Noteflight

Noteflight is a great introductory music notation website. On the site, you can notate your own music either one note at a time or by using a midi controller. When creating it from scratch, it has all the features you need such as rhythm values, dynamics, and different instrument sounds.

On Noteflight, you can view many other users' free arrangements. My first fear was about copyrights; you would have to be careful of this. Actually, this would be a great opportunity for a lesson on copyrighting in music production! 

I listened to an arrangement of Pentatonix's version of "O Come O Come Emmanuel" for clarinets, and it was pretty cool.

In a music theory or music composition class, this site would be perfect for beginner composers or songwriters. It is easy to use and many of the functions are free. You can subscribe to the website; for $69 music teachers can use all of the site's music education features for a year. If you do not have the funds, the basic functions are great. 

This website is accessible for any student with a computer, so the only limitation there would be if students don't have a computer at home. I don't think there would be an issue with student interest since this is creative and individual. I think if students are taking what they are learning in music theory/composition and work on writing/arranging for themselves outside of class, they will learn so much as musicians! Of course, students would be free to email me with questions. 

For beginner students, I see them working on one piece of choice for the entire year/term. For more advanced students, they might have different themed compositions throughout the year. Students would then be able to share their work in class; maybe even have other students play the pieces for an added sight-reading practice.

Chrome Music Lab

The Chrome Music Lab is a collection of experiments to help anyone understand how music works. There is an experiment about rhythm, one about arpeggios, one about melodies- 12 in total. These experiments are interactive, pleasing to the eye, and fun. They are free to anyone with access to an Internet browser.

The rhythm experiment is very cute: it involves two interactive monkeys playing percussion. Users create rhythms using dots and the monkeys play the rhythms. You can add dots at any time, and it beautifully introduces how different rhythms promote different feelings.

I love the idea of using Chrome Lab as an introduction to a topic, maybe linking it to a Padlet. For example, the “Melody Maker” allows students to add pitches as color blocks, where blocks in the same row have the same pitch. I would love to have students play around with creating their own melodies before teaching a lesson on reading music, because they then would be excited to understand how pitches come together effectively since they have already done some creation. 

Using the Chrome Music Lab requires that all students have access to a computer outside of class, and that students take the time to play around with it. Because of this limitation, I could consider spending a class period allowing students to use school computers, if available, to play around in the Lab. I could then spend the next class period introducing music reading.

A music classmate in told me about this, and I’m so pleased that he did! I personally got excited about using it, and I feel that it would be a helpful learning tool for students to promote the learning, creation, and love of and music.

https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Experiments

Using Padlet to Plan a Unit About Learning to Read Music

When thinking about what unit I wanted to prepare, I actually went to the Common Core Standards for Performing Arts. I also thought about the kids who I teach now private music lessons, who are, on average, about 10 years old. I read through the standards and reflected on what I thought my kids would need to learn most to achieve these standards. Although a lot of people think that learning music by ear is fine enough to be proficient, I believe there is value in learning to read music, because it provides the framework for understanding the musical language.

It is a common core standard that by grade 5, students should be able to understand and perform the basic elements of written music.In teaching the basic elements of music, I wanted to introduce rhythm as a concept of feeling, and pitch as a concept of hearing on different instruments, because it is easy to separate written music from music that you hear. I believe that separation is harmful to the students' learning! Therefore, I believe having games such as the Rhythm Lab in the Chrome Music lab allows students to put together what they see with what they hear and feel in the music.

https://padlet.com/kaylajackson5221/o6pq32w4inre

Pedagogy and Technology

All of the technologies described in my infographic help directly support unique instructional strategies, rather than supplement them. Basically, the technologies are part of the means of delivering the material using the strategy, rather than an additional or optional resource. What is most striking about these tools is that they are so visually stimulating! As I student, I would be excited about having these tools in the classroom.

The teaching strategy "Identity Charts" aims to adapt content by asking students to discover their own identity, and then the identity of a character they are studying, by creating a chart. Using Lucidchart is an easy way to create a nice looking chart that helps students perform this task. This strategy is pertinent in music because understanding character is a crucial part of performance!

Another app that helps students achieve the desired task is RealtimeBoard. It allows for the teaching strategy of using Mini White Boards to happen so that all students can participate and work together to provide feedback and opinions. This could be useful when providing feedback to fellow performers to improve their skills and presentations!

