This week, our primary topics were using technology for assessment and for personal productivity and organization. Our activities for this week included interacting with our PLNs, completing the assigned readings about assessment and professional productivity, creating a quiz using Google Forms, beginning to develop our class ePortfolios, exploring technological tools for administration and productivity, and participating in the class discussion board.
With my PLN, I found several resources that were very useful for classroom organization. One of them was a "mega-binder," which contained all of the worksheets and lesson plans for a unit organized together in a binder. To incorporate this with technology, I can either use software that will make the worksheets an original copy which I print and keep in the binder, or I can simply organize the entire "binder" as a digital file in it's own folder. I have a portion of my hard drive with a folder devoted to music curriculum. It would be great to organize that folder into more folders with specific unit titles and all of the worksheets and other paperwork that I'd need for the unit. I find myself singing West Side Story's "Somewhere" as I dream of a perfectly organized music curriculum.
There were many great ideas for incorporating technology into music assessment in the readings for this week. I already use a lot of technology for assessments. This particular applies to live assessments. I have been using an app on my iPad that allows me to draw on pictures. I make the rubric into a jpg file, open it in my drawing app, and I write the child's name at the top of the page. Then, I circle the child's score according to the rubric, save it as the child's name and the name of the assessment, then open a new one for the next student. It is very quick and saves a lot of paper.
Another major part of the readings was related to apps that can help organize the classroom. This is an area where I dream of having things completely together, but I have simply never found the time to do so. The textbook referenced the app called "Evernote," which has been downloaded to my iPad since I first got it, but I have never used. I intend to further explore the app in the near future to see how it can help with organization. I already use a cloud-synced calendar to keep track of my lesson plans, extra activities, and other important events and requirements on my iPad and iPhone.
The mini-projects this week were quite fun and useful. I have used many different types of documents before, being both a Mac and PC user, but I haven't spent lots of time on google docs. We are highly encouraged to use them in our classroom, and now I see why. It would be very simple for me to require my students to create word documents and presentations and share them with me. I could easily create quizzes and other simple assessments that my students could quickly complete on their 1:1 laptops during class using google docs. I intend to follow through and actually create assignments this way. Another thing I was thinking that would work well is to create a google form that is the worksheet we are filling out (this is particularly useful for in-class assignments where the students are graded on participation only), and use the Flubaroo to grade whether they completed the answers or not without actually having to make paper copies. I am sure my school district would appreciate me making less copies since I make at least 100 for each grade level when I do written work.
In the discussion board this week, we talked about different ways that we currently use and could use technology in our assessments and in our professional productivity. I found that there are a lot of great ways to use online storage systems like dropbox for storing my documents related to my classroom. I have a dropbox account, but it is too full of personal items to use for school, so I think I'm going to make a second dropbox account through my school email as a school account where I keep all of my information. This will greatly help, I think, with keeping my school work organized. I really enjoyed some of the ideas related to assessment, particularly those where we can use technology to actually grade the assessments, which is one of my biggest concerns with time management as a teacher.
Sunday, April 20, 2014
Sunday, April 13, 2014
Module 6 - Instructional Design and Technology
This week, our primary topic was instructional design and technology. After having recently taking the course for this masters program in instructional design, I found most of the information to be an extension of what I learned previously but with a special focus on the technology aspects and incorporation of instructional design. This week, we interacted with our PLNs, completed the readings about instructional design and technology, learned about copyright and Creative Commons, learned to create websites using Google Sites, learned more about WebQuests and began the WebQuest project, and participated in discussion related to instructional design with technology.
In my PLN, I read some useful information mostly related to using technology to create forms that help with organization of instructional design. The ability to use these forms was particularly useful in the studying of WebQuests and in beginning to create my own. My WebQuest will be related to the history and information about the madrigals that my (imaginary) madrigal group would be performing for the purpose of giving an historical context to their music performance. I found several other previously made WebQuests that were made using Google Sites, and I plan to use their formats when creating mine in the coming weeks.
