Chapter 13

Three things I didn't know before I read this chapter were:
1. "Music literacy, with the use of a computer, enables or encourages experimentation with alternative ways to represent music." So, another way to look at this use of "music literacy" is to use technology. It's not just a way to teach students how to read traditional musical pieces, but rather, they are able to use software to learn how to read it, use it, or change it.
2. "MENC said: The K-12 music curriculum that was established by the 1930's had evolved only gradually since that time, the curricula that were acceptable in the past will be inadequate to prepare students for the 21st century." This is just the most sickening statement I've heard about a music program. These educators may think they know a ton about what the 21st century will be like, but traditional teaching of music shouldn't be disregarded. The old curricula of music is very important to understanding any new kinds of music innovations. This section of the chapter made me sick.
3. "Computerized kilns" are kilns that are automatically set to cool in temp or rise in temp, and to also keep track of how long a ceramic piece should be baked, all by using a computer. This blew my mind. I didn't know they had updated kilns. When I used them, it was old school stuff. But this would be more convenient I guess.

Two things I'd use in my classroom:
1. "Sequencers" are a form of software that allows the user to play with different forms of audio, editing tools, etc. This allows students to create their own original piece of music. Since I'm Language Arts, I'd have them write lyrics to go with the music.
2. "Tweening" or "morphing" which is a computer software 3-d modeling attempt to get students to build their own characters in stories, or architecture, etc. I think this would be super helpful for any students that needed a little bit of help remembering characters from stories we read in our English class, so if the students could make the characters on this software, they might be able to understand the material in the texts better.

One question I have about this chapter is:
1. If music and art help to create a better all around student that is more informed about the world and how to be a creative problem solver, which I believe is true, then why does NCLB get to infringe on that productivity?