bit of backstory on the song I chose to learn for this project. As I have mentioned, “Rewrite the Stars” is originally from the 2017 movie “The Greatest Showman.” When I first saw this movie in theatres, I was awestruck. From the costumes to the dancing to the singing, I loved every bit of it. However, the performance that Zac Efron and Zendaya put on when they sang this song captivated me for weeks.
O’Connell, S. (2018). CinemaBlend. https://www.cinemablend.com/news/1753179/the-stressful-way-zendaya-and-zac-efron-filmed-their-big-number-from-the-greatest-showman
In the movie, Zac Efron’s character, Philip Carlyle, and Zendaya’s character, Anne Wheeler, come from very different backgrounds. Philip comes from a well-off family and lives in the upper echelon of society. Anne, in contrast, lives with her brother as typical “circus freaks,” upon who Philip’s family and friends look down. Throughout the movie, their love story unfolds. Upon first glance, it is clear that the two have feelings for each other. However, they both know that the society they live in will never allow them to be together. Their performance of “Rewrite the Stars” is the culmination of all of these feelings. They sing with such emotion, and it is clear that they want to be together, but know that they cannot.
I think that this is the main reason that the song resonated with me so heavily. Emotionally charged songs are so much more fun and interesting to listen to, which translates directly to me playing the piece. I can clearly feel the emotion when I am playing, and I am excited to continue to improve so that I might add extra emphasis and drama in certain places, to truly convey the love and torment that Philip and Anne are feeling throughout the song.
Incredibly quickly, GenAI has become a widespread tool in the modern world. From ChatGPT to Microsoft Co-Pilot, there is no shortage of AI resources to help with everyday activities from assignments to budgets to lists. I have found AI, ChatGPT specifically, has been relatively helpful to me, in the short time that I have had access to it.
In relation to schooling, aside from the obvious fact that it would be academically dishonest to submit something written by ChatGPT as my own, there are other reasons why I would never do it. Primarily, I have found that any piece of writing that ChatGPT produces sound drastically different, and oftentimes worse, than a piece of writing that I myself would create. Instead, I have found that ChatGPT is useful in giving me ideas for what to write about. For example, if I am stuck on a topic that I want to narrow down for a more refined research question, I can ask ChatGPT to give me suggestions. More often than not, I don’t actually use any of the suggestions that I am given. Instead, I am able to think about topics that I hadn’t previously, and dive deeper into my own research in ways I wouldn’t have thought about before.
Using ChatGPT for this assignment, I found that the responses it gave me varied dramatically as a result of minor word changes. For example, with the generic prompt “tourism Victoria BC,” I am given a very generic answer.
However, as soon as I provide it with a specific tone in which I would like the response, the answers begin to change. As you can see below, the simple contrast between “neutral” and “bored” — two words which in many instances could be synonymous — change the responses immensely.
Further, the tone words “angry” and “happy” provide very interesting insight into ChatGPT. As you can see, although the “angry” response tries to dissuade you from visiting Victoria, it acknowledges the “stunning gardens and gorgeous views.” It highlights some of the negative aspects of the cities without lying about its natural beauty, which is something that I did not expect.
