Visualizing understanding for Music Art Making

https://www.thinglink.com/scene/995465261786071042  This is a direct link to the Thinglink that explains a bit about AudioTool, as well as some of its function. The interactive nature that Thinglink has to offer allows for students to have a new perspective of what music making can look like. Also  I hope that this new form of annotated imagery presents students with a new aesthetic that engages them and excites them as to what we will be doing going forward with our project. This visual form of presentation is important to help all types of learners be able to get the same amount of information as well. This concise form of information gives the students all that is needed for a great hook as students prepare to dive into a new experience. The Thinglink that I created works as an introduction to Audiotool in a way that will hopefully not overwhelm students, while giving them the information necessary to get introduce students to what we will be doing as we continue our lesson. As well as this there is a direct link to AudioTool which is the website we are going to be using in order to create our own personal song in order to help us to stay focused and be more productive. I also am hoping to open the door to students to a new way of creating art that relates to the readings we have been doing and allows for us to implement the different ideas that we have been discussing in class. Music always seems like something a million miles away and is often a scary thing for children to explore because they don't know where to start. Through my own knowledge, as well as the tutorials audiotool has to offer, and the information about music we have from the readings it is my hope that the door will open to students and they will now have the tools to express themselves in this new form of art-making with real world applications. This is also only a snip-it of what all is out there for people to use going forward, and allows for further exploration after this interactive lesson is over.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1KkVkzXqB1iPZzQdAMxkDGw2RU0Ey6GTw this consists of a presentation used in class as a way to explain what we will be doing as an activity in the class as well as why we are going to be doing these things. This is an art-making project that I think students would really enjoy doing and would want to implement into my own classroom. In a time where technology is being implemented more and more into classes this allows for art to be created while incorporating scientific readings and english skills; this lesson not only allows for collaboration between the english and the art department, but hopefully also helps to break down the barrier that exists between teachers and the music of a younger generation.

Scaffolding Lesson

Scaffolding Project

Does Music Increase Productivity?

            The three-different readings/ sources that I decided to work with for this project provide a wide array of information on the subject of music’s effects on productivity. Through the use of Multimodal, Print Based and Culturally students should be engaged as they learn all the different ways that music can interact with our brain. From talking about the ways companies have used inaccurate data to market products such as Mozart for Young Minds, a CD of classical music that will “enhance children’s study and learning.”; to explaining how different types of music allow our moods to change to help our overall performance through engaging soundtracks, these sources provide a large range of information on the subject, giving students the opportunity to fully explore and understand how music cant negatively and positively influence us.

            I feel that a lesson of this nature would be best suited for students in high school. High school is a time where you really need to start developing your study skills, and I think that this would help students to possibly find a study solution that could benefit them as they continue on in their academic career. As well as this, students in high school begin to break out from the norm and are far more willing to listen to music like this than students who are still searching for a sense of identity and belonging. As well as this, I am not convinced that students younger than mid to late high school can fully comprehend all that is being said in the Ted Talk as well as more scientific “Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention”.

             The overarching goal for this lesson is to educate students on the history of music being used as a tool for increased productivity, as well as to give them the tools needed in order to hopefully find the right source of music for themselves as a tool to help productivity. Perhaps this comes as a result of being an art teacher, but if I can teach students something and then allow them to apply what they have learned as they go forward throughout life I believe that the lesson would be a success. These readings build off of each other in different ways that allow for students to slowly be brought into the topic, and from there students can continue to do research on their own to divulge more information about why certain types of music influence our brains in the ways that they do, as well as personal research into what types of music play the biggest role in keeping them focused as they work. This could be something that is done simultaneously as well, students doing experimentation while doing research.

            To be most successful when having students go through these readings I would start with “Should You Listen to Music While You Study?” an article that is culturally as students are beginning to learn study techniques.[1] This article talks about how listening to music with lyrics can be compared to trying to learn while on a roller coaster because of cognitive limitations. this would be comparable to trying to learn things from two different people as they talk to you. this can be a very daunting task due to the way that brains take in information. but music can improve mood and help the brain to stay active. this is why music such as movie and video game soundtracks without lyrics can be very beneficial when studying. Once this article is completed we would obviously discuss, the next step I would have them take is to watch the Ted Talk “Music and the Brain” while having them take notes to help remember the important information. [2]This article discusses the different studies behind the marketing of products such as Mozart for Minds, debunking them based on a lack of scientific evidence. She continues to explain studies that followed, which revealed that the main way music affects brain function comes as a result of the mood you have as a result. This means that if you enjoy the song and are in a better mood you will show an increase in performance, however if the song has a negative effect on your mood you are most likely going to perform worse than you normally would. After having students talk about what they took notes on the last piece of academia I would have them dive into is[3] “Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention” which has to do with the effect of music on the brains ability to pay attention. Music engages the areas of the brain that are involved with paying attention, making predictions, and updating event in memory. This article also talks at great length about how when listening to the same song two people’s minds can be in very different places; however, at that moment in between a compositions movement the two brains come back into focus intently.

