6th Grade iRemix Records
Instructor: JoVia Armstrong
iRemix Records is Broken into two separate units: The Newbie & The Apprentice
In the Newbie unit the student will become familiar with the expectations of being a Renaissance Artist. This part of the introductory unit is to build the culture of the class and the nature of the record label. Students will research through their music and find how and why that music has become a stamp of identification. We will access various forms of media (print, visual, aural), and analyze and evaluate them against a set of 5 key terms, concepts, and questions. Through these questions students will learn how to deconstruct the media and also be aware of the process of constructing media as they prepare to create their own.
The goal is to provide a framework for students to build an understanding of how to access, analyze, and evaluate media. They should be able to gain insight into credibility, identity, multiple-perspectives, motives, and institutions. Students should see media like any other form of "text" and begin to understand how to read its words, formates, symbols, techniques, and purpose.
In the APPRENTICE unit students will engage in multiple roles as they enter the Remix Records stage of the course. Here students will acquire the skills from experts via a 15 week skills rotations that will help students run their own Record label.
- The students will be responsible for individual and group goals including but not limited to Journaling, Recording/Producing Music, Writing (Poetry, Hip-Hop, Commentary/Blogs, Copy for Ads and Promotion material), Graphic Design/Layout, and Basic Film Production.
- The students will learn team building and management skills. The students will primarily be responsible for what the Record Company will be. (From the Name of the Company, to its Artists, to its Project Managers, all the way to its Video and Promotion Team.)
- The students will create songs and videos; they will create a CD covers, press kits, and posters. The student will also create videos (music and reflections), managers will maintain a blog, connect artists, producers, and designers to further frame the identity of their skills and the scope of the label.
Remix Records is presented as a GBS METHODOLOGY (Goal Based Scenario)
- Remix America Records was designed to teach a set of literacies and skills by providing the students with opportunities to learn these skills in the context of achieving individual, and group desired GOALS.
- A Student who understands a process can make effective changes to a system, and identify strengths and weakness in that process.
Tyler & Kristina from the 2007 Remix Records class discuss their roles as managers of their label: