Module 6 Blog Reflection

I found many ideas in this week’s materials that are important to my thoughts on teaching. I was especially interested in the discussions on Driscoll’s framework and its descriptions on the different ways people learn. I also liked the ideas on how different technologies can enhance the contextual, social, active, and reflective  elements of learning. 

With contextual and social learning, I think technology can play a significant role. I can see how instant access to recordings, videos, and playlists can be useful in showing students examples of music relevant to what they are learning. Students also can use technology to share their music with others. My teaching setting can be isolating for both my students and me. I travel to 5 schools each week, teaching about 30 students at each school. Because I am only in a school once a week, I really have to work to feel in touch with the rest of the school community. My 30 students at each school are the select few who play an instrument, out of hundreds, and they do not get a chance to share what they are learning until the concert. I would like to implement technology to broaden the social aspect of my teaching setting, whether it be regularly sharing videos of what my students do to connecting with other teachers who are in a similar sort of teaching position. It might be fun and motivating to do a group lesson or performance over video chat with another ensemble from a different school. 

In the discussion post, I spoke of how important it was for students to be reflective. I would also like to use more technology in this respect. Is is really helpful for the reflection process if students are able to hear themselves after they have played. The use of recording technology would work well for this. It might also be good for students to talk and reflect as they listen and record their thoughts out loud so they do not necessarily have to write them down. Sharing these recordings with the teacher would be helpful for monitoring student progress and how they are approaching their practicing. 


Finally, the use of WebQuests is a helpful tool for tapping into different elements of learning. WebQuests allow students to instantly access a multitude of resources that all contribute to a desired learning outcome. At first, I was not sure what WebQuests were, even after reading descriptions of the design. It is more clear now that I have seen examples. At the same time, while perusing different examples, I noticed that some are definitely better designed and more interesting than others. I think it is important for the teacher to put careful thought into the design of the lesson, so that it is truly meaningful and engaging. It is easy to let technology work its appeal. While sleek webpages, fonts, and graphics may appear well designed and engaging, it is really the lesson that is most important. I am looking forward to designing my own WebQuest for the first time. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Noteflight Project Reflection

Before taking this course, I primarily used Noteflight when I did not have access to Sibelius. The program was very useful for me for several educational purposes. After reviewing the shortcuts for Noteflight this week, I find that note and text entry is pretty efficient and I can see myself continuing to use this program for teaching purposes. Noteflight is a good tool for composing and arranging music for my students. It is also very helpful when I want to write out exercises and etudes that target specific skill and instruments. I have also used it to create accompaniment tracks for pieces so that I can conduct and circulate without being bound to a piano. However, I find that Noteflight’s playback timbres are less sophisticated compared to other notation softwares. Other softwares may be better suited to this last purpose. Other constraints I find with Noteflight are the limited features in the free version. The free version omits certain instruments, does not export part
Read more

Module 7 Blog Reflection

I really enjoyed the materials of this week because they addressed many teacher duties that can be frustrating and time consuming. However, with the use of technology, many of these tasks can be efficiently done in an organized manner. I actually spent a great deal of time at work this week doing administrative tasks so the materials were extremely relevant. For example, I am in the process of collecting instruments back from students and recording their serial numbers and conditions. The use of Google sheets has been extremely helpful in this process. The assignment with Google forms made me think of different ways in which I would like use it in my classroom. It seems like a great, flexible tool to use for creating tests and quizzes. I especially thought about Google forms the other day when I was entering incoming student information (name, instrument, contact information) and was really struggling to read handwriting. I thought that if they had entered this information through Goo
Read more

Module 4 Blog Reflection

I really appreciated the materials this week and found them extremely applicable to my teaching settings. I enjoyed the readings and discussions on using technology in a performance ensemble setting. While I would really like to have my students work with technology in creating music, my teaching position is very performance focused and has quite a few limitations on how I can use technology. I teach in five schools a week and see each group of students for 45 minutes. In some schools, I do not have a classroom. The only materials I can use are the ones that I carry with me. I really liked reading about all the ways that I can still use technology to benefit student learning, even with just a laptop or smartphone.  The idea that stood out to me the most in the readings was the use of accompaniment and the benefits that it has for student practice. This is something I would like to incorporate more with students in their lessons. I also think that with the use of programs such as G
Read more