This course in its entirety has really given me insight into the world of teaching today. This day and age, new technologies are popping up left and right and it is our job as teachers to stay updated with them. I have talked to several veteran teachers who say, "Oh I do not use that program" or, "I don't keep an updated website because I am not tech-savvy." They are good teachers, but it is still necessary to learn what is being used in today's classroom.
Before this class, I was capable of taking photos and editing in iPhoto, fairly good with Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint, but that was really the extent of it. I now know how to create interactive lesson plans using flip chart. I now know how to create projects and teach lessons using slideshows, digital stories and brainstorming with storyboards and diagrams. I now know the importance of organization of files, photos and folders. I know how to import, export and save files through different means.
These new technologies will benefit my teaching style in any classroom I end up in whether it is general music or an orchestral ensemble. I am sure I will actively use an updated website to keep all my students and their parents informed of class information. We live in the new age, why not take advantage of all the opportunities in communication and learning through technology!
Using iMovie is one part of technology I have definitely not utilized being a Mac owner. I have used iPhoto and have edited many pictures, but the closest thing I have made to a movie is powerpoint.
Working on the Digital Storyboard was a lot simpler than I thought it would be. It is basically a slideshow with added captions and transitions put to music.
I am happy it did not involve any acting! I had a little trouble with making sure my pictures were the precise size for the slide so they did not come out blurry and too zoomed in/out. The transitions were simple and I chose to use them sparingly after only the slides with text only (no picture). The text looked a lot larger on my computer screen at home when making the video than it did appear on YouTube, but I adjusted so it is still clearly readable. I like the most of tools on iMovie as it was simple add/delete and move the slides around.
I should probably spend a little more time being creative with this program. I enjoyed making a "how-to" video, however it wasn't as exciting as I thought it could be. I am not sure I would use this type of program for a lesson plan, but maybe to showcase student's work or showing pictures from our classe's concerts and festivals .
Prior to learning about digital diagrams, I had seen and utilized diagrams but not through this program. I believe the diagrams I have seen utilized for classes were constructed simply in Microsoft word or PowerPoint. These programs do not have a multitude of graphic, text and resource options.
The program we used for this project, which will be reviewed below is very simple to navigate and create graphics for lesson plans.
Before actually creating our diagram on the software "Inspiration," we created our story board, basically serving as a draft on paper to what we were going to create for our lesson plan. Like I said above, most of the diagrams I have seen were very simple and didn't virtually "tell a story" like I am capable of creating with Inspiration. My lesson for the 4th grade music class was titles "Classical Composes" and I was able to create simple facts and add notes in the bubbles so that the diagram was not overly busy. I was able to change colors for each sub-topic to make for easy navigating if the students were observing form their seats. In addition, you can essentially type in any name or word, and the graphic resources will search for animated pictures to add to the diagram. Kids love pictures! These really added to my diagram. I used small graphics for each sub-topic like a bright purple "?" for the "fun fact" and a treble clef symbol for "musical works." For each composer I included a picture by their name.
These diagrams would be a fast, simple, way to enhance lesson activities. Although it is not interactive, it is much more interesting than handing out a worksheet or reading from a textbook.
I have definitely improved with navigating the ActivInspire software. It was confusing to learn all the controls only because there are so many to use! I am continually working on using pull tabs, containers, charts, etc. By the time I am in my own music classroom, I hope to be able to fully utilize all the resources, templates, and features on the Promethean board.
I am thoroughly enjoying creating my own flip chart for a lesson plan. Music is such a fun topic to utilize the resources on the IWB. I was first confused with the actions while creating the flip chart, ie. being in "author mode," "design mode," or "presentation." But once I got the hang of the container feature, it was really easy to match music symbols to the vocabulary terms. I know that when I am
more comfortable with using the software, I will be able to
create interactive and fun activities for the students.
Whether it is teaching students about music history (composers, musical eras, etc.), or music theory, there will be resources I can use that will benefit my students learning by ACTIVELY engaging. Students can virtually place music notes on the staff (on the IWB) or match dynamics to sound tools or videos. In addition, ActivInspire is a wonderful resource because of how simple it is to share flip charts. It is import friendly and there is "Send as email"access. I think I will have to be careful with overusing interactive white boards in the future!
