Dropping out of college. Common practice

Dropping out of college. Common practice Top 6 reasons why students drop out of college Have you ever wondered why a tendency like dropping out has grown to become a national problem? Here, we try to analyze the reasons behind leaving college and the psychology of students, who prefer a well-paid job to overcrowded lecture halls. Either way, dropping out can be referred to as a sad practice. You are not ready for academic responsibility. Most of us expect a drastic change in our everyday routine once we go into college, but the reality is more prosaic: piles of papers that clutter our desk and endless hours of learning. Students realize that promises they’ve given to themselves cannot be kept without burning out and severe stress, so they decide to leave rather than climb an academic ladder. On the one hand, this behavioral model is quite understandable, as the pressure in college can be high, but if we take a look from a different angle, we might find out that leaving your university is a serious loss for students and teachers alike. You suffer from financial stress. Tuition fees may be hard to cover, so there are students who would like to run their own business instead of making regular donations to the university’s treasury. This is both disturbing and common: as we pay off our loans in college, we invest in the future education and a career at the working place. Those, who do not realize the importance of this far-reaching strategy, though, claim that financial expectations are nothing more than a clever-minded tactics to bring more money to the country’s educational sector, and they do not want to contribute to the economy in such a way. You want to live the party life. You may be a party animal to the point where your decisions are determined by your weekend plans, and not the college schedule. Some of us claim to be a little less sociable than the others, but most students expect university to look like some kind of magic place, where you can make up for the slack and chaos that you caused in a few simple steps. The truth, however, is far from that: you cannot give in to social pleasures and stay best in class, as sleepless nights do not encourage healthy studying routine. To avoid this, we recommend to treat university life with moderation. You can enjoy the party vibes once the semester is over, but you are certainly expected to pay your full and undivided attention to academia once you are in college. You want to go home. Some of us miss home so much that we are ready to abandon our studies once given an opportunity. Climate change, noisy roommates and overall atmosphere are the main reasons we drop out of college. Homesickness becomes our regular companion, and we will give anything to find ourselves in our own neighborhood again. Do not think that this is unrealistic, though: many students have relinquished their studies because they felt nostalgia was too overwhelming. You do not want to do that much writing. If you are not used to making notes and your handwriting is something you would prefer to forget about, this aspect of college life will certainly stress you out. Of course, you are not required to write your term paper by hand, but there is a certain amount of writing that is anticipated from you to continue education. Digital technologies may take over the reins, but if you have perfect handwriting, many of your problems in college are solved. You want guidance. Back in high school, you thrived on your teacher’s attention and valued guidance above all, and now they tell you to take care of your own life and make independent decisions. Some of us just can’t handle the pressure – we need an instructor who is going to tell us exactly what to do and help us overcome the stress of our first years in college. If there is no such person around or we haven’t found the right role model, we drop out to seek inspiration elsewhere.

25 Lessons From Guest Blogging For The Top Blogs In The World

25 Lessons From Guest Blogging For The Top Blogs In The World During the past few years, I’ve written for some of the most popular marketing blogs in the world. Blogs like Social Media Examiner, MarketingProfs, Copyblogger, Problogger, KISSMetrics, and the list goes on and on. It’s been an honor to guest blog for such amazing publications. And along the way, I’ve learned a thing or two. So, if you’re thinking about guest blogging as a way to market your company, this will help you get started. Or if you’re already guest blogging, then this will help you get even more out of it. When guest blogging, the first thing you need to do is find good blogs to write for. 1. Know what audience you want to target. So before you jump in, there are a few things to consider: Are you looking to write on a blog in your industry? Or are you looking to write on a blog that your customers read? For instance, my company focuses on marketing software for small businesses. I could either write for marketing blogs such as or I can write for small business blogs. 2. Use Google to find relevant blogs. The first and most obvious place to look for a guest blogging opportunity is Google. Once you know  the type of blog that you want to write for, you simply Google the name of your industry and â€Å"write for us†. So if you Google â€Å"small business† and â€Å"write for us†, you’ll see a list of small business blogs that accept guest posts: Pore through them to find the  blogs that are most aligned your goals. 3. Try Twitter to find relevant blogs. If you go to search.twitter.com and click on â€Å"Advanced Search†, you’re brought to the following screen: In the â€Å"All of these words† field, enter the niche that you want to write for. In the â€Å"This exact phrase† field, enter the words â€Å"write for us†. You should see a list of blogs asking for guest posts. 