1. Tickell, Sofia Castello y. “Should You Listen to Music While You Study?” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 July 2014, college.usatoday.com/2012/09/10/should-you-listen-to-music-while-you-study/.

2.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfVsFxJXms

Music and the Brain: Jessica Grahn at TEDxWesternU

3. Baker, Mitzi. “Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention, Stanford Study Finds.” News Center, 1 Aug. 1970, med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-finds.html

            Due to the nature of all of these articles being closely tied together, before getting started on any reading activities I want to focus on vocab for the students so they are prepared for any troublesome words. As well as this thee will be a lot of overlapping terminology, so learning the vocab beforehand will help students to better understand the content of the articles. For this I would use the square method for vocab so that students are able to easily reference the words throughout the readings, also this would allow them to compare the usage of the word to see how it plays a role in several different contexts. This will build their knowledge of the vocab word to increase the amount of information that they retain from the lesson. Since one of the things they will be doing is watching a video I would like them to take notes while they watch it on points that they find interesting of relevant, then meet with a partner or small group after viewing to discuss this. This way they can see the video from possible multiple perspectives, and students are able to explain what they learned as well as possibly teach material to other students. This peer collaboration allows for the pooling of information and sharing of ideas about the same topic. For the final article I would have students mark up their sheet to identify things they found interesting, as well as parts that they may not have fully understood. Once complete I would have them do a bit of writing reflation to talk about what it is that they don’t understand to try and work through the problem before we would come together as a whole group to discuss any points of confusion that arose as they read.one the assignment is completely over I would like students to leave and do their best to find some music that improves there productivity that they could share on a group playlist for the whole class to use.

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[1] “Should You Listen to Music While You Study?”

[2] “Music and the Brain”

[3] “Music Moves Brain to pay Attention”

Inquiry blog close reading

Blog Post 3

Does music increase productivity?

Multimodal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfVsFxJXms

Music and the Brain: Jessica Grahn at TEDxWesternU

There wasn’t any text to read because this is based off of a Ted Talk, however I feel that the information being relayed in the video is not horribly complex by any means and could be easily understood by anyone Middle School level and above. As for the contents quality, I found this a very useful source for helping divulge some of the fallacies that come with the topic at hand. Jessica talks about the different studies behind the marketing of products such as Mozart for Minds, debunking them based on a lack of scientific evidence. She continues to explain studies that followed, which revealed that the main way music affects brain function comes as a result of the mood you have as a result. This means that if you enjoy the song and are in a better mood you will show an increase in performance, however if the song has a negative effect on your mood you are most likely going to perform worse than you normally would. The quantity of information in this talk was more than I expected, Grahn referenced studies that have proven all of the positive ways that music can better the brain; from reduction in pain after surgery and during child birth , to helping with memory recollection in dementia patients,  or even improved endurance, music can do incredible things for the human brain.

This video would be used in class to give students a different mode of research. Ted Talks are one of my favorite sources of new information, keeping up to date on a lot of current topics and science. This talk in particular also gives students a different view on the topic at hand. As well as this, this shows students how research can be misconstrued to help make products more marketable. Lastly this talk does show the benefits music can have on the brain, even if it doesn’t directly correlate to productivity.

https://genius.com/Macklemore-otherside-lyrics

this is a link to a song talking about music productions ability to help someone be productive in addiction recovery.  Another multimodal source that many people in recovery can relate to, even if drug addiction isn’t necessarily what they are recovering from.

Print Based:

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-finds.html

Baker, Mitzi. “Music Moves Brain to Pay Attention, Stanford Study Finds.” News Center, 1 Aug. 1970, med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2007/07/music-moves-brain-to-pay-attention-stanford-study-finds.html

After looking at the Storytools for this text, the average grade for this text would be 18, so this text is pretty complex in terms of base knowledge for High School level students however I feel that the majority of this comes from the vocabulary words:

functional magnetic resonance imaging

baroque

partitions

segmentation

subconsciously

Musical movements

The quality of information in this article was incredible when looking at the very narrow field that this study followed, which fortunately for me had to do with the effect of music on the brains ability to pay attention. Music engages the areas of the brain that are involved with paying attention, making predictions, and updating event in memory. When looking at the quantity of the information provided in this article, there is plenty of information talking about how the brain is activated during the process of listening to music. This article also talks at great length about how when listening to the same song two people’s minds can be in very different places; however at that moment in between a compositions movements the two brains come back into focus intently. This is a technique that was actually used by baroque style composers in the late 1600’s early 1700’s.

