Genius Hour Decision--Drumroll Please.....

OK, so for my Genius Hour/Passion Project, I thought about and spent some time deciding on which of my three topics to pursue: 1) design a series of lessons and music materials to publish, 2) refinish the kids' bathroom cabinets, or 3) develop healthy, low-carb, and tasty vegetarian meals with little mess. After really thinking about it, I decided designing a series of music materials to publish was too ambitious for me at this time if I really wanted to try to enjoy some of my summer.  Then I looked into refinishing the bathroom cabinets with the Nuvo cabinet paint. While I am still going to do this project, I decided after researching more that it is not going to take as much time as I thought if I buy the kit. Most of the reviews posted on Home Depot online (which is where I bought the kit), looked like it did not take much time to complete this project. Most people sounded like they completed their projects in about a day or so. There is minimal sanding involved, and the description states that you do not need to remove the cabinet hardware, so it seems like this should be pretty straightforward to accomplish. We will see how long it actually takes me, but if this is the case I don't think it will take enough time for a passion project. I did go ahead and purchase the refinishing kit, so am excited to use it as soon as it gets here! 

That leaves me with my #3, develop healthy, low-carb, tasty meals in one pot or with little mess. Since I had already experimented with modifying some meals that I had previously made, I decided to do more research to see if this was possible. There were a ton of websites that have low-carb, keto, healthy, or vegetarian recipes, but none that I found that were quick, easy, healthy, and little mess. So, I decided that this might be a good possibility. I also LOVE food, and want to find a way for nourishment without gaining a ton of weight or putting extra processed chemicals into my body. As part of my frustration with loving eating and having to really watch my food as middle age creeps in, I decided that I needed to find a way to manage my food choices to stay healthy. Last year I had really high cholesterol for the first time in my life, and was able to reduce it to a healthy level just by controlling my food choices. After this I decided that this was something that I could actually control, and I also realized that what we put into our bodies really does effect us. 

While I LOVE food, I do not always like the length of time it takes to prepare certain meals, and especially NOT the cleanup. During weeknights with school, it is especially difficult and exhausting to cook healthy for my family. I love receiving my Hello Fresh meals, but they take a long time to prep and cook, and there is often a big mess to clean up. So, my plan with my passion project is to modify some of the Hello Fresh meals that I enjoy and are quick, but maybe not as healthy as I would like. Then I am going to try to create them as one pot or little mess meals (which is my goal for this project). I would like to develop at least a week's worth of quick, healthy meals that still taste good that I can use. Maybe this will lead to more recipes and maybe a cookbook? Who knows?

To kick my project off, I started with a recipe that I had already re-created, "Tasty Veggie Pasta." I wrote out the ingredients and steps and am planning on putting together everything in a Google Doc so that I can add pictures, etc. too. In doing this I realized that I also needed the nutrition information to make sure that this was truly a healthy vegetarian recipe. I found a pretty cool website for nutrition calculating to help determine nutrition info per serving size: https://lifehacker.com/how-to-track-calories-and-macros-in-homemade-meals-1809061636. So I am using the spreadsheet created as a model for all of my recipes. I was also able to find additional nutritional values of foods that didn't have nutrition labels at the USDA website: https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/index.html to help inputting nutrient information.

While this is already taking quite a long time to input the nutrition information, I am hoping it will become quicker as I add more recipes and input information into the spreadsheet, now that I know where to go for the information. I am finding some interesting information that I did not know about some of the ingredients in some of my foods. For example, in researching balsamic vinegar, I discovered that most balsamic vinegar in stores has added caramel color to it. Only pure balsamic vinegar (which happens to be extremely expensive) does not have it. So what's the big deal? Well, this caramel color is basically a toxin and is not a natural part of the balsamic vinegar. I never knew this, and in trying to remain with healthy, whole ingredients, I am considering revising some of the recipe for alternate ingredients. Who knows what else I will find in some of these everyday foods?