4. Look through the blogs you follow. Look for guest blogging opportunities on the blogs that you currently read. Do all of the authors of the blog work for the company? If they don’t, it’s a good bet that they accept guest posts. 5. Investigate the size of the blog. The truth is, writing a blog post takes a lot of time. And you want to get the most exposure possible. To see how much traffic a blog gets, I do two things: First, I check out their Alexa ranking. Even though it’s only an estimate, it gives me some indication as to how many readers the blog has. After I look at their Alexa ranking, I scroll through the most recent 10–20 posts to see how many social media shares each post gets. These are mostly vanity metrics, but they’ll give you a sense for how many people will interact with your post. 6. Make sure the blog has an engaged audience. If you’re looking to guest blog to get traffic to your site and build your email list, then writing for blogs with a high comment to share ratio is extremely important. For instance, I wrote a post on Boost Blog Traffic: It received a ton of comments relative to the number of social media shares. It’s no accident that during the time this post was written, it was my largest source of referral traffic- even though I had written for much bigger blogs. It’s not always the size of the blog that matters. It’s just as important to have active and engaged readers. When #guestblogging, blog size doesn’t always matter. Active readers do.7. Make sure your target audience reads the blog. One of the most critical factors for guest blogging success is ensuring the audience is a proper fit for you. The biggest blog in the world will do you absolutely no good if your customers don’t read it. Make sure you understand the demographics of the blog’s audience to ensure your customers read it. Ask To Write A Guest Blog Once you find a blog you want to write for, you’ll need to apply to contribute a guest post to that blog. 8. Choose a topic based on what was successful. Read the last three to six months’ worth of blog posts to get a feel for the content the blog publishes and what type of posts the audience likes to read. The posts with the most comments and shares probably get the most traffic, and in the blog editors  mind, are the most successful. Contribute an idea that is similar  to a successful post to increase your chances of it being accepted. So, as a person who is interested in writing for the small business audience, here’s how I would create a topic and headline: One of my favorite small business blogs is called Under30CEO. After doing my research, I find that a lot of the posts that do well are about  increasing your company’s visibility. Now that I know  what works, I would say something like: 5 Practical Ways to Get Your Company in Front of Your Prospects, Even if You Dont Have a Huge Budget 9. Create the guest blog outline. A brief outline will give me a better idea of how the post is going to be constructed, what it will include, and how it will benefit the blog’s readers. You only need to spend 20 minutes on the outline. Just enough time to flesh out your ideas. 10. Write the email to the blog you’ll contribute to. Here’s the email script that I use often  to pitch my guest blogs. Figure Out The Best Post Type For That Blog When you’re guest blogging, there are typically three types of posts that you can write. 11. Long list posts work. A long list post is successful because the sheer numbers blow readers away. That’s why it attracts a lot of attention. The key, though, is to blow your audience away. For instance, I wrote this post on KISSMetrics. And it did amazingly well. And it even got featured on Entrepreneur: This post would have been lost in the Internet if I had simply wrote about seven email marketing tools. The fact that I had compiled such a huge list is what made this post so successful. 12. Analyze other people. Another type of post you can write is to analyze other people. In another guest  post, I analyzed how five different companies deployed psychological triggers in their marketing to get more customers. I backed these tactics with facts that the companies published as well as scientific research. 13. Try personal stories or case studies. This is by far the most powerful post if you want to get your story out there, build your email list, and sell your products and services. When I wrote, â€Å"Why Quitting May Be the Most Profitable Thing You do This Year†, I told the story of how I was absolutely lost as an entrepreneur. I didn’t know where my next customer was going to come from. I let all my emotions go. I can’t tell you how many emails I received from people who have said they knew exactly how I felt. I was able to connect in a very real and personal way. To date, this post has been the single largest contributor to my email list. The day it went live, I had well over 400 people subscribe. Promote Yourself With Guest Blogging Guest blogging can be a brilliant marketing strategy- if you promote yourself correctly. If not, it’ll be a colossal waste of time. 14. Focus on conversions and landing pages. Neil Patel has seen conversions on landing pages increase by 10% simply by personalizing his landing page. Instead of sending people to a generic landing page, send them to a page that has a headline like â€Å"Welcome, Readers.† 15. Provide relevant and useful offers. It’s extremely tough to split test this, but when you’re guest blogging, I find that an offer related to your guest post will get more email subscribers than your general lead magnet. For instance, let’s say I’m writing a guest post titled â€Å"25 Lessons From Guest Blogging For The Top Blogs In The World.† :) I could either send all of my traffic to a generic landing page, or I could create an offer that reveals 30 popular blogs that accept guest posts. The second offer is much more relevant to my post, and should perform a lot better. 16. Grow your following with Twitter. Believe it or not, guest blogging is an effective way to grow your Twitter following. When you guest blog on a popular blog, you can be sure that it will get a lot of tweets and retweets. After your guest post goes live, copy and paste the URL from the post into search.twitter.com. And you will see everyone who has tweeted your post. Follow each person who tweeted your post, and a large majority will follow you back. Remember, they just read an article by you, so they’re clearly interested in the type of content you produce! 17. The funnel is overrated. Some of my most lucrative offers came not because someone gave me their email address on my landing page, but because they read my post and asked me if I wanted to do work for them. In another life, I ran a marketing agency focusing on content marketing. After I wrote a blog post on Copyblogger, I received this email offer to work with Shopify: And that’s not the only time guest blogging helped me land a gig. More often than not, when companies would ask for my writing portfolio, I would simply show them various posts I had written for popular blogs. It was the kind of social proof and validation that many of my competitors didn’t have. 18. Use guest blogging as social proof. If you go to my friend Henneke’s blog, you’ll see that she’s been â€Å"seen on† some large and popular blogs. She is able to put these logos on her site because she’s written guest blogs on each of them. Guest blogging offers a third-party social proof similar to a public relations campaign. When someone sees that you’ve been featured on the popular sites in your industry, they know your ideas have already been validated. This brings you one step closer to making that sale. 19. You must guest blog consistently. Unfortunately, guest blogging is sold as the magic elixir for traffic. How many times have you heard this before: #Guestblogging is a way to build a popular blog. Well, that’s only half true. You have to guest blog consistently. Consistent #guestblogging is a way to build a popular blog. These numbers show traffic from guest blogging over the course of two months: I don’t mean that to scare you because the numbers are not large by any stretch. Like most endeavors, building your blog through guest blogging takes time and commitment. 20. Build your relationships. A few years ago, I was building a blog of my own called â€Å"Sales Leads in 30 Days.† I needed to get traffic to my blog. I had already written guest posts on several popular blogs, including KISSMetrics, which is owned by Neil Patel. He’s a popular Internet marketer with a very large Twitter following. Because I had already written for his blog in the past, I had a small relationship with him. So I â€Å"leveraged† that relationship in order to get some traffic to my new blog. That one single tweet brought 154 pageviews and 142 unique pageviews to that post. Mind you, this doesn’t seem like a huge amount of traffic, but this was the first post to the new blog, and this was only one tweet. 21. Promote case studies and user stories. I’ve used guest blogging to publish case studies and user stories to help bring attention to my services. But right now, no one is doing this as effectively as Noah Kagan from Appsumo. Everywhere you look, you see him promoting his new site Sumome- even on this blog. In this post, Noah gives some really valuable content that you can apply to your blog immediately. However, he also has the innate ability to talk about Sumome and the tool’s effect on getting more traffic to every post. If you can work your product or service into your guest post without it being an outright advertisement, your guest post will be much more effective. Be Prepared For Comments And Feedback The very first time I had ever received a comment on any blog post was the first time I wrote for Copyblogger. To be honest, I never really gave it much thought. However, once you put yourself out there for the world to see, you open yourself up to criticism. 22. Most comments are good. Luckily, most people are going to love your work. That’s because you’ve undergone an editorial standard from the popular blog that prohibits bad posts from coming through. And when you read how great you are from hundreds of people, it makes you feel really freakin’ good about yourself. But there is also the other side of the coin†¦. 23. Some comments suck. I had just spent 25 hours compiling a list of email marketing tools unlike any the Internet has seen. I poured my heart and soul into that guest blog. And one of the first comments I received was a snarky complaint about how my grammar was incorrect: The world is full of critics. Sometimes you just have to grit your teeth and smile. Bonus Lessons For Guest Blogging Here are just a few things I picked up that really didn’t fit into any of the categories. 24. Guest blogging requires a big time commitment. I often underestimate how long a post will take. The 67 email tools post I wrote took me 25 hours. The post I wrote on Copyblogger titled â€Å"In Defense of Quitting† took even longer. And if you want to be effective with your guest blogging, then its something you’ll have to do consistently. If there was an opposite to â€Å"get rich quick†, then guest blogging is it. Sure, it can help you sell more products and services. But like all things in the land of entrepreneurship, it’s a grind. 25. Guest blogging isn’t for everyone. Guest blogging is a strategy that allows writers to leverage their strength. Just as a public speaker leverages a stage to promote his ideas, guest blogging gives writers the platform to get their ideas into the world.

