Reading Response #1

Grade 11 (first year in this class): Anti-Online Piracy Bills and What They Mean To Me

Last year, Wikipedia an other sites shut down in protest of SOPA/PIPA, an anti-online piracy bill in the US. In Canada, we have Bill C-11 and Bill C-32 which is similar in scope and focus. Let's learn a bit more about these bills and what they mean to us.

Read the following articles:

• What is SOPA? (WSJ)
• Copyright Is Back: Why Canada is Keeping the Flawed Digital Lock Rules

Watch at least one of the following videos/presentations:

• CNET video on SOPA
• TedTalk on SOPA
• Prezi on SOPA

Once you've read and watched and learned a bit, write a 300-400 (1-2 pages single spaced) reflection on anti-online piracy bills, addressing some if not all of the following questions:

• What is your basic understanding of these anti-online piracy bills?
• What are some of the pros and cons of these bills?
• As a consumer of music and media in your daily life how might these bills affect you?
• As a creator of music and art in this class, how might these bills affect you?
• Any other thoughts about online piracy you'd like to share.

Grade 12 (second year in this class): Goal-Setting and Course-Shaping

With the understanding that you are a mature group of musicians who have chosen this credit with specific goals in mind, I'd like you to share those with me. Write a 300-400 (1-2 pages single spaced) reflection addressing some if not all of the following questions:

• Why did you choose to take AMM this year?
• What are some of the major things you learned/accomplished in AMM last year?
• What are some of your goals for AMM this year?
• What kinds of assignments would be most useful to you? (or, not useful)
• Any other thoughts you'd like to share about the class and the vision you have for it.

FOR ALL GRADES: Email your completed reflection on or before Wednesday, February 4 to lauren.simmons@tdsb.on.ca

WELCOME to AMM, January 2015!

I am looking forward to our evolving journey in music and technology this semester.

Grade 11: If this is your first class with me, welcome. I think you'll find I'm pretty straightforward with my goals for you, and if you work decently on achieving them on reasonable timelines, you'll have lots of time for personal exploration and growth in this class.

If you've had a class with me before, welcome back. I look forward to continuing with your on your musical journey.

Grade 12: Welcome back! If it's your second year in this class, we're going to work on making it rewarding and useful for your future post-secondary paths. Oh and fun. Definitely fun.

A few important housekeeping items:

• Please obtain a USB key to save your work for this class - the TDSB system is not quite trustworthy for keeping track of large files.
• If you are not able to get a USB key, please try to sit at the same computer every time and save your work in the LOCAL SHARED FOLDER.
• Your first stop every class will always be this website. We may be using other online spaces for our collaboration, but for now, this blog will be the spot to check for upcoming assignments, etc.
• Follow our course hashtag on Twitter #LHSAMM for more supplemental material.

For our first day together we'll go over the course outline, a music theory pre-assessment, and do a little online reading and responding.

To begin, please follow this link to complete a little survey for me to get to know you!