Let me start with saying that Interactive White Boards are exactly what they are entitled. However, before my experience with IWB, I knew of such things like SmartBoard but was not familiar in the least. There was no such thing when I was in grade school. The article about about IWB gave me insight to what is going on in today's classrooms with technology.
I was shocked to see the percentages in test scores and success rates of the interactive white board. This is GREAT news because not only are they becoming readily available, they are so fun for the students. The stats obviously showed that picture and sound engaged the students and participation was much greater. Unfortunately, as I read, some teachers still aren't familiar with the IWB even if they have the privilege of having them in their own classrooms! This is unfortunate as it could be a part of weekly lesson plans for teachers to encourage student participation and a constructive approach in the classroom. If teachers know what they are doing and make their lesson plans fun and engaging, students will WANT to learn which has proven to improve test scores.
The IWB like I mentioned before is very interactive, exactly what it is called. I have been simply amazed with the interaction I have had in the past few classes with just seeing the activities and commands on my computer screen! Once I can fully understand how to utilize and navigate the system, I will undoubtedly use this technology in my music classroom. Students can draw musical notes on the staff, insert music vocab terms to match symbols and respond to listening sample through the system. This can incorporate half if not more of the National Standards for Music Education. How cool! I can't wait to get started and create my own flipchart.
This was my first experience constructing a website. Although I use social media including Facebook, Twitter, etc., I hadn't constructed a .com page with different links and information.
I enjoyed designing my own page layout with a simple template for parents and students to navigate. I used bright colors for a welcoming feel but made sure it was not too busy as that can be overwhelming. My home page lets my readers know they can click any of the links to find information about my music class and the link to contact me. Constructing the various pages on our class websites wasn't too time consuming and I would recommend anyone to construct a website whether you are a teacher or own a business. Google sites is free! Uploading the PowerPoint and Picasa Album was so simple. The site makes it easy for me to show what tech projects we have worked on in TPTE class. One thing to be aware of is copyright issues. I had to make sure the border image I used for my website was off a site (not Google images)that allowed me to freely use the image.
Classroom websites are very beneficial to teachers. Not only is it fun for students to sign on the internet and see their projects they have completed, but the parents can access it to also see what is happening in class and know what their children are learning about. In addition, parents can see what materials are needed for class and use outside resource links to help their child learn. Many teachers have webpages through schools, but some are not utilized. Although my website is for a general music classroom, I could just as easily have one for an orchestra class where I could post a year calendar with outside of school rehearsal dates, festivals and concerts. It keeps the parents well informed without always having to send letters home (that may never get to them!)I have taken the advantage to make another google site for my personal violin studio. The html now is on my business cards so people have access to all information about myself, lessons, and gig services I offer. Thanks Google Sites!
https://sites.google.com/site/kabalenviolinstudio/
Although I love photography whether it is of my family, pets, friends, etc., I had never really had to re-size images from MB to KB and use them in Picasa. In addition, I rarely ever make specific folders for all my pictures which is why my laptop is so disorganized!
In this lesson, our special area (music) divided into two groups to set out on a scavenger hunt and collect photos to match our clues. Although our group took the longest time (after traveling across the street!) we successfully took photos in the iPad and transferred them using Dropbox. A lot of technological resources were used in this activity. After splitting up the photos via Dropbox, each person in our group edited specified photos by re-sizing them and saving them into a specific folder "Scavenger Hunt: Music". This of course was much easier because we had previously done the activity of finding our own images on the web through picsforlearning.com and re-sizing and saving into a folder. I am happy to know how to properly re-size images without distorting them.
Lastly, the most enjoyable part of our process, was the finished product of our slideshow presentations. These were saved through Google Drive (that saves documents automatically!) and then inserted on our webpage. Once you have done it once, it becomes easy to use.
You can see the slideshows on my class website here:
https://sites.google.com/site/mskabalensmusicclass/materials
This project would be very fun and insightful for a high school humanities course for students to collect photos of artwork from different time periods and such. I think it would be too much ot handle for younger students, however, this is a great teaching tool! Teachers can create slideshows to present in class, OR, teachers can post pictures of students artwork on the class webpage so that parents can see.