Purpose of this assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Purpose of this assignment - Essay Example Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) brings about synergy and better use of communication funds and Balancing the 'push' and 'pull' strategies Improves the company's ability to reach the right consumer at the right place at the right time with the right message. There is also a lot more to developing and implementing a successful Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) program. This assignment will focus on the rapidly evolving field of integrated marketing communications. The assignment will examine the evolving role of IMC, how it differs from traditional advertising and promotion, and provide insights into how to measure the effectiveness of IMC programs. IMC has an increasingly central role to play in today's market place, because if offers companies a way to strategically coordinate messages and establish a meaningful dialogue with customers. In short, IMC provides organisations with a strategic method for both establishing and maintaining relationships with key stakeholders. And this is essential for marketing success in the twenty-first century The marketplace is changing. What was once a single audience has fragmented and companies have to establish and maintain brand relationships with a variety of groups of people-customers, as well as other stakeholders, such as employees, investors, suppliers and distributors, local communities, and the media. Organisations now have to communicate with these groups using a wide variety of media. Consequently there are more kinds of messages than ever before and inconsistency can become a company-wide problem. That is why IMC is also needed to coordinate communication consistency Because the mass media now have considerably less importance than they have had in the past, dialogue is becoming increasingly critical in this marketplace. That means that companies can no longer rely only on one-way communication targeted to large groups of customers. To be successful now, organizations must not only be able to target messages to individual customers, but also to listen and respond to all th eir stakeholders. That means they must know who these people are, and the key to that is database-driven communication. IMC is critical to brand relationship programs, because it provides the skills and new ways of thinking that are necessary if organizations are to create and successfully manage dialogue with customers and other key stakeholders. Integrated Marketing communication frame work Integrated Marketing Communications provides a framework for managing brand contacts. We all know the importance of branding out product or service, we also know the importance of maintaining a dialogue with our stakeholder relationship marketing, one-to-one, the voice of the customer, and most of us believe in communication consistency. However, these are only techniques that often fail to when practised without clear philosophy, or if not supported by integrated process. At a minimum, IMC provides and underlying model by: Identifying your StakeholdersIdentifying your Brand contacts Analysing Communications amongst Customers At Each Brand Contact Encouraging Dialogue At Each Brand Con

Journal Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Journal - Assignment Example e while women is receptive.In every culture, gender role is influenced by various sources including parental expectation, modeling by peers, and media images of male and female. For instance, Scandinavian culture appears to have a more egalitarian gender role such as norms of behavior and personal traits at home and work are not defined solely on gender.In contrat, Arabs have strict implication of gender role which expect women to cover head and walk behind husband.Across many cultures males are expected to be strong,independent, self – reliant, emotionally detached and women are taught to be nurturing, dependent, gentle and emotional.Gender role is the public expression ofone’s gender identity.In many cultures men learn to be aggressive and women learn to be passive.A family from the birth of a child imposes gender role on them and bring them up as male or female.Basically the attitude and behavior of male and female is molded according to the cultural environment he or sheis grown up

Phychology paper on cognitive developmental stages Essay Example for Free

Phychology paper on cognitive developmental stages Essay During Piaget’s stages of cognitive development, he introduces four different stages that children go through all the way up to adolescents. Piaget states that none of these stages can be skipped. These stages show how a child’s mind is intellectually developing over time as they grow. Their cognitive abilities progress and they begin to have a better understanding of the world around them. Throughout this paper I will explain the four stages of cognitive development; sensorimotor, preoperational, concrete operational and formal operational. The first stage of cognitive development that Piaget states is the sensorimotor stage. This stage is initiated at birth and lasts normally through when the child is 18 months. Everything in this stage is learned from the child exploring different things the best way they know how, whether by putting things in their mouth, or learning how to make the toys move on their play mat. Also, early language development occurs during the early part of this stage such as â€Å"coo-ing†. Then language progresses into words towards the later part of this stage where the child starts forming actual words such as â€Å"No†, and â€Å"Mine†. The second stage of cognitive development is the preoperational stage. This stage starts around 18 months, and lasts until about the age of 7. Children start being able to grasp symbols. For example, they can draw a series of squares with a triangle on top to represent a house. They also start to learn the alphabet, which is, of course, the set of symbols we use to read and write. On the other hand, they don’t understand abstract concepts like amounts, speed, or weight. In one of Piaget’s most famous experiments, he showed that children at this stage can’t comprehend that if you pour liquid from a short, wide glass into a tall, narrow glass, it’s still the same amount. The third stage of cognitive development is the concrete operational stage. This stage starts around 7, and lasts until 12 years old. In this stage children comprehend ideas like weight, amount, and speed, and can understand that the amount of liquid in the two glasses is the same. For example, a younger child in this stage would explain what would happen if you hit a glass with a feather based on what he knows about feathers, whereas the older child reasons from the previous statement and answers according to the logic proposed. They can also understand causal relationships; though not necessarily explain the reasoning behind them. The last stage of cognitive development is the formal operational stage. This  stage starts after about the age of 12. At this stage children begin to understand abstract concepts and reason logically. If you ask them what â€Å"justice† means, they can explain it. In this stage formal operational thinking is being illustrated.

