10.30.08
Posted in Interactive Sites at 1:03 pm by Abby
Resuming my quest for good ‘game’ sites that are music based, I came across this place. Music Tech Teacher is a more professionally organized and arranged interactive website for learning about music than the Sphinx Kids site. MTT also has a good hundred links or so for educating viewers about instruments, music theory, music history, musical styles and genres, and probably some other things that I’m not listening. There’s even some Rhythmic Math games, so not only does this site teach music, but it’s successfully integrating other curriculums into it as well!
It has quizzes on specific composers, specific musical styles, musical theory… pretty much everything. I’d say this would be a wonderful site to have kids visit that are in the later grade school, or the Junior High age level. High Schooler’s would probably benefit from this as well if you can get them to actually do it.
This site even includes printable worksheets for music!
All in all, a very good find!
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10.27.08
Posted in Technology at 7:23 pm by Abby
Until my Technology class, I’ll admit I had no idea that these things even existed. But ever since my introduction to them, I’ve come to adore the possibilities that these Smart Boards are capable of doing.
On the Smart Board website, (which is the link provided above) the majority of the examples that they provide are for the business world, but of course my interest is in regards to the classroom use. With the programs possible on this, I could have students easily compose their own works, have interactive ‘worksheets’ and quizzes. I could have them create their own quiz as a quiz! I like the site, though, because it gives examples of a lot of the various possibilities that exist, as well as prices, designs, company names, and other good things to know.
If ever I was to have my dream classroom come true, having a Smart Board with all of the nifty programs for it is one of the top things on my list to have!
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10.24.08
Posted in Interactive Sites, Music at 11:31 am by Abby
On my quest for finding good and useful interactive websites