Genius Hour: A Reflection

In trying to decide on what to do for my genius hour/passion project, I went through a few different exercises. Initially I was confused and had no idea on what to do, so first I Googled "Genius Hour Passion Project ideas for adults." I found a ton of ideas on Pintrest for adult passion projects, which I searched through to try to wrap my head around something that would possibly work for me. This was a start. Once I had some ideas from here I was able to complete the reflection question exercise. In completing this I found some common themes that I enjoy: binge-watching Netflix, drumming, painting, cooking, organizing, relaxing in the sun, and decorating, just to name a few. OK, so this gave me a few more ideas to brainstorm. Then I came across the "tennis ball" question: the thing that you keep chasing after that keeps coming back to you over and over again. Well there were more than a few things that made this list: that scrapbooking project of our Disney vacation from 7 years ago, the project of composing musical "sound stories" to go along with children's picture books that I had wanted to complete last year, the alternative seating buckets that I had started last year for my classroom and never finished, the refinishing the bathroom cabinets project that I had wanted to complete after painting the kids' bathroom, and the making a marimba from scratch project. As I kept brainstorming I came across a few other interests that I enjoy: quick, healthy, cooking that tastes good, learning how to play the guitar, and writing a useful music curriculum that people can actually use. After this I had a ton of ideas floating around in my head. 

I had to begin to think realistically about what might work. So I decided to try to think about what I really could or could not accomplish. I didn't exactly create a "list of 3" (it was more like a list of 7) but I tried to narrow down some ideas based on what was realistic and from what I had read in some of the passion project blogs. Below is a list of what I have narrowed down for now. 

Option #1: Publish/create my own classroom music materials

An idea that I have been thinking about for awhile is composing sound stories to go along with childrens picture books. This is something that I have been wanting to do for the past two years, but just haven't had the time. I became inspired with this after a friend of mine who is an instructor with the World Music Drumming workshops put together a sound box of musical instruments/sound effects to go along with some books for students to check out and create their own sound story. He worked with his LMC director to provide this resource for students to use at home. I frequently use picture books in my classroom and thought this would be a great resource for kids to have outside of music class. I had thought about creating the sound story and recording it for kids to listen to and follow along with as they read the book. For one of my other tech classes I created a read-aloud sound story with the book "Drummer Hoff," and I loved how it turned out! There are several books that I would love to do this with for my classes. While this seems like a great idea to me, I don't know how different it would be than all of the other digital books that kids have access to now with remote learning. So then I thought about trying to create my own music materials for 3rd grade recorder or 4th grade ukulele incorporating my World Music Drumming knowledge to eventually publish my own book. I feel like many of the materials out there are very confusing or not sequenced well; however, I feel like this could be too overwhelming to accomplish at this point in time. Plus, there are sooo many materials out there, it would really have to be something FANTASTIC to set it apart and be worth it to publish. I don't know if I would be able to complete it in the time that we have with this class. Certainly not the publishing part.

Another, yes, school-related project that I started last summer that I still have yet to complete is the bucket seating for my classroom. I actually began this project last summer after wanting to make more space in my room and still have the ability for students to sit when we are drumming. I had the chairs in my room removed to clear out more space and thought these buckets would be great to have in place of them, but yet again, I ran out of time to complete this project. This is a project I definitely DO want to complete, I have done SOME research on already, and already have most of the materials. I am thinking this might be a feasible option for my passion project.

                                   
Option #2: Refinish the bathroom cabinets
As I have been digesting this concept of my own genius hour (yes, it is taking me awhile to process this whole idea), I started thinking "why not do something non school-related?" There are plenty of projects that I have started and wanted to complete (that 7-year-old Disney vacation scrapbook, for example) but never had the time. This Spring I repainted my kids' bathroom because it desperately needed it. I was very pleased with how it turned out. We still have the old cabinets in the bathroom, but with my daughter going to college I can't really afford to spend the money to replace them. So I did a little research on refinishing cabinets and found this very cool cabinet refinishing paint and kit called Nuvo cabinet refinishing. I have done a little research already, and based on what I have read so far, it seems like a project I could reasonably complete (the pictures look cool at least). This is something that I have been weighing back and forth whether or not to do (definitely a  tennis ball project).
                                   