A Career In Marketing Essay -- Careers Jobs essays research papers

Introduction   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Choosing a career in marketing can lead a person in many different directions within the defined roles of marketing. Composed of many facets and activities marketing careers offer a variety of avenues for the career minded to explore while offering growth and opportunities for advancement. A common denominator for many who choose a career in this field is the sense of ownership, or entrepreneurial spirit with regards to the products or services that they are working to market. Marketing requires that an understanding of customers’ needs and desires be acquired and then translated into both product development as well as communications as part of the marketing strategy. This paper will explore what is entailed in a career in marketing, as well as what the future holds for the profession. Because marketing professionals are needed by every company and in every industry, the career potential and chances for finding ones niche within the career field are virtua lly unlimited. Basics of Marketing   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A good definition of marketing is the process of the intermediary function between product development and sales. (Reddy ) The field of marketing entails taking a generic product or generic service (the product or services do not have to be â€Å"generic† they may be actually unique to the marketplace) and associating the generic product with a brand name (Petty 2001). Under this generic concept are the activities of advertising, public relations, media planning, sales strategy and so on.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Marketing professionals create, manage and/or enhance brands in order to create or bolster demand for the product. A successful marketing plan will help assure that consumers look beyond just the price or function of a product when making a purchasing decision, in part, a well planned marketing effort will create a â€Å"feel good† association about the product the consumer is about to purchase (Petty) A key part of a career in marketing is to understand the needs, preferences, and constraints that define the target group of consumers or the market niche corresponding to the brand. This is done by market research. This is accomplished through market research, essentially using survey techniques, statistics, psychology and social understanding to help gather information on what consumers want and/or need, and then designing products, or services, to hopefully meet ... ...rs per week. (Locke) Those entering the field must be able to work well under pressure and thrive off meeting deadlines and goals that are set. In some positions, substantial travel is not uncommon. In spite of the rigors associated with a career in marketing the outlook for the profession is bright. Marketing is a vital necessity not only for business firms, but is also needed and utilized by governments, educational, religious, social service, and nonprofit organizations or institutions. Perhaps the most alluring aspect of a career in marketing is the fact that it provides a great number and variety of job opportunities, and can offer opportunities to both number crunchers as well as intuitive creative people as well. Bibliography Beckman Theodore N. Davidson William R. (1997) Marketing; Ronald Press Inc. Hills Gerald (1994) Marketing and Entrepreneurship; Quorum Books Locke Christopher, (2001) Gonzo Marketing: Winning through Worst Practices; Perseus Publishing Petty Ross D. Editor's Introduction: The What and Why of Marketing; American Business Journal, Vol. 36, 1999 Reddy C. Allan (1999) Quality Marketing:, Gaining Markets Shares; Quorum Books, 1998

Music Education

Key Curriculum ElementsI believe teaching individuals about singing, playing instruments, moving, composing and listening is incredibly important, ranging from infants through to adults, but starting in early childhood would be most beneficial for long term benefits. These key elements contribute significantly in developing their music skills and knowledge; contributing to their education on a more broad scale (Broad, 2007 pg23); and/or assisting the student’s emotional/mental development. The difficulties that could be expected in the classroom when integrating the music curriculum into lessons could be students lack of wanting to participate (I can’t do it, I’m not good at music) due to fear of failure and/or embarrassment from low self esteem; participation levels of extroverted students in comparison to introverted students; or even a lack of concentration and maturity to handle situations. Other difficulties that might be a challenge may perhaps be the lack of funding to offer reasonable resources; insufficient time allocation to allow reasonable attention to the music curriculum; teachers/students having high expectations of their abilities and those expectations not being met; and there being a lack of space for students to move and experiment.Some potential