One Note

I'll admit that I wasn't terribly familiar with One Note before this assignment,  however after being able to play around with it, I do see some positive aspects that I would like to utilize after becoming even more familiar.

I did have some trouble initially downloading it on my iPad but have worked through those kinks.

I do believe utilizing One Note to make fool proof lesson plans for a substitute would be helpful. Now when I miss class, I am fortunate to have a retired band director who will sit in for me and direct on days I miss. Using these tools with One Note could make it easier on him and would also protect my class and the district if we are forced to use other substitutes should I miss class by using step by step lesson plans with the application.

Once again, One Note's purpose is to make things more organized.  Lesson plans,  fundraising and committees can benefit.  My band marches in several parades in the fall and has several fundraisers and trips scheduled throughout the year.  Utilizing OneNote can make things easier for me in years to come provided I can continue to learn.

While I could see myself using it in my day to day classes, I plan on recommending it to some members at my church who sit on fundraising committees.

Final Week

Organization has not always been my strong suit.   When I first started teaching I used post it notes to help remind me of things to do throughout the school day.   I would stick my post its all over my computer screen so I would make sure to remember to actually get them done,    My students always joked that I couldn't really see my screen because of so many post it notes covering it, and sadly this was true.  Over the years I have incorporated technology to help me stay organized.   I use the notes app daily to help keep me on track and to make daily to do lists.  These apps on my iPhone and iPad have proven to be extremely helpful.

My school recently switched our school email to gmail.  This has been extremely beneficial for both students and teachers.   Being able to share documents through Google is particularly useful.   Teachers are able to directly edit student work and send it back for them to review.  I have not used this feature with my students but I have heard it is extremely efficient for both groups.    I email back and forth with my band booster president several times each week.  Whether it is fundraising letters or meeting agendas we share documents on a regular basis through gmail and it has been a great way to work together without having to meet one on one.  

Another Google feature that was discussed in the lecture was Google Hangouts.   I have used this several times in the last six months or so.   I had always used FaceTime to video chat in the past.   With Google Hangouts you are able to video chat with more than one person at a time which is extremely helpful.  I have thought about incorporating this app into my classroom next year.  It could be used to help students struggling on their instrument,   Since after school seems to be such a difficult time to meet and rehearse with my students a program like Google Hangouts may even allow me to give some small lessons via video chat.   

The great thing with technology is the possibilities are endless!

Week 6

As I was watching this week's lecture for the first time I started thinking a great deal about how students find answers online.  When I need to know anything from a number for a local restaurant to a fingering chart for flute and everything in between my first instinct is to "Google it."  As Dr. Bazan points out with nearly everyone having a smart phone now finding information is now easier than ever.  I can recall being in the middle of an after school jazz band rehearsal and a student had a question about a notation in his music.  I was unfamiliar with this particular notation so I told the student I would have to look into it and get back to him.  Before I was able to even finish my sentence another student had already visited Google and found the answer.  Modern mobile technology has made it very fast and easy to find answers to questions.

YouTube was also a very important topic discussed this week.  YouTube has become as much as of a search engine as Google.  As Dr. Bazan pointed out students can find their favorite song with lyrics to sing along with, learn a new skill with the thousands of video tutorials, or watch numerous performances.  This is an excellent resource!

My high school concert band is getting ready to compete at a concert band festival in two weeks.  We are playing Holst's First Suite in Eflat.  I have encouraged my students to listen to several recordings of colleges and professional wind ensembles performing this pieces in order to help them understand the stylistic elements of it.  YouTube has served as a means for these listening activities.  Fortunately I am able to meet with my band students once a day for about 40 minutes, but often times throughout our rehearsal process I have found myself wishing we were able to offer small group lessons to our high school students like our beginning band students receive.  Because of scheduling and time restraints this is not a possibility.  After working with YouTube I realize I can use this sight to our advantage.  My goal will be to isolate the sections of the music my students are struggling with and make a tutorial for how to practice these specific sections.  Although it might be a tad bit time consuming in the beginning, it will help guide my students through the learning process.  It will also allow me to give more individualized attention that time doesn't allow at this point.  I am very excited for this new tool I hope to use in my classroom very soon!

An Eye Opening Week!