This is probably the article that I would introduce lastly to students due to its intensive nature. I do feel that it would be beneficial though because it is an actual study that they can look at and interpret. I think that it would provide a good challenge for them to practice close reading as well as dealing with language they may not know. This will require them to use context around the word to understand what the content is telling them, and possibly the need to look up the word which is something I think is become less and less frequent in our youth.

https://www.nbcnews.com/better/health/bored-work-create-productivity-soundtrack-ncna778086

Culturally Relevant:

http://college.usatoday.com/2012/09/10/should-you-listen-to-music-while-you-study/

Tickell, Sofia Castello y. “Should You Listen to Music While You Study?” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 16 July 2014, college.usatoday.com/2012/09/10/should-you-listen-to-music-while-you-study/.

The average grade for this article would be grade 12 according to Storytools, however after reading the article I think that it would be comprehended by most people throughout high school. i feel that this article would be great for the students to read second after watching the video. i feel that the video would provide a great hook to get the students into the topic and then can ease into the gritty part with this article before going full fledged and scientific.
Vocab:

 Ubiquitous

Profound

cognitive limitations.

The quality of the article is very nice and well focused helping readers to understand how different types of music can effect the brain when you are learning. listening to music with lyrics can be compared to trying to learn while on a roller coaster because of cognitive limitations. this would be comparable to trying to learn things from two different people as they talk to you. this can be a very daunting task due to the way that brains take in information. but music can improve mood and help the brain to stay active. this is why music such as movie and video game soundtracks without lyrics can be very beneficial when studying. Unfortunately for this article i feel that it was a bit shorter quantitatively than what i would have liked, although maybe this is the nature of culturally relevant articles. although i did like how it talked about lyric-less musics ability to help people to get into things like reading and it even provided a list of artists that may help students greatly with studying and reading.  i felt like this was very beneficial in keeping this article culturally relevant because they were artists that i know and actually have used to study in the past such as Ratatat.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-best-music-for-productivity-2015-7

all in all i feel that these three articles give multiple variations on the topic of how music effects productivity, but together they give you a great understanding of the different areas music is able to help productivity, but also showed how music may prohibit students ability to stay productive with music in the background.

Inquiry Blog

For this inquire I wanted to see if there are any direct correlations between music being play and productivity among individuals; increased or decreased productivity? And if so, Why? In my own life I can say that I notice an increased level of productivity when I have music playing; as well as fluctuation in that level based on the type of music being played.  However I am not sure if this is a result is something that is consistent on a large scale, or if this is a more case by case result. I know that for me music increases my productivity, does that added brain stimulation benefits the majority of people or is it a hindering factor? For this I think it will be important to understand the way that music impacts the brain, and how different genres might or might not stimulate different areas. From all of this I am hoping to find out what stimulation is occurring in the brain when music is added to a task measuring productivity, and why it either positively or negatively impacts the performance of the individual being tested.  Based on what I know so far about this, I expect to see direct correlation between music and productivity as a result of the consistent beats in music keeping the mind on task.  As well as this I would expect instrumental music to have more of an impact on productivity, fearing that lyrics may impair the desired outcome of increased productive by distracting the mind as it follows the words and sings along with them. There are articles in the New York Times on the topic, and I hope to uncover actual experiments to show evidence on the matter.

About me

Hello, my name is Ryan Cindric, I grew up in Middleton, Wisconsin. I Can't Complain too much about my life growing up. I have a brother named Nick and a sister named Megan who are both older than me, as well as a handful of step siblings as a result of my parents’ divorce. It might not have always been the easiest, but it helped make me who I am today. As well as this, without some of the struggle I am not sure I would have found some of the best things in my life. First, I found my best friend Evan, who I am thankful for every day. Next, through the help of my art teachers in high school I was able to find an escape. Through their teaching in class as well as our free time I found a love for art and a desire to be that person for someone else, and that’s why I’m here today going to school to be an art teacher. I hope to one day have an impact like that on at least one student; that will make it all worthwhile for me. Lastly, I found one of the greatest sports of all time, Ultimate Frisbee. Now growing up I never knew it existed, I was always pushed to play soccer by my dad. However, after many years including sever years playing in high school a bittersweet thing happened. At the time, my father and I didn’t have the best relationship so I drifted further and further away from soccer and had a friend who played Frisbee. The rest is history, and now I play for the School, jokingly calling myself a division one athlete.