Project review by a Classmate

This week we had the opportunity to meet with a classmate and "present" our culminating project proposal.  Sami and I were teamed up and I had a great time learning what Sami is doing for her final project.  Once we were able to talk, (I had some internet issues that needed to be worked through and we eventually spoke over the phone) we discussed our projects.

Sami is doing a great project that will give her students knowledge about Internet safety.  She has really thought things through completely and has been able to figure out a solution to teaching students who are too young to get accounts for many of the Web 2.0 tools we have used in the program.  However, instead of presenting these items on the web, she will have the students create posters and make public address announcements using the school newsletter.  However, she could also take pictures of the students work and put that into a slide presentation and put that on her school's website.  That would also reach more audiences.

I thought that Sami has done a wonderful job with this project and it was exciting to hear her speak about this project.  I hope that she does well and that her students enjoy the project.

Post session 2

Ahh, now I'm feeling a bit better.  First, I have to give a shout out to Rachel & Sami, two great people who gave me some very kind and needed words regarding my last post.  Wow, it has been a busy week and I am so glad to be moving forward again.  I can't even believe that I finally finished 555, which BTW was two classes ago.  But, now we are on to new and hopefully a fun filled conclusion to this master's program.

I met with Louis for the second time and I am much more excited about the progress that has been made this last week.  I have started putting my project together in SMART notebook and although it is currently ideas all over the place, it will eventually turn into 6 main music lessons (two total for this project), and all will be interactive on the SMART Board, and have assessments at the using the interactive smart response units - at my school we call them SRUs for short.

I am really getting into this project and enjoying creating these different lessons.  So far, it has been time consuming because I am also learning some of these techniques as I go, but I'm getting good ideas from colleagues from around the world.  I am a member of a Facebook group dedicated just to Band Teachers.  I contacted a few people and they were able to give me some ideas on what to create and what they have used that has worked well and what hasn't.  It was a great interaction with teachers that I have never met, probably never will, but were discussing some very positive things.

I see the end...but I'm not there yet.

599 - Here we come...

So we are in our last class and I am feeling way behind.  I am not thrilled with being in this position and I hope that I can get it all done in time.  Currently, I am working on a Smart Notebook lesson that will have two main lessons; music theory, and rhythm.  I am in the process of getting all of these different pieces ready but there are so many different aspects of this project that it is a challenge to know which one to do next, or if I even have all of the parts figured out yet.

After my meeting tonight, I was feeling a bit overwhelmed.  It is time to get moving.  Let's go!