One app that allows for a unique teaching strategy to happen is GoConqr. It allows teachers to create a class, and then add various quizzes and study materials. This is helpful for teachers who want to give their students homework options in order to monitor their progress, because they can provide material of varying levels for their differing students all in one place.

I am realizing more and more how many tools we have at our fingertips as teachers. It is honestly exciting and overwhelming at the same time.

Pew Survey Results: Teens, Social Media, and Technology

The fact that 24% of teens are online "almost constantly" is pretty scary. Overall most of the statistics in the article didn't surprise me, but thinking about the generation just behind us being controlled by the internet is pretty sobering. My gut reaction is not criticism; it's more conviction that we should be on our phones so much less. But, as future teachers, I think that we have to somewhat embrace this phenomenon, and teach our students how to effectively and maturely utilize social media in a positive way. Honestly, it is kind of like this class; we are learning how to use technology well as future educators. I think we can teach our students to do the same by somehow incorporating social media in our practices, carefully and thoughtfully.

One result that surprised me is that Instagram and Snapchat are so far behind Facebook in terms of teen usage. My younger brother, who is 20, is part of this tech-obsessed generation, and I see him and his friends using Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter much more than Facebook. I, personally, prefer Instagram to Facebook as well. Still, as a teacher, I think keeping up with these trends is important because we can use the mediums they are using to reach them. For example, if they are mostly on Facebook, we can use Facebook pages as teaching tools and ways to give updates. But, since 52% of teens are still on Instagram, we can use that as well.

In thinking about how to incorporate these social media findings in the classroom, I think about Vince, my teacher for Teaching, Democracy, and Schooling. In his class, he communicates in a relatable way. One day, he wanted us to use our phones to download an app for safety during his class. I think of him because I think he is a great example of how we can reach out to our teens, and meet them where they are at.

History of Technology: Film Projector

First of all, I wasn't able to finish my PowToon, unfortunately, due to time when I actually went to put the video together. But I feel good about what I started, so I wanted to go ahead and post it! I at least got to introduce my topic and history up to that point.

https://www.powtoon.com/embed/dp1dtyDIhsJ/

I had a lot of glitches getting PowToon to load, and it was very slow in responding as I created the PowToon. However, I do really like its capabilities. Once PowToon finally loaded, I found it pretty easy to understand. I like the details of being able to change when and how graphics come in and out.

I watched several of the tutorials over several days before I got started, and one that was especially helpful was about writing out the script before I made the presentation. I found this strategy to be very helpful because it gave me a feel of what my message was, and about the tone of the message. Another of the tutorials talked similarly about having a clear goal for your PowToon.

What I've learned from this is to allow way more time to actually create the PowToon. I spent so much time prepping but didn't allow for the slow response of the software when I actually went to put it together. In my classroom, I could see myself using it when introducing a new concept or explaining historical contexts of pieces of music. Often with music, I want the students to know so much more than just the notes and words, and tools like PowToon could help me present more in-depth information to the students without them disengaging.

Using Technology To Boost Confidence

More than anything, I want my students to believe in themselves. The teacher in this video uses technological resources such as Google Hangout to help. She offers Hangout times in the evening when students can chat and struggle with her and other students in a relaxed setting. Ms. Paraiso is dressed down and in her own home while on these Hangouts. She allows the students to reach out to her and "see" her as a real, caring human being. I can see this becoming a beautiful, communal, evening Hangout hour open to my students. I would sit near my piano and be available to play a certain part of a piece, or just to talk and listen.

Ms. Paraiso gives the students in-class opportunities to have Hangouts with other students in different schools, as well as to watch themselves, current students, and former students in video recordings. One student shared that seeing other students communicating on the screen gave her confidence because she felt that if they could do it well, so could she. To put this in practice, I would love to create small groups that become friends and mentors. These groups could meet on Hangouts just to chat about life, school, and what they are learning. This is also a safe space to practice singing in front of others and getting constructive feedback.

Allowing students to see themselves on a screen gives them a real sense of how they are presenting themselves, both musically and personally. As an artist, you are communicating a story as a human, so it is important to have confidence in who you are. It is shocking at first, but extremely helpful later. In my own music training, I have always been asked to record my vocal lessons, and sometimes to watch videos of myself. As awkward as it is, it continues to get easier and, in the end, gives me confidence in who I am and what I can do.