Getting On The Right Note - Music In Middle School

I am most proud of my soundbites in my podcast. I felt that I chose good soundbites from my interviews that represented all perspectives on my topic. I also felt that I did a good job with my bridges and transitions. One example that I am most proud of is when I added a bridge in the middle of my soundbite to connect the two ideas my interviewee talked about. 

My biggest challenge with this podcast would have to be putting research (quotes and statistics) into the podcast script. I felt that this was difficult as I had to find the right evidence that flowed with the ideas my interviewees talked about instead of evidence that was off track and would just make listeners confused. 

Something I wish I had more time to fine tune would be my research. There is always room for improvement and I feel that I could’ve worked on phrasing my research in a more efficient way that leaves less room for confusion. I feel that my evidence is already quite good, but I feel that if I had to fine tune something, it would be the way I phrased my evidence.

One piece of unintended learning I discovered during this unit was that you should always check your recordings before you leave the recording studio. This was because a couple of my recordings were started too late and I had to re-record using my computer microphone, which is very different in terms of sound quality compared to the microphone at the Note Pad.

My interviews went pretty well as I was able to get the sound bites I needed to represent the different perspectives the community had on my issue. I built rapport by asking them about background information on their musical history. For example, with Brian, I asked him if he plays a musical instrument (3:36 in the interview clip). This helps build rapport as this was a question that helped me get to know Brian better and it was also related to my topic, so it didn’t bring the interview off track.

I think I did a good job with my interviews, but something that I could improve on would be my follow up questions. Overall, I felt that I did a good job with my follow-up questions, but there is always room for growth. During Brian’s interview, I asked him, “If I am not mistaken, you play a musical instrument right? And what is that instrument? Why will you keep on playing and learning that instrument?” He told me he played the clarinet and the french horn and he likes the challenges that come with learning the instrument. Learning that Brian has been learning musical instruments for a long time and being a musician myself, I wanted to know his views on his ability to play the french horn impacting him. So I then asked three more follow-up questions: When did you start playing the french horn? And has the ability to play the french horn, does affect your feelings or emotions? How about stress levels. Do you think that a musical instrument helps with the amount of stress someone feels?

SMART Goal

Who: Myself

What: Getting my max push-ups in a minute to 40

When: By the end of the third quarter

Which: Using my routine I've created of slowly increasing the number of push-ups I do every day.

Why: To improve my upper body strength for sports.

Goal: I want to get my max push-ups in a minute to 40 by the end of the third quarter by using my routine I've made of slowly increasing the number of push-ups I do per day to improve my upper body strenght.

Fitness Plan

                DECIDE: My FITNESS Plan

D Define the Problem	Select the FITNESS COMPONENT or SKILL COMPONENT you’d most like to improve this year. (Fitness: Cardio, Muscular Strength, Muscular endurance, Flexibility, Body Composition.core strength) (Skill: Balance, Agility, Coordination, Power, Speed,  Reaction Time) Explain why you chose this component. Muscular Strength. I need to work on my muscular strength so that I can shoot and pass better in basketball and in other sports. Muscular strength also helps your ability to play sports for extended periods of time. Create and link a short video (10-15 seconds) that illustrates your chosen component. (using your laptop, iPad, iPhone, or other device). Upload to youtube and paste youtube link here: https://youtu.be/DlHESM-5OSs
E Explore the Alternatives	List 3 other Fitness/Skill Components that you could also improve and explain how they will benefit your overall fitness: 1. Endurance - Having a better endurance means that I can play sports and move around for longer periods of time. This also can help me run a quicker mile. 2. Reaction Time - Having a better reaction time can allow me to make decisions quickly and helps me with my reflexes. 3. Speed - This can help me play sports, especially sports where you have to evade defenders, that require sudden bursts of speed or are played in small areas.
C Consider the Consequences	Identify 2 positive and 2 negative possible outcomes as a result of your choice: (Ask yourself … how risky is each alternative? What are the chances of success? How would it affect my short term fitness? How would it affect my fitness long term?) Positive 1. Being stronger can help me play sports for extended periods of time because I won’t burn out as easily. For example, if you are a quarterback in football, if you are stronger, you can keep on passing the ball during the fourth quarter because you still have the energy and strength to do so. If you aren’t as strong, then you wouldn’t be able to throw the ball during the fourth quarter because you wouldn’t have enough strength due to fatigue and lack of strength.      2. Being stronger can also make you less prone to injuries because you wouldn’t be that fragile. You wouldn’t strain your muscles because they would be able to last longer due to their strength. If you weren’t as strong, you could get injured or strain your muscles if an activity requires you to exert a lot of energy. With that, you can play more sports for longer periods of time. Negative      1. Too much exercise can result in injuries, especially if you push yourself too much. I’m not saying that pushing yourself is bad, it’s what makes us better, what I’m saying is that you have to listen to your body and know when to call it a day when you exercise.     2. Also, muscular endurance can cause soreness. Sometimes when I go run during training, I feel sore when I finish. That is another thing that you can prevent from listening to your body.
I Identify Values	This decision is important to me because I want to become stronger so that I can play sports for extended periods of time and I can be less injury-prone. Also, exercise is important because it gives you so many benefits. In a way, it is your body’s natural medicine.
D Decide and Act	Create an action plan for improvement.  Outline a plan for a week of fitness activity that will improve your chosen component.  Create short video links  (10-15 seconds) of your chosen activities to help illustrate your plan. My plan to improve my muscular strength is to do simple, but effective exercises. Examples of such exercises are push-ups, sit-ups, and lunges. I will do these exercises daily.
E Evaluate the results	My goal was to improve a specific fitness component.  I will know that my decision and action plan has been effective when......... My goal is to improve my push-ups and sit-ups. I will start out by doing 15 push-ups and sit-ups and then increase the number by 2 each day. I will be able to track my progress by the number of push-ups and sit-ups I can do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkvuuJJwn5o