Here is an Instrument Family Scavenger Hunt I created for my Technology for Educators masters course. Enjoy!

Instrument Families Internet Scavenger Hunt

There are four families of instruments in the symphony orchestra. You will complete this scavenger hunt with a small group to research one family of instruments.

What are the four families of instruments? Unscramble the letters and then click on the correct family to learn some specific information about your family of instruments.

rssab cpoiunrses nsirtg ddoowinw

1. Look at the seating chart on the San Francisco Symphony Kids site. Where does your instrument family sit? Draw and color.

Why do you think that is a good place for your family of instruments to sit?

2. Go to the Memphis Symphony Orchestra Kids Famous Amateur Musicians site. Find a famous person who played one of the instruments in your family. What else is that person famous for? (Hint – groups searching for a percussionist will have to scroll very far down on the list to find what you are looking for!)

3. Go the New York Philharmonic Kidzone website Instrument Lab. Find directions for an instrument in your instrument family that you can make from supplies in the classroom craft supplies. Go to the craft corner and make your instrument.

4. Visit the Carnegie Hall Listening Adventures site and launch Dvorak's Symphony No. 9. Listen to the 1^st movement. Which theme does your instrument family play an important part in? Describe that theme.

5. Here are some trivia questions about musical instruments and their families. I'm sure you will be able to answer questions about your family, but how well do you do with the other families?

6. Now try a more difficult game – Music Instrument families Battleship. I recommend "easy" game level to start with.

What do you make?

A wonderful message about education sent to me by one of my teachers.

A JOKE


The dinner guests were sitting around the table discussing life. One man, a CEO, decided to explain the problem with education. He argued: "What's a kid going to learn from someone who decided his best option in life was to become a teacher?" He reminded the other dinner guests that it's true what they say about teachers: "Those who can: do. Those who can't: teach."

To corroborate, he said to another guest: "You're a teacher, Susan," he said. "Be honest. What do you make?"

Susan, who had a reputation of honesty and frankness, replied, "You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I can make a C+ feel like the Congressional Medal of Honor and an A- feel like a slap in the face if the student did not do his or her very best.

I can make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall in absolute silence.

I can make parents tremble in fear when I call home. You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder.

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them write.

I make them rewrite.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them spell "definitely & beautiful" over and over again, until they will never misspell either one of those words again.

I make them show all their work in math and hide it all on their final drafts in English.

I elevate them to experience music and art and the joy in performance so their lives are rich, full of kindness and culture, and they take pride in themselves and their accomplishments.

I make them understand that if you have the brains, then follow your heart ... and if someone ever tries to judge you by what you make, you pay them no attention.


You want to know what I make? I make a difference. What do you make?"

The cats

Time Out Istanbul recently published an article about the 10 animals of Istanbul. It was a terribly written, prejudiced bit of work, but I find myself thinking of it today.

I live in a sort of dormitory for employees of my school (it's called 'locman'). Every morning as we all head out to the service bus to start another day of school, we must first go through an obstical course of starving kittens begging for food. One teacher, Emel, feeds them every morning on her way out and they are always waiting for her. The most beautiful litter of calico cats I have ever seen. They are so pitiful. They cry and cry and the sound of their cries follows you like the sound of real babies crying. If you try to approach them though, they run away as though afraid of catching a disease from you. They dig through the dumpsters looking for discarded crusts of bread or chicken bones while they wait for Emel to come.

Just this morning a new-commer joined their ranks. The tiniest little black cat, still young enough that it's fur sticks out in wild spikes, making it look like a small black thistle. I really wanted to take it home. Carl is always joking that we must get a black cat to be the yin to our beautiful Necla's yang. I think the girls would not appreciate such an imposition. A demanding young baby to monopolize all of our time and the mice scattered about the apartment.

Oh well.

Our small corner of the city is a mere sampling of what you see wherever you look in Istanbul. The cats are everywhere. White. Black. Striped. Long-haired. Short-haired. Mangy and diseased. Missing legs, missing eyes. And always some poor female barely old enough to be weaned herself has a belly full of more kittens to add to the crowd. Some make their living from digging in dumpsters and trash heaps. Others are lucky enough to have been born in an area where some kind soul takes it upon herself to feed the cats of the neighborhood. One friend's mom carries a small bag of cat food with her wherever she goes, so that if she comes accross some starving feline, she can give food. Others have perfected their hunting skills. It must be so, becuase I have never seen a rat or a mouse anywhere in the city.

I am the hopeless romantic

Isn't it scary how sometimes these quizes can turn out to be so true? Carl is not allowed to abandon me for a slutty redhead when I am old and fat and past my prime!




Catarina was Henry's first wife and was probably the only one of his six wives to truly love him. He tired of her, and she spent the last decade of her life in lonely exile. Yet when she was dying, alone and unloved, she wrote: "Lastly, I make this vow, that mine eyes desire thee above all things. Farewell."

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?


this quiz was made by Lori Fury

Inspectors are here

June has arrived and Istanbul is greeting her with open arms. The first two days of the month showed temperatures spiking into the mid-90's and cloudless blue skies. Roses of every color are in bloom wherever you look.

Even though there are still weeks of school, hot days and beautiful weather have put thoughts of vacation in everyone's mind. This week however, learning must go on (or at least the appearance of it) and the rules will be obeyed. In spite of the hottest weather so far this year, teachers at my school are discarding their tank tops and sandals for more respectable clothes, while the men have replaced their polo shirts with jackets and ties again. The reason? National inspectors from the Ministry of Education are are coming to school this week.

Sitting at my desk, trying to grade the exams that seem to endlessly pile higher and higher at this time of year, I marvel at the procrastination of my Turkish colleagues. We have known for well over a month that this day would come, but most of them spent their free time on Friday in a panic to complete a year's worth of writing lesson plans and completing official forms. I just have to shake my head and return to the grading.

Now that the inspectors have come, people are in a panic to set a good impression. There has been a lot of scurrying around this week, and stern lectures to the students to be on their best behavior. I really can't understand what all the fuss is about. If you are a true teacher, and you are really doing your job all year, why should you change anything just because someone is actually watching what you're doing? All I can do is continue as I have always done, that is, do my work, hope the students are gaining something, and keep counting down the days until July.