One Note Review

          Microsoft One Note is a free application that is accessible to any device. It allows teachers to keep all of their materials like notes, lesson plans, homework assignments, presentations, and answer keys in one place. It can be used to distribute homework to students and for having students submit their homework. Teachers can collaborate on projects. It can be used to  record audio and it can be used to draw on as well. The real advantage of this project is having everything together and easily accessible.
         Although I can see the value in this program and why it would appeal to some teachers, I do not see myself using it. It did not seem intuitive to use, and I had difficulty attaching files, even a word document. I tried attaching a video and the file was too large. My classes are very hands-on in terms of music-making and there is little to no homework. I prefer paper notes and lesson plans.

Week 7 Reflection

            I already engage in many of the technologies that Bauer references as ones that increase teacher's productivity. Like most teachers, I use email (although sometimes I think this wastes as much time as it saves considering how many irrelevant emails I receive), texting, and Dropbox. I have a website where I communicate important dates and I enter my grades on the computer. I use Microsoft word to make a variety of teaching materials and to communicate with parents. I prefer to use pen and paper for to-do lists and for my calendar as I tend to get tired of staring at computer screens rather quickly.  I use technology to register my students for festivals and when making traveling plans. Facebook even sometimes serves as an aid in my teaching since I can reach out quickly to many other music teacher contacts with a question or an idea. Thanks to this class, I even have an RSS, which will allow me to stay more up-to-date with educational trends.
           
            Bauer also makes some suggestions that I think could be helpful to me. Creating a database for my music library and for keeping track of musical instruments would be very helpful. Perhaps I could even have some responsible students serve as choral "managers" who could help me with the initial data entry, since it would be fairly time consuming. I also liked the idea of communities of practice. There is only one other music teacher at my school and we have different specialties. Interacting regularly with others and sharing ideas could help me to keep my teaching fresh. Unfortunately I am not aware of any specific examples. (Perhaps our blogs and PLNs are two examples.)

           Technology has obviously given me aid with regard to my personal professional development; I am completing my MME completely online. It was interesting to learn of the superiority of blended learning experiences over face-to-face or online only learning, but it wasn't surprising. A disadvantage is that I would really like to work on my conducting and this really does not allow for that. One aspect that I really like the discussion boards. It's easier to articulate myself in writing rather than orally, and I like that I can learn at my own pace.

White Walkers

Week 6 Reflection

           This week's reading on technology and responding to music caused me to reflect on what kinds of activities I am already doing that allow students to respond to music.  Most of the technology I use with relation to students responding to music consists of some activity that goes along with listening to a recording or video. I expose my students to a variety of music recordings and videos and they engage in repeated listening. I have students describe the music that they hear in terms of instrumentation, dynamics, tempo, mode, etc. I have students interpret the mood of pieces and share responses both openly in class and in written form. I have also had students draw a picture of what the music reminds them of or write a short story that complements a piece of music. I also have used listening maps and notation that students  follow along with on the SmartBoard. Students engage in specific movement activities that correspond to a specific sound in the music, and sometimes they simply dance freely to what they hear. They listen to music and create complementary parts. They listen to recordings of their own performances and critique them.
       
           I also reflected on if I should be incorporating more technology into the way I have students respond to music. Certainly I am already taking advantage of the abundance of music available to me at the click of a button via internet resources such as YouTube, Spotify, Grooveshark and that is a huge advantage current technology affords music education. What more is really doing to improve the quality of my teaching? Aren't I already having students adequately respond to music? Can technology really enhance what I am already doing or does an attempt to integrate more technology distract from the "meat and potatoes"? Could the integration of more technology take away from some of the more simple and organic responsive experiences? Or am I just subconsciously making excuses because I'm too busy and stressed to burden myself with more responsibility?

          There were some ideas in this weeks reading that sound promising, and there are many I had never heard of before. I like the idea of using software to create graphical representations of music. (I already do so to some extent with some YouTube.) I wasn't aware that programs like Audacity could create spectrograms of music. I am not familiar with SoundCloud at all, but it sounds promising as a source for listening maps.I am particularly interested in the music theory and aural skills websites like Teoria and MusicTheory.net. It is easy to become overwhelmed with the amount of resources available, but I am glad that I am receiving some direction in our text, and these three seem like a good place to begin.