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 Google forms, it would already be collected and reading handwriting would not be an issue. One constraint with this is ensuring that everyone has a computer at home. At this point, most families have computers and access to the internet, even in neighborhoods where poverty levels are high. However, I still come across many students who do not have internet and computer access at home. 

I also really enjoyed the assignments with designing a newsletter and presentation. I have done similar things in the past, but once again, I really love how Google makes it easy to format and insert pictures and videos from the internet. I would definitely use these in the future for my teaching. I’m also starting to brainstorm how I might incorporate these into my WebQuest next week. 

When it comes to assessment, I would like to use technology more frequently. I think it would allow for more regular assessment and better documentation of student progress. Currently, my assessments take place in person and because it is time consuming and takes away from instructional time, I do not do it frequently. I would like to use technology to make assessment, both formal and informal, a more regular part of my class. I liked ideas such as having students record themselves during ensemble. I also liked the idea of having students record their practicing so I can monitor and give feedback on how they are working at home. This can be especially helpful when I go a week or two without seeing them. Having recordings and feedback stored electronically would allow me to document the progress of many students in a confined, organized manner. As I am thinking about how I would like to improve my assessment procedures, organization and productivity for next year, I am leaning more and more towards incorporating the use of technology to help me reach these goals.