solutions I can think of, to the difficulties I have stated above might be: ï  ¶ providing a safe and encouraging environment so students do not feel if they attempt something and it does not go as well as they wanted or they might think they have failed. Instead they receive encouragement and  reassurance that they haven’t failed or let anyone down, what they have now done is create something new and/or something they can learn from, lots of positive feedback from the teacher and other students; ï  ¶ encouraging small groups of 2-4 would help introverted students participate more.By having each child required to have a specific task in all group work, so each child can have the same participation level might help introverted students have more participation and extroverted students still have participation, yet not over-whelming the introverted students; ï  ¶ constantly evolving activities used in class to stimulate students learning and encourage active learning, encouraging lack of boredom.Scaffold information and skills starting from basics to attempt to develop a more mature level of understanding and knowledge base for students to be more comfortable; ï  ¶ the lack of funding to offer reasonable resources does not always have to be seen as a negative, it allows students to use their imagination and creativity to find alternate resources to complete the same task or similar tasks; ï  ¶ insufficient time allocation to allow reasonable attention to the music curriculum is always going to be a sad situation, but integrating the music curriculum into other KLA’s allows the students to be able to enjoy music and appreciate that mus ic can be incorporated into any situation in their lives; ï  ¶ unfortunately teachers/students will always have high expectations of their abilities and those expectations will not always be met.The best teachers can do is to not allow students to see when the students have not meet the expectations they had and when students do not meet their own expectations, the teacher needs to encourage the student to try again and learn from their previous experience; ï  ¶ a lack of space for students to move and experiment is a shame but, a classroom is not the only place that students can learn to create, they can do the basic or the foundation type work in a classroom and then move out into the playground or a hall. One of the best things about music is that it can be created; played; movement; and listened to anywhere there is a desire to enjoy/appreciate it.Some of the things I would hope to achieve in the classroom through the integration of the music curriculum are encouragement of the appreciation of music; knowledge of music and how it can impact ones life; how music can be integrated into everyday life; and no matter who you are you can sing, play instruments, move (dance), compose and listen to  music.Integrating Music into the CurriculumHSIE: This Is Me! (Early Stage 1)Activity 1 – Puppet Joe teaching the students a poem and some rhythm ‘The End’ with Puppet Joe, this will be explained in Lesson Plan 1 Activity 2 – Mirroring each other’s movements to musicThe students are paired off and allocated their own space in the room, standing up, they are facing each other. They will then listen to ‘What I Am’ by Will.I.Am. As they listen to the song, it will speed up and slow down. The students will need to adapt their movement to follow the tempo of the music, for example faster movements as the music speeds or slower movements when the music slows. Once they are able to adapt to different tempos, the music will c hange dynamics via getting louder and softer. The students will need to adapt their movement to follow the dynamics of the music for example larger movements when the music is louder or smaller movements when the music is softer.The students will take turns in leading the movements through each change. Once the song has played through, the students will have a few minutes to talk and create movements together for the tempo and dynamic sections of the song. The song is run through a second time and the students will move together to the music showing the movements they had worked on together. The students are then encouraged to talk through what they found was the best representation of the music when it would change dynamic and tempo. Did the music have repetition, a constant beat, similarities and differences? Time Allocation: 45 minutes HSIE: Celebrations (Stage 1)Activity 3 – Song – ListeningThe class is allocated into groups of 4-5 in their own spaces. Each group c hooses a cultural celebration from a box on the teacher’s desk (each cultural celebration is celebrated by one or more of the students in the class at home).Once they have all picked the activity, they are given a kit (which has been put together by the students prior to this lesson as part of the Celebrations unit they are studying). They will listen to the song that is part of the kit and discuss as a group the beat, pitch, tone colour,  duration, dynamics, tempo and structure of the song. They discuss