There is one goal that I want to do with my band students and that is blogging. I have said it before, I think it is a very useful tool and I believe the students at my school are not getting it at all, so why not in band.
I would like to see my students reflecting on several things throughout the year. It goes without saying that all performances would have a blog post attached to it. However, I would also show YouTube videos of performances and ask them to comment or respond in some way that relates to the performance. I want to begin by starting up a blog post for their solo & ensemble performances and then get a reaction to how they felt the preparation was compared to the performance. I am firm believer that the process is more important than the product and I want to help my students see how this can be fun and reflective and how it might impact their next performance.
Since I want to start one up for our solo & ensemble festival, that means my time line is here. I want to begin this immediately. However, in an effort to make it more realistic, I believe I will ask for volunteers on this trial basis and see how it goes.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Web 2.0 - last class
This was a great class. I really enjoyed learning about all of the possible web 2.0 tools that are available, and also where I can go to research new tools for the future. I plan on implementing a few of these tool very quickly.
The first tool I began using during this class is a Google Site. I started a few sites that will coincide with specific classes I teach but the one I will use immediately will be for the solo & ensemble festival that Mukwonago hosts every year. I am the festival manager for this festival which brings in over 1,000 students from SE Wisconsin to perform either solos or ensembles, or both, within a day and a half festival. This is a big undertaking and I created this web site to assist students, parents, teachers with common information regarding our festival. There are many pieces at work during this festival and it is vital to have the right information for a successful festival.
The second tool is blogging. I plan to begin using this tool in phases and slowly incorporate it into our curriculum. I believe it to be a vital and power reflection tool that can be used in my music classrooms. People may think, why in a music class, shouldn't you be performing? Well yes, but there is also a great deal of reflection that can occur to help the student improve on an instrument. I believe that without reflection and understanding of what I just did, or just practiced or performed, there is little ways in which we can develop a plan for improvement. As with all subjects, music and band are not different. With reflection, and in this case blogging, positive improvements can be implemented.
The first tool I began using during this class is a Google Site. I started a few sites that will coincide with specific classes I teach but the one I will use immediately will be for the solo & ensemble festival that Mukwonago hosts every year. I am the festival manager for this festival which brings in over 1,000 students from SE Wisconsin to perform either solos or ensembles, or both, within a day and a half festival. This is a big undertaking and I created this web site to assist students, parents, teachers with common information regarding our festival. There are many pieces at work during this festival and it is vital to have the right information for a successful festival.
The second tool is blogging. I plan to begin using this tool in phases and slowly incorporate it into our curriculum. I believe it to be a vital and power reflection tool that can be used in my music classrooms. People may think, why in a music class, shouldn't you be performing? Well yes, but there is also a great deal of reflection that can occur to help the student improve on an instrument. I believe that without reflection and understanding of what I just did, or just practiced or performed, there is little ways in which we can develop a plan for improvement. As with all subjects, music and band are not different. With reflection, and in this case blogging, positive improvements can be implemented.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Podcasts/Screencasts
This was a lot of fun this week. I learned about podcasting or screen casting and I have to say, I am really excited to bring this technology to my program. I joined screenr and recorded my first screen cast video that involved how to log into our Charms Office Assistant program. This online portal is a location where students and parents can discover information about calendars, finances, forms, schedules, etc. This is also the place where teachers go to send a quick e-mail and all students and parents in the program. It's a wonder and easy tool for us to keep in better communication.
The screen cast was fun, but also had its issues. I found that I tried several different screen cast sites, but liked Screenr the best. I liked it best because I could manipulate how much of the screen is recorded, which for me was very important - I didn't need to show everyone my shortcuts, and I could also post this video anywhere I needed.
I'm positive that this will be used more frequently in my school band program. We have several technological tools we use and this will be a great addition to helping students/parents get around using those tools.
The screen cast was fun, but also had its issues. I found that I tried several different screen cast sites, but liked Screenr the best. I liked it best because I could manipulate how much of the screen is recorded, which for me was very important - I didn't need to show everyone my shortcuts, and I could also post this video anywhere I needed.
I'm positive that this will be used more frequently in my school band program. We have several technological tools we use and this will be a great addition to helping students/parents get around using those tools.
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Ahh, RSS.....where have you been?
I set up RSS without really knowing what I had done. When we started this journey of working towards my Master's in Instructional Technology, I wondered upon this thing called Google Reader. After messing around for a short while and adding the blog locations of all the other students in the cohart, I quickly realized I wasn't sure what this all does for me.
After reading this book and the chapters leading up to this point, I now understand what I should be doing. BTW, I think I'll finally go bookmark my Google reader location now. :) Where has this technology been all my life? Well maybe not all my life. RSS is probably the coolest development since You Tube, and probably more useful than You Tube. I think that this is something that should be taught to students in middle school or early high school to help keep all of these important website organized.
After reading this book and the chapters leading up to this point, I now understand what I should be doing. BTW, I think I'll finally go bookmark my Google reader location now. :) Where has this technology been all my life? Well maybe not all my life. RSS is probably the coolest development since You Tube, and probably more useful than You Tube. I think that this is something that should be taught to students in middle school or early high school to help keep all of these important website organized.
Microblogging
This week we learned about microblogging (Twitter) and photo sharing options. I found that the most useful things we discussed this week that I can apply to my teaching position is the use of a blog (Blogger.com) and the photo sharing site.
I have used this blog for this Master's program, however after reading the text about how blogs can be a useful reflection tool and can allow students to understand what blogging can do for them, I began using one for my own class. I now blog about my activities in class and have shared the site location with my students. I think the students will enjoy it and I will eventually use it for a way for my students to comment on topics given in class.
The other topic was the use of photo sharing. I have used one before for school pictures, however I use a different one for my personal use than school use. I believe I will now move entirely to my personal one and then link my school photos to my Picasa site location. I never use students full names and actually rarely even put a name by the photo. I have found that in order for me to use these photos online, I should be more strict with how I post photos, that way I have protected myself even beyond what the district policy states.
I have used this blog for this Master's program, however after reading the text about how blogs can be a useful reflection tool and can allow students to understand what blogging can do for them, I began using one for my own class. I now blog about my activities in class and have shared the site location with my students. I think the students will enjoy it and I will eventually use it for a way for my students to comment on topics given in class.
The other topic was the use of photo sharing. I have used one before for school pictures, however I use a different one for my personal use than school use. I believe I will now move entirely to my personal one and then link my school photos to my Picasa site location. I never use students full names and actually rarely even put a name by the photo. I have found that in order for me to use these photos online, I should be more strict with how I post photos, that way I have protected myself even beyond what the district policy states.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Week 1 with Web 2.0 Tools
So far I have really enjoyed this week's assignments. The thing I learned the most was about all of the different blog spots there are on the web. I obviously use Blogspot for this course, but I have also used it in conjunction with my school band department web site. We, the other band directors and I, do not update it enough though. I am disappointed by this but hope to start the blog again soon.
I also have signed up for an EduBlog account and want to begin using this in my middle school and possibly my elementary school programs. This site is a bit more safe for my younger students. This site is really well designed for schools, teachers and students, with the focus being on student safety.
I was thinking that I can have a monthly post for my younger students and encourage them, at the beginning, to read the post and comment on the topic. This topic would be focused on music and most likely band, but as long as the students read the post, or view a link that I use, this might be a good way for them to earn a bit of extra credit and start looking to blogs as a possible learning tool.
I also have signed up for an EduBlog account and want to begin using this in my middle school and possibly my elementary school programs. This site is a bit more safe for my younger students. This site is really well designed for schools, teachers and students, with the focus being on student safety.
I was thinking that I can have a monthly post for my younger students and encourage them, at the beginning, to read the post and comment on the topic. This topic would be focused on music and most likely band, but as long as the students read the post, or view a link that I use, this might be a good way for them to earn a bit of extra credit and start looking to blogs as a possible learning tool.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Final Week
I thought this week of assessment and hardware/software evaluations was good. We had to also complete our Pecha Kucha presentation and I honestly say that this has been difficult for me. I can't seem to get the slides to auto advance while I record into VoiceThread. Since I am leaving a comment, VT believes I am leaving a comment for just that one slide and will not advance until I am done. I find it difficult to advance the slide myself after exactly 20 seconds so I am trying to rely on the automatic advance, which of course isn't working for me. Hopefully I will get this soon.
The evaluation of software was interesting, but I believe we may have evaluated a few of these programs in another class. Even though I didn't get the same thing as last time (which would have been bad), I still found that Author Stream was a solid program. Group 1 has three online presentation programs that compete against PowerPoint.
I can see trying out a few of these online options with my students, however because they are online and our network is undergoing some renovations, I may wait until our network is a bit more reliable until moving to an entirely online option. I will have to explore more of these options to make an informed decision on which one would be best for my students. There are so many options out there and we all want the program to do everything that PowerPoint can do and more. Isn't it funny how some of us will compare things to PowerPoint, even when there are better programs to use?
The evaluation of software was interesting, but I believe we may have evaluated a few of these programs in another class. Even though I didn't get the same thing as last time (which would have been bad), I still found that Author Stream was a solid program. Group 1 has three online presentation programs that compete against PowerPoint.
I can see trying out a few of these online options with my students, however because they are online and our network is undergoing some renovations, I may wait until our network is a bit more reliable until moving to an entirely online option. I will have to explore more of these options to make an informed decision on which one would be best for my students. There are so many options out there and we all want the program to do everything that PowerPoint can do and more. Isn't it funny how some of us will compare things to PowerPoint, even when there are better programs to use?
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