Reflection for 6711

Being exposed to new educational research and learning theories has been very beneficial to me as an educator. The concepts of constructivist and constructionist learning theory will create a dynamic and engaging classroom for my students. Project based learning is part of music, as the performance is the goal we are striving for. With music being very repetitive or behaviorist in nature, this addition of learning theories will certainly add to my toolbox.

Two technological tools that I will be using in my classroom will be voicethread and Smartmusic. Voicethread will be used to convey information , as well as have student dialogue and input into the lesson. The “lesson” information can be created allowing students access to the lesson at home to refresh their memory of how to play their instrument. Smartmusic will be used as a practice tool, an evaluation tool, and as a visual feedback station for my students to utilize. I plan on purchasing Smartmusic for each student in my band program this year.

My long term goals and changes in my instructional practices include creating a system that allows students to use technology to become more successful on their instruments via web sites links and assignments, as well as using Smartmusic to kick start the students playing abilities. I can give a weekly assignment to my students that must be completed on Smartmusic. Students that do not have a computer at the house, can come into the room before and after school. Students will also have opportunities in class to access Smartmusic. Friday’s will become a Smartmusic day to allow students to perform on the program. The challenge will be to have access to the gradebook portion of the program on the network we currently use in the school system. I will contact the technology head for the system to discuss the issues and problems we can fix, so the students have access to this part of the program.

Tools for the Teacher's Toolbox

The two strategies of instruction that I am going to really incoporate into my teaching practices more are to use more non linguistic representation in my classes, as well as having students use the “similarities and differences” concept presented in this weeks part one and part videos by Dr. Pickering. I have used the toolbox metaphor over most of my career for my teaching practices, so it was refreshing to have an expert confirm this concept for me. I have taught my students over my career that the brain works in a different way than our educational system does. We need to be able to read, write, and calculate, yet our brain operates in pictures. When we dream, usually it is like a movie being played in our mind's eye. My goal is to incorporate more mental and actual “pictures” into my classroom lessons. For similarities and differences the beginning band video from United Musical Instruments, the students are given a simple test asking the question “Is it the same or different?” for pitch, melody, and rhythm. I am incorporating more of this concept into my classroom. Using comparison and contrasting organizers in order to have students make more mental connections using the language of music I believe will be more engaging for my students. Taking two etudes out of a music book and having the students compare what characteristics are the same, and different will help cement the musical language and concepts learned into their playing.

The technology tools that will help me with incorporating these goals into actual practice will include MS office, Iwork on my Macintosh, Kidspiration/Inspiration, for creating materials and lessons, concept maps which I can create at home and use in class, as well as podcasts and as well as using Drop.io, Voicethreads.com, and Blog and wiki pages that I have already created for my classroom. This fall I will have a wikipage for each class I teach, which will be attached to my school webpage for students and parents to have access to.

To implement these concepts, I will use the Deming quality cycle of plan, do study the result, then act upon the results. Being able to plan the entire year out, I can put software tools into the plan that will assist students in learning the music materials and projects I have in store for them. During the year, as I impliment the plan, I can study the results and make adjustments to improve how the components work together. By following this cycle, I will be able to improve the quality of instruction that I am giving my students.

In conclusion, using more non linguistic representations of musical concepts, and having students engage in similarities and differences converstions and activities in my music classes, I will have the opportunity to improve my students retention of musical concepts and language development, as well as deepen their appreciation for music.


References:

DVD: Laureate Education, Instructional Strategies Part 1, 2009

DVD: Laureate Education, Instructional Strategies, Part 2, 2009

Pittler, H.,Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M. Malenski,K., Using technology with Classroom Instruction
Works, McRel Publishing, 2007, Denver, CO

Voicethread Link

Our school has some communication issues at times. This is one tool I can use to have a team meeting even when all members are not present due to conflicts in scheduling.

http://voicethread.com/share/1191294/

CD

Students are a Reflection of their Peers

During my teaching career I have been curious why people who were capable of performing music well would self sabotage their efforts toward success. I had a student this past year who had potential to become a very solid player. He was talking about challenging the first chair player one year ago. When the school year progressed, I had noticed that he was hanging with peers who were not motivated to improve their playing. While still capable, his playing started to suffer, as he would not practice his instrument at home. He missed performances just as this group of peers he was friends with would do as well. This student reinforces for me how he constructed his meaning in musical performance through his friends versus his abiity on the instrument.

In the cooperative learning chapter of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works, the author shares the five ways to group students. With every student at a different level of development, technological tools can help even some of the disparity among the students. In my experience, some of the students come to me with poor reading and writing skills, yet their computer skills are well developed. This helps the student feel important in his or her group and contribute toward the groups success. I had not thought of the “group processing” aspect for student groupings. I can apply a Facilitative Leadership tool called a “plus delta chart” for this type of grouping, When they finish working each day, they list the things that went well, as well as the things that need changing at the next meeting. Giving the kids the responsibility to share and save their reflections on a blog, wikipage, or drop box is one way in which technological tools will help these students. Currently, my school system uses the web as a reference only tool. Using citrix, the kids were unable to upload anything due to restrictions issued by the system. I did finally find that creating a drop.io box worked great, and it forced the students to use their citrix account to upload their work. When they went to the drop box outside of Citrix, they could not find their work. The students were surprised how easy it was to turn in their work. Voicethread looks like a really excellent interactive tool for me and my students. I thought that the teachers differentiation plan was excellent, and could see how it can make any teachers day easier.

In many years of teaching, I have observed that excellent organizations grew out of postive interactions with one another. When the students were able to rely on each other to perform well, the performance level was higher than when problems eclipsed the purpose for being there. Students develop their sense of worth in many of these instances based upon these associations. In many cases that is why a band student will do what is neccessary to participate in a high performing ensemble as it builds both the ensemble as well as the student.

Reference:

Interactive Associates, Facilitative Leadership, 1997, Boston, MA

Pitner, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M.,Malensonski, K., Using technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. 2007 Mcrel Publishing, Denver, CO

Voicethread retreived from voicethread.com on June 1, 2010.