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Music Tech Blog Post Week 1

I have been looking forward to this course for the duration of my time in this graduate program. I love learning about new technologies and how they can help to improve learning in my classroom. I teach K-12 general music, band, and choir. So, I am familiar with utilizing technology within those areas, and I am constantly looking for new technologies that might prove beneficial. I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the technology integration video from Edutopia in this week’s lecture. I found it to be extremely inspiring as I’ve thought through on how to improve my technology usage this past week, and I look forward to sharing that video with my staff as we discuss how to improve our school’s overall technology usage.
Additionally, I look for ways for my students to use their personal technology (i.e. smart phone) positively rather than one that detracts from their learning. This is because students today are so ingrained with technology that it does become a distraction from learning. However, I believe that the more a student utilizes it to contribute to their learning the less likely a student will be to utilize it as a distraction. Will we, as teachers, still need to monitor their usage? Yes. However, once students understand the purpose behind it, I believe the need for that distraction will be at a minimal level while promoting a positive and engaging learning tool.
One aspect that I enjoyed reading this week was the idea behind Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) especially on integrating technology with purpose. I find that some educators simply attempt to integrate technology due to administration pressures without determining the Pedagogical or Content Knowledge purpose behind it. What comes to my mind the most is the AdvancedEd accreditation process that is looking for technology use within the schools. I have witnessed some educators simply finding any technology to incorporate so that a “check mark” can be placed besides that category. With that in mind, this week I have thought through my technology usage to ensure that it meets pedagogical and content purposes rather than simply utilizing the technology to complete a checklist or simply because I want to use it. I believe this reading has been a great introduction to this course, and I am extremely excited to move forward!

Comments

  1. UnknownOctober 28, 2017 at 7:25 PM

    Hi there,

    Wow, you teach K-12? How many students do you typically teach in a week? I teach general music at two elementary schools and teach about 800 students a week. I can't imagine teaching K-12 all in one week!

    I am glad to hear that you are excited about this class! But, I have to admit, that I was a bit apprehensive when this course began. I feel that I am pretty tech-savvy, but was afraid the textbook would be difficult to understand. However, our text seems to e very down-to-earth and easy to understand. I would love to incorporate students personal technology into the classroom but at the elementary age, it's a bit tricky. I have, however, recommended music apps to my students to use at home to enhance their music learning.

    I completely understand where you are coming from when you said that some educators only use technology for the purposes of using technology, not thinking about pedagogical or content. I feel like a lot of procedures and requirements are thrown at educators and sometimes we do complete tasks just to have that "check mark." But even though we have to navigate all of those requirements, we need to make sure we are making the correct decisions for our students and their education.

    I enjoyed reading your post and best of luck with this course! Have a great week!
    -Kaitlyn

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownNovember 2, 2017 at 11:15 AM

      Hi Kaitlyn,

      I teach at a small, rural school, which is why I am K-12. The total student population is 170, and I would venture to say that I teach about 90-95% of the school in a given week. Everything flows with elementary classes (K-6) being seen three times a week, 5th & 6th grade bands everyday, and 7-12 band & choir every other day with Fridays rotating. It has good points and bad points for sure.

      I am in agreement about the textbook. I look forward to my time spent working on this course, which is exciting because some courses were hard when I tried motivate myself to read.

      Elementary technology is not one I have ventured too far into, but I know there are possibilities if the equipment and administrator support is present!

      Best of luck this week!

      Delete

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