what features appealed to them or those that did not. Time allocation: 45 minutes Activity 4 – Mirroring each other through rhythm and movement Mirror Me, this will be explained in Lesson Plan 2HSIE: Global Environments: Rainforests (Stage 3) Activity 5 – Visualising the MusicStudents are advised that they are required to produce a visual representation of the music they are about to hear. The class will talk about sounds and how they can represent their music visualisation. The students can, if they choose to, have different sections of the painting for different aspects they visualise with the music. For example, they can have 1 whole painting, 2 halves or 4 quarters, so they can show up to 4 different aspects of the music they are hearing. The class talks about what they are going to produce, it is not a vague impression rather a visualisation of what they believe that Rainforest looks like. Students will listen to a 2 minute excerpt from ‘Relaxing Mix’ by Calmsound.The excerpt of the song will be repeated 4 times with 4 minutes between each repetition and the students have 10 minutes after to complete their painting. After the allocated time, the class will have a discussion on the different aspects they visualised and what aspect of the music created that specific image, tone colour, pitch, tempo, dynamic? The paintings will be put aside once dry to be used in another activity on another day. Time Allocation: 60 minutes Activity 6 – Group composition of a soundscape from a rainforest painting Rainforest Soundscapes, this will be explained in Lesson Plan 3HSIE – ‘The End’ with Puppet Joe Lesson Plan 1 Activity 1 – Puppet Joe teaching the students a poem and some rhythm 1. Level: Early Stage 1 2. Goals: Students will learn the poem ‘The End’ by A. A. Milne. Students will be able to follow a beat/rhythm and accomplish co-ordinated movement. 3. Teaching materials 1. Puppet Joe 2. 2 x taping sticks for the beat 3. 1 copy of ‘The End’ poem by A. A. Milne (see appendix 1) 4. White board 5. White board marker 6. Coloured magnets for the white board 4. Learning outcomes: Musical activity Performing Singing (y) Playing Instruments (n) Moving (y) Organising Sound (n) Listening (y) Musical Concepts Duration (rhythm) (y) Pitch (y) Dynamics (y) Tone Colour (n) Structure (y) 5. Procedure1. Clear an area in the middle of the room and have students sit on the floor in their own space. 2. Teacher introduces Puppet Joe (a kookaburra puppet) and explains that Joe will help them learn a new poem called ‘The End’ by A. A. Milne (see appendix 1). 3. Start with Joe saying the first verse and then repeating the verse using his taping sticks he creates a beat (ti-ti ta ta, ti-ti ta ti-ti). The students then sing through the verse while tapping their knees or clapping their hands with the beat/rhythm. 4. Teacher writes the poem on the white board under bars and talks through the beats/rhythm and words, placing different coloured magnets for the ti-ti’s and ta’s.5. Each verse is then taught the same way, until the last 2 verses when the beat/rhythm is different (ti-ti ta ti-ti, ta ta ti-ti ta ta ta), ‘The End’ sheet music see appendix 2. Once the class has learnt the poem and the beat/rhythm, they then sing through the poem together. 6. The class then picks out a number from a box and the number allocate s the student to their group. In the group the students talk through what movement they think would be good for their verse and if they should use loud, soft, fast or slow speech/singing.7. The class sings through the poem together and then each group sings their own verse with their chosen movement. Then the class sings their section of the poem loud, soft, fast, slow or using a different voice without their movement. Then again mixing the movement and their chosen musical concept. 8. Ask the class if they have any suggestions about the structure, if they think it could be changed. Pick a couple of the suggestions and try them out, see if the class thinks they make the composition better or worse. As a class the student talk through the actions chosen by the groups and the musical concepts, whether they were applicable or not to their verse? Whether there was repetition in the beat/rhythm? What similarities and differences there was in the beat/rhythm?6. AssessmentSee appendix 3 fo r the assessment sheet. 7. Links to other subjects HSIE, Mathematics, English and PDHPE.HSIE – Mirror Me Lesson Plan 2 Activity 4 – Mirroring each other through rhythm and movement 1. Level: Stage 1 2. Goals: Students will understand how rhythm works and identify how the music changes resulting in their movements changing. Students will perform a number of rhythms and patterns in movement focusing on rhythmic correctness and co-ordinated movement. 3. Teaching materials1. IPod dock 2. IPod with Creation by Descendance Aboriginal & Tsi Dance Theatre on it 4. Learning outcomes: Musical activity Performing Singing (n) Playing Instruments (n) Moving (y) Organising Sound (n) Listening (y) Musical Concepts Duration (rhythm) (y) Pitch (y) Dynamics (y) Tone Colour (y) Structure (y) 5. Procedure1. Clear an area in the middle of the room. For this activity the students could even go into the school hall if it is available, to allow for extra space. 