Teaching Music with Mrs. G

This week's reading seems like a great way to end such an an engaging course. I already employ some of the technologies listed, but there were some new things to explore too. My music teaching position requires me to be extremely organized. Otherwise, there is mass chaos. If there is chaos, I cannot focus on the actual act of teaching music. I am the sole music educator at my small, rural school that also happens to be a one-school district. Therefore, I am the only K-12 music educator in my district. So, as you can imagine, I am the music department chair, general music teacher, band teacher, choir teacher, music secretary, instrument repair technician, inventory manager, and more. I know I don't need to list all of the jobs as you all are familiar with them. Currently, I am still figuring out what works for me. For my lessons plans, I rely heavily on Planbook . This is a great piece of technology that keeps my unique schedule organized. I utilize almost all of what Google...

I have OneNote available to me through my school as we utilize Microsoft 360. I do not utilize OneNote extensively, but there are several uses for it.  Before starting this assignment, I decided to utilize it for my Project Based Learning assignment for my 7-12 band and choir. The project is for them to coordinate and perform in a fundraising concert for our music department. Doing so can be extremely tricky with so many individuals. So, I thought OneNote would be the perfect platform to keep the students organized. You can see below how I have set up the preliminary notebook. I appreciate how easy it is to work through as it functions in the same manner as all other Microsoft Office programs. Most of the tools are pretty straight forward once you understand how they function. Setting up the Notebook was easy. I created a section for the To Do list and utilized the "To Do" function. That is an awesome tool to keep things formatted neatly and keep track of what has been ...

This week's reading had several great reminders, and it also added much more in depth information on those topics as well! The emphasis on listening in the beginning of the chapter helped to put into context information that almost seems to be common sense.  For example, Bauer (2014) indicates that people listen to music at certain times like while in a car (p. 107).  He also discusses how students have a view of a separation of music at school and home.  Therefore , we must teach our students how to listen to better appreciate the difference rather than shoving it off as boring or unimportant. To me, listening seems like such an obscure skill to teach. It also is hard for me to generate assessments that would provide evidence for data tracking. However, I understand the importance especially when teaching elementary music. As stated in the text, I have used commercial listening resources at the elementary level. Dr. Denise  Gange  has wonderful  multi...

This week has been a great reminder on lesson design, and the roles that technologies should serve when working on the designs of all lessons, units, and the curriculum  . One aspect that I found extremely engaging for me is the section on Project-Based Learning. This is because I was just approved to incorporate Project-Based Learning for my 7-12  band and   choir . The project that my students will be completing is designing and performing in a concert that  is designed to raise funds for our music department . Traditionally, my school puts on a concert called  Desserts ,  Music ,  and More  that is planned by the music boosters in October. Due to certain events this year, it had to be cancelled. While long-term planning, I realized that I have over a month between the spring concert and graduation.  This seemed like the perfect event to place between them. The questions and statements posed in this section of the reading served as...

Because Chromatik is no longer available, I thought I would compare SmartMusic & MusicFirst as they are both similar softwares that utilize the cloud. To begin my review, I wanted to look at the ultimate goals of both softwares. For easy reference, I have screen shots of both. SmartMusic: Guided Practice MusicFirst: K-12 Music Software Tools As you can see, SmartMusic places its focus on practice. MusicFirst has many different aspects that can be bundled together or used separately. MusicFirst has bundles based off grade levels and content areas: Elementary, Band/Chorus/Orchestra, Music Theory, and General Music. Similar to SmartMusic, MusicFirst has what is called PracticeFirst . So, let's compare SmartMusic and PracticeFirst. Smart Music gives very specific feedback to the students. As you can tell from the screen shot, it highlights notes & rests for the student. PracticeFirst is less specific than SmartMusic when it comes to identifying are...

This week's materials seemed to have  a vast amount of  information compared to previous weeks. Perhaps, it seems more to me  because of  the knowledge we are continuing to build upon, or  maybe , I am just a little overwhelmed this week between work, school, and home.  Maybe , it is  both  of those reasons. Although whatever the reason, this week  is full of  many things to discuss, and it has been difficult for me to narrow down my topics. I appreciated  that  Bauer (2014) discussed the importance of reviewing the credibility of the technology that educators have or are looking to integrate into their classrooms (pp. 38-39).  I remembered most of the points from my undergraduate education technology course.  However, it serves as a great reminder. I think it is easy as an educator to forget about those points, and (as  it was mentioned in Week 1 ) to simply  employ  the technology just to use it ...

This week's materials have put me out of my comfort zone  somewhat . I always love utilizing technology, but the  science behind it makes me a little uneasy. So, I found myself rereading the material that discussed bits, compressed audio, and even the digital audio workstation (DAW). Once I read through those sections about three to four times, I think I finally have a small grasp on their  applications, and I am sure I will continue in practicing utilizing that knowledge even after this course to become more familiar with the terms and application at home and in the classroom. The material that discussed  Audacity  and  Soundation  was extremely interesting to me. My husband (also a  K-12  music teacher ) and  I play around with  GarageBand  enough to know how to isolate musical parts to make practice CD's for our students. However, we are by every meaning of the word novices  in  understanding the capabilities ...

Once again, I enjoyed this week's reading and lecture. This is partially because  I am simply excited to be taking this course . I also enjoyed it because I am passionate about teaching composition within my classes. However, I am still working on the best way to integrate it into my ensembles without taking away from concert preparation. Last year at my previous school, I utilized  Noteflight  and  MuseScore  within my school's subscription to  MusicFirst . However, I did not get as  in depth  with the  MuseScore  software that  was presented in the new tutorials . I simply had  surface knowledge . Looking back, I should have utilized them as I would have spent less time on imputing examples from the band  &  choir curricula. I hope, as I move forward with my new position, I will be able to get another subscription to  MusicFirst  so I can continue improving my knowledge of  Noteflight  a...