Since I started this program I always knew I wanted to complete the curriculum design project for my Capstone.  My current school district has no real music curriculum.  I remember when I first started my teaching job almost six years ago I was able to speak to the former band director and she explained what she typically taught throughout the year.  Much of what was taught revolved around what performances were coming up in the near future.  I thought it was very odd to not have a curriculum but I thought I would be able to adapt and use what I learned in my student teaching to come up with a plan for what to teach.  I quickly understood what the former director was talking about when she told me she was usually teaching to the performance.  On average my high school band students perform around 30 times each school year.  Between football, competition marching, pep band, concerts, and other various performances we stay extremely busy.  Since starting this masters program I have come to realize how much my students need a well designed and cohesive curriculum that spans from beginning band all the way through high school band.  

In just a few weeks I will be finished with the course work for this program and move on to my Capstone project.  I have thought a great deal about curriculum during each of these courses.  As I am preparing to work on my own curriculum project I found this weeks lecture and reading to be particularly helpful.  For many people, myself included, the word curriculum can be seen as intimidating and overwhelming.  The Backward Design gives a great overview for how to narrow down a particular subject in to what should be taught, how do we know they understand, and how it should be taught.  This is a new concept to me but it is one that I find very intriguing and I plan on researching more about Backward Design.  Bauer does an excellent job of breaking down each of these steps.  Bauer (2014) Figure 7.1, Lesson Planning Using Backward Design, is a great example to see how these steps function together to form a complete lesson (p. 157).  

Another important part of any classroom is finding how to successfully assess student learning.  As I have stated before in previous blog posts finding ways to assess my band students in a timely and efficient manner is a real struggle in my classroom.  Bauer (2014) includes several important criteria for assessment (p. 132-133).  It is easy to wrapped up in the busy performance schedules and the everyday hustle and bustle and forget about how important it is for students to be assessed on a regular basis.  While reading this weeks assignment it was helpful to be reminded of how truly important assessment is. Figures 6.1-6.3 provided some great scoring systems I plan on using in the future.

Overall, this week was extremely helpful in preparing me not only for my upcoming Capstone project but also showing me of how I can improve my current teaching style.  I truly enjoyed the Bauer reading this week.   

Chromatik and Smart Music

Both Chromatik and Smart Music allow students to put a new and exciting spin on practicing.  As I previously mentioned in my blog from earlier this week lack of practice at home is a common occurrence with my high school students and 5th grade beginning band students.  After reviewing both of these programs I can clearly see how they would be beneficial in my current classroom.


Chromatix-
There are several features to this program which would be helpful to my high school students.  They often express interest in playing more popular tunes.  We have several pop charts that we play during pep band games, but outside of that particular season pop tunes are not a regular part of our repertoire.  The nice part about Chromatik is a student can fulfill their want to play popular charts even if it is not in a full band setting.  It is great how it incorporates so many instruments into the program.  Although the majority of the music is popular I did appreciate the classical music category.  Students who are rehearsing for college auditions and solo contest would find this very helpful!  Also, I teach several private piano lessons and I know my students could benefit from this program.

Chromatik is convenient in the sense that the music automatically does the page turns.  With technology now making many aspects in life so convenient this is a really nice feature.  Also, users are able to share a short segment of their recording with twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.  This gives students an added sense of accomplishment to let their friends and family hear their music.  Finally, it is cost effective for the students.

Overall I think Chromatik is a good program that has real potential to be used in my classroom.  I don't think it would necessarily be appropriate for beginning band students, however it would be for high school students.  Although it does not have the standard concert band repertoire that is used in my classroom it would serve as a motivator and an outlet for students on more of a solo level.  

Smart Music- 

I have heard about Smart Music for years but have never taken the time to research it until this course.  I was extremely impressed with all of the features it offers students and teachers.  Some of the main features that I found to be most useful to beginning and advanced students is the tempo control feature, fingering chart by note, tuner, and assessment feature.  All of these features add so much to individual practice.

My high school band is currently working on some very challenging music.  We have talked about tempo, notes, rhythms, style, and much much more.  With a program like Smart Music it can help students practice in a much more efficient way.  Smart Music will help them with the multi-tasking in order for them to play their music to the best of their ability.  There are some very helpful videos for teachers and students.  The search is very simple to use and has many titles for everything from concert band to jazz band and solo music.  All of these tools would be very beneficial to beginning band students as well.  One thing I hear most often from new band parents is they do not know how to help their child practice because they do not play an instrument.  With Smart Music it is like having a tutor at home on call 24/7.   