2. Have the student’s pa ir up and stand in 2 lines. Allocate the lines names – trees and grass. Have the students move away to their own area in the room/hall and face each other. 3. Talk to the class and advise that when a name (trees or grass) is called out the other student in the pair has to follow the other student. That students need to try movements they think would suit the music, fast, slow, loud and soft. What types of movements would best suit. If the students wanted to they could even represent Australian animals. 4. Start playing the song and prompt the students to listen at first. Then call out trees, as the students are comfortable in following (no less than 60 seconds), the teacher calls out grass. Alternating between the leader gets faster as the students learn to adapt faster.5. The teacher then increases the volume and decreases the volume to encourage alternate responses in the music. 6. At the end the teacher prompts the students to talk about what movements went best with which types of music? What types of movements did they use for the tempo, pitch, dynamics, tone colour? Did they prefer certain parts of the song more than others and why? Those students who represented animals, did they find it hard to choose movements and keep in character for the lesson? Was it easy for students to follow the leader? Was it easy to lead? Which did students prefer to follow or lead?6. AssessmentSee appendix 4 for the assessment sheet. 7. Links to other subjects HSIE, Mathematics, English and Science and Technology.HSIE – Rainforest Soundscapes Lesson Plan 3 Activity 6 – Group composition of a soundscape from a rainforest painting 1. Level: Stage 3 2. Goals: Students will create and perform a soundscape with the use of instruments, voice and movements from a painting of a rainforest. They will demonstrate their rhythmic abilities, co-ordination with movements, their ability to work in groups and ability to create a composition. 3. Teaching materials1. Pain tings from previous music lesson 2. Cardboard box 3. 5 x numbers 1-6 4. White board 5. White board marker 6. Coloured magnets for the white board 7. 6 x A3 sheets of paper with a blank grid on it. 8. Coloured pencils 9. Instruments – chimes, drums, triangles, xylophone, tambourines, etc 4. Learning outcomes: Musical activity Performing Singing (y) Playing Instruments (y) Moving (y) Organising Sound (y) Listening (y) Musical Concepts Duration (rhythm) (y) Pitch (y) Dynamics (y) Tone Colour (y) Structure (y) 5. Procedure1. Each student picks out a number (1-6) from a box and that shows which group the student is assigned to. On the white board the list of effects (see appendix 5) is written. Depending on which number the group is, depends on what the effect they will need to introduce into their soundscape. The rainforest pictures have been painted prior to this lesson from an alternate music activity. Each group chooses their favourite painting to create the soundscape from (o n condition that none of the students in the group painted it).2. The class has a discussion on what a soundscape is (a quick refresher) and what they need to cover when preparing for it (dynamics, tempo, pitch, tone colour, etc). The students are encouraged to create a story to at least start and finish the soundscape, they are welcome to have the story throughout the soundscape, eg the effect with the men with axes, they could have them laughing and talking, whistling, etc.The students are also encouraged to include movements if they can see it fits with their soundscape, eg in the gorilla congregation, they can have one or two students sitting like gorillas and making gorilla noises. 3. Each group receives an A3 sheet of paper with a blank grid (see appendix 6) on it and coloured pencils. The students choose the instruments they believe will get the best result for their soundscape and work on their composition which needs to include the allocated effect for their rainforest soun dscape. 4. Once the students have spent the allotted time creating the soundscape on the grid paper (see appendix 7) and practicing it.They will then perform as a group in-front of the class and demonstrate their soundscape. 5. Once all groups have finished performing for the class, there is a class discussion on the musical concepts used by each group and how they felt they related to the painting and soundscape? Did they find that each group included rhythm, tempo, pitch, structure, dynamics, tone colour and if they felt that the groups incorporated the assigned effect successfully? Did the groups that used storytelling as part of their soundscape find it easier/harder to follow the story being told? Did any of the soundscapes sound like they came from any particular cultures? 6. AssessmentSee appendix 8 for the assessment sheet. 7. Links to other subjects HSIE, English and Science and Technology.