Option #3: Create healthy, tasty meals with quick prep and little cleanup
Finally, with staying at home more recently, I have also had the chance to cook more, which is something that I love to do, and will usually do even when I am tired. I love watching shows like "Top Chef," "Food Network Star" and "Chopped" to see all of the cool new recipes the chefs create. This year I started a subscription to Hello Fresh to try to have some sanity in my meal preparation during the insanity of the school year. When remote learning began, I continued the subscription because I really did not want to go out to the store and deal with the madness any more than I had to. So far I have really enjoyed cooking these meals and have discovered some very cool recipes. I love being able to cook the recipes from the cards, and then re-create them later with my own ingredients. While I have found these recipes tasty and fairly easy to prepare, many of them have added fat and carbs, which I am really trying to watch right now, as everything I eat seems to become a permanent fixture with me. In re-creating some of these meals I have been able to substitute many ingredients for lower-calorie, healthier options. This has solved one problem, but I have found that it still takes a lot of time to do this. Especially the cleanup part (which I absolutely hate). So one thing I have set out to do is to try to find a healthy, quick way to cool these same meals with minimal time and cleanup. OK, so this is all fine and dandy but usually when people create a healthy meal it doesn't taste so good right? So that is the OTHER part of my food mission: create healthy, quick, tasty meals with little cleanup (maybe one-pot meals?) This might not be a bad idea for a passion project...

Introduction

This is my sixteenth year teaching in District 204. I currently teach general music to elementary students in Kindergarten through fifth grade. I have taught elementary, middle, and high school grade levels of students, but I truly love teaching elementary. I love being able to explore lots of different styles of music, at many different age levels.

I have always loved music, but it wasn't until I had been out of the music field that I learned to appreciate it. I started out in music at the University of Illinois, but struggled to find its place in my education. So I decided to step back from it for a bit, and earned my degree in Health Administration. I worked in the health insurance industry for a few years and realized that something was missing. I eventually discovered it was music. So I went back to study music education, and earned my Bachelors and Masters of Music Education from DePaul University. Since then I have continued to pursue professional development opportunities, but was NOT very excited to pursue another certification, especially one in technology. I asked myself "how could I use this in music?"

After earning my degrees, I decided to pursue my Orff certification from Vandercook College of Music and DePaul University. I discovered World Music Drumming through Will Schmid's World Music Drumming workshops, where I have met some of the most wonderful people on the planet! The World Music Drumming philosophy uses drumming and multicultural music to teach social & emotional skills such as RESPECT, COMMUNITY, LISTENING, and TEAMWORK. I have used it at the elementary, middle, and high school levels and absolutely LOVE it!

With these hands-on music-making background experiences, I didn't really see a place for technology in my music classroom; however, as I have grown through my technology journey I have discovered more ways to integrate technology in my teaching than I ever imagined! I am continuing to learn many new ways to incorporate technology in music in the Ed Tech classes that I have taken through USF. So much so that I have decided to finish pursuing my Ed Tech endorsement (YAY)! I really love how technology has helped my teaching, especially now as we move towards more online and technology-based learning.

Of course I have to address that remote learning thing.....While I had been feeling pretty comfortable with my ability to integrate technology, remote learning has taught me how much I DIDN'T know. Remote learning has challenged me to discover new ways of keeping kids engaged in music without having many of the music tools they are used to. In my own exploration of resources for students, I discovered the district-purchased materials for students that I could use for music, such as BookFlix, PebbleGo, and Chrome Music Lab (not exactly ideal but engaging). Now that we have switched to remote learning, one of my favorite new tools that I have had the chance to use is WeVideo. Without the ability to use YouTube with students remotely, I have had to find a way to provide visual and auditory instruction for reinforcement (Zoom was not a possibility with 600 students). While I had been introduced to WeVideo in a professional development training, remote learning has given me the opportunity to really explore this resource and create materials that I could use with students, which I am very thankful for! I have been able to create some videos for students that I am proud of and that I can probably still use when we return to face-to-face instruction. I am hoping to continue to explore new ways of engaging students through technology, and how to more easily use it for assessment.







I live in Aurora with my husband, three kids, and black lab mix, who we just adopted. My daughter just graduated from Oswego East (remotely of course). My son will be a sophomore, and my six year old will start first grade (hopefully not remotely) next year.