A big focus of our discussion, both in our assigned reading and extra reading and in our discussion boards was related to copyright and Creative Commons. Copyright is a tricky subject with music teachers, particularly, because we have to provide ways for our students to listen to a great amount of music and access information about it without pirating, whether accidentally or on purpose, the work of others. It seemed to be a relief to several teachers in our discussion that fair use prevents most of us from accidentally stealing someone else's work when used in an education-related setting.
I am really looking forward to using Google Sites as I work more on my WebQuest project. I have previously only used the school's already made website and my school-related blog to be involved. It seems that Google Sites basically will give me the option to incorporate the two into an all-inclusive, useful central point for parents.
I found this week's information to be very useful and immediately applicable to my work as a music educator. I look forward to incorporating my knowledge of instructional design with my new knowledge of the technology that can be used so that I become more organized and can use hopefully many WebQuests and other technology-related learning opportunities for my students.
In my PLN, I read some useful information mostly related to using technology to create forms that help with organization of instructional design. The ability to use these forms was particularly useful in the studying of WebQuests and in beginning to create my own. My WebQuest will be related to the history and information about the madrigals that my (imaginary) madrigal group would be performing for the purpose of giving an historical context to their music performance. I found several other previously made WebQuests that were made using Google Sites, and I plan to use their formats when creating mine in the coming weeks.
A big focus of our discussion, both in our assigned reading and extra reading and in our discussion boards was related to copyright and Creative Commons. Copyright is a tricky subject with music teachers, particularly, because we have to provide ways for our students to listen to a great amount of music and access information about it without pirating, whether accidentally or on purpose, the work of others. It seemed to be a relief to several teachers in our discussion that fair use prevents most of us from accidentally stealing someone else's work when used in an education-related setting.
I am really looking forward to using Google Sites as I work more on my WebQuest project. I have previously only used the school's already made website and my school-related blog to be involved. It seems that Google Sites basically will give me the option to incorporate the two into an all-inclusive, useful central point for parents.
I found this week's information to be very useful and immediately applicable to my work as a music educator. I look forward to incorporating my knowledge of instructional design with my new knowledge of the technology that can be used so that I become more organized and can use hopefully many WebQuests and other technology-related learning opportunities for my students.
Sunday, April 6, 2014
Module 5 - Responding to Music with Technology
This week, our course module was about responding to music with technology. This included topics such as teaching our students to speak intelligently about music, listen to music actively, engage in analyzing music activities, and evaluating music and music performances.
In our reading this week, the discussion was about different technologies that facilitate responding to music. There were several ideas in the text that sparked interest and ideas for me. I really like the idea of students blogging about what they are listening to. I also liked the option to give students choice about what they were listening to. Since our students have 1:1 mini laptops in 3rd and 4th grades, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate the laptops, and I think a listening journal would be a great first step. Another idea that was sparked in the reading was activities for evaluating music, especially related to the students creating the rubrics and concepts that they should be evaluating. This has been a struggle for me, as I am not sure what young students are capable of grasping, so I was not sure how in-depth I could be with the concepts. Overseeing the students creating their own rubric will help me to see what concepts they grasp. Primarily, I want our evaluations to be more musically meaningful than just "this was something we did well in the concert" and "this was something that could have been better," which has been the extent of our evaluations in the past and rather non-meaningful musically.
In our PLN this week, I actually found some evaluating worksheets for elementary students that are downloadable. If I don't want to use the exact worksheets, I can at least have an idea now how to edit them to be useful for my classroom.
Our projects for this week were to complete the music software evaluation and the social bookmarking activities. For the music software project, I evaluated The Orchestra for iPad, which I found to be an excellent app. It cost about $14, but the cost was well-worth it. Another thing I discovered in the reading this week was that Apple TV will hook the iPad up to the SmartBoard, which I did not previously know. I have Apple TV and an iPad and I have never used them in my classroom besides organizing activities and reminders for my students. The app is truly excellent for teaching the instruments in the orchestra, how they sound, and what they look like. It will greatly improve my teaching unit in this area, and I'm truly looking forward to using it. The social bookmarking activities was something with which I have been previously unfamiliar, but I found it to be very useful. I plan to keep using it because I need ways to organize what I have found. I found it very similar to Pinterest, which I use all the time, but with a rather more professional look. I will definitely continue to use it.
In our discussion board this week, we discussed activities that involve responding to music in our classroom and how we can incorporate technology into those. Many students came up with excellent ideas for using technology in new ways. I'm going to try to incorporate several new things related to music responding and technology. I will try creating a listening map on the ActivBoard with my students so that we can all follow along, and perhaps involving the students in developing the listening map and choosing the pictures to accompany it. I also want to do activities where the students choose from a list of music which pieces to listen to, and then we put together presentations as a class about the different pieces that we chose. Each student could individually analyze their chosen piece and write about it. This would be great to use on the individual laptops that my students have access to. Students could also get writing practice in by typing their reports on the mini laptops. The discussion board was very helpful with getting ideas of all types for students of all ages. One area where I'd really like to improve is getting my students to evaluate music using musical terms. My students all say things like "that was good" or "I didn't like that" instead of giving valid musical reasons for their opinions of the performance. Including technology into these practices and ideas could help to engage students, especially because of the generation they are growing up in, more deeply into their evaluating activities.
Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford.
In our reading this week, the discussion was about different technologies that facilitate responding to music. There were several ideas in the text that sparked interest and ideas for me. I really like the idea of students blogging about what they are listening to. I also liked the option to give students choice about what they were listening to. Since our students have 1:1 mini laptops in 3rd and 4th grades, I am always looking for new ways to incorporate the laptops, and I think a listening journal would be a great first step. Another idea that was sparked in the reading was activities for evaluating music, especially related to the students creating the rubrics and concepts that they should be evaluating. This has been a struggle for me, as I am not sure what young students are capable of grasping, so I was not sure how in-depth I could be with the concepts. Overseeing the students creating their own rubric will help me to see what concepts they grasp. Primarily, I want our evaluations to be more musically meaningful than just "this was something we did well in the concert" and "this was something that could have been better," which has been the extent of our evaluations in the past and rather non-meaningful musically.
In our PLN this week, I actually found some evaluating worksheets for elementary students that are downloadable. If I don't want to use the exact worksheets, I can at least have an idea now how to edit them to be useful for my classroom.
Our projects for this week were to complete the music software evaluation and the social bookmarking activities. For the music software project, I evaluated The Orchestra for iPad, which I found to be an excellent app. It cost about $14, but the cost was well-worth it. Another thing I discovered in the reading this week was that Apple TV will hook the iPad up to the SmartBoard, which I did not previously know. I have Apple TV and an iPad and I have never used them in my classroom besides organizing activities and reminders for my students. The app is truly excellent for teaching the instruments in the orchestra, how they sound, and what they look like. It will greatly improve my teaching unit in this area, and I'm truly looking forward to using it. The social bookmarking activities was something with which I have been previously unfamiliar, but I found it to be very useful. I plan to keep using it because I need ways to organize what I have found. I found it very similar to Pinterest, which I use all the time, but with a rather more professional look. I will definitely continue to use it.
In our discussion board this week, we discussed activities that involve responding to music in our classroom and how we can incorporate technology into those. Many students came up with excellent ideas for using technology in new ways. I'm going to try to incorporate several new things related to music responding and technology. I will try creating a listening map on the ActivBoard with my students so that we can all follow along, and perhaps involving the students in developing the listening map and choosing the pictures to accompany it. I also want to do activities where the students choose from a list of music which pieces to listen to, and then we put together presentations as a class about the different pieces that we chose. Each student could individually analyze their chosen piece and write about it. This would be great to use on the individual laptops that my students have access to. Students could also get writing practice in by typing their reports on the mini laptops. The discussion board was very helpful with getting ideas of all types for students of all ages. One area where I'd really like to improve is getting my students to evaluate music using musical terms. My students all say things like "that was good" or "I didn't like that" instead of giving valid musical reasons for their opinions of the performance. Including technology into these practices and ideas could help to engage students, especially because of the generation they are growing up in, more deeply into their evaluating activities.
Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today. New York, NY: Oxford.
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