Beside aiding students in their individual practice I love the assessment feature.  Finding an efficient way to give individual playing assessments has been a struggle in my classroom.  With Smart Music teachers are able to give assignments and students are able to work on them at home and record their assignment then turn them into the teacher.  This would be a huge help to the teachers and programs that are stretched for time in daily rehearsals. 

Overall, I would say Smart Music would be a more practice program to use in my current classroom.  One negative is the cost for the subscription.  However, after reviewing the program I feel confident is saying the program is absolutely worth the price.  I plan on talking to my principal about finding funding for Smart Music for the 2015-16 school year.    

Finding a way to practice smarter!

            Several of the topics that were discussed in the text and lecture can be directly applied to certain struggles that I am facing in my classroom currently.  I teach high school band and 5^th grad beginning band.  I see my 5^th grade beginners once a week for a 30-minute small group lesson.  We also meet as a full band once a week for an hour.  My high school students rehearse daily for 45 minutes. 

            I’m sure like most band instructors the student’s individual practice, or sometimes lack thereof, can be improved.  The first year of band instruction is such a crucial time.  The students are learning proper technique, note reading, rhythm reading, and fingerings.  Thirty minutes a week never seems like enough time to really work on all of these new ideas and skills we are trying to develop.  A program like Smart Music or Chromatik seem to be wonderful tools to aid in individual practice. 

            On the opposite end, my high school band students seem to have similar issues.   With 55 students in one class period and no time for small group or sectional rehearsals their lack of individual attention is an issue.  I also find that having young musicians of all different musical abilities is a struggle in rehearsals.  We typically play fairly challenging music during our concert band session.  This year I am seeing my clarinets in particular struggle with our more challenging music.  The use of both Smart Music and Chromatik could greatly benefit these players.  Being able to follow along with their music at a slower tempo and getting immediate feedback would be so valuable to these young players.

           

            On a more personal level I find one of the biggest challenges I face is finding an efficient way to conduct performance tests.  If I personally test them on a passage it will take the majority of a week of rehearsals before I am finished with the entire band.  I have tried to video record them using a cell phone or iPad.  As I was watching the two videos in the lecture this week I saw the potential for how these programs could easily help with this task.  I plan on speaking with my principal and technical personal about finding funding for practice software to use in our district.  I can’t want to see how this will improve my students and my own teaching.  

It All About Creativity!

This was a very enlightening week for me.   First, I must say how much I enjoyed the lecture.  Between it and the Bauer text I was able to clear up some confusion I was having in regards to audio terminology.  Second, I really enjoyed watching the Edutopia video about the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus.  During the video I was particularly struck by something the Executive Director, Brian Rothschild said, “The more opportunities we can expose young people to the more chances they have to imagine themselves as successful, happy, and creative people.”  I believe that wholeheartedly.  Almost daily I see students from my high school band come through my room either after school or during lunch and they will stop to pick out a melody on the piano or tap out a beat as they are passing through the band room.  All students need a creative outlet.  The John Lennon Education Tour Bus is a perfect example of that outlet.  Soundation, Noteflight, MuseScore, and Garage Band are also great examples of how students can use their own ideas to be creative.

The Inquiry Report also gave me some very useful insight this week.  I particularly found it helpful to interview the teachers.  I use technology in my own classroom mostly for communication.  I have found social media a great way to communicate with students and parents.  It is fast and very convenient.  However, because of my class sizes and lack of materials in my classroom I am not able to incorporate much technology into my daily teaching.  It was very interesting to see how other teachers are able to overcome these hurdles.  By interviewing my students I found that while most spend a significant amount of time on social media each day they are also using their technology for educational purposes.  Many of them discussed specific apps they use for their classes that helps with daily homework.  I am looking forward to researching applications that could be beneficial to my students and incorporating them in the coming weeks. 

As I said in Week 1 I have some experience with Garage Band, but as far as DAW software goes, that’s about it.  Until now I have only ever used Garage Band to edit already existing MP3’s.  Thank goodness for YouTube videos and smart teenagers!  During my first year of teaching I needed to cut a song down and fade out of it, but I was completely clueless on how to do so.  It was then that a few of my high school students saved the day and showed me how.  The average teenager today is so in tune with how to use technology whether it is new or old.  Several of my students have had experience using programs like Garage Band and Audacity.  I know working with these programs will only enhance my teaching and give my students a better education.  I am excited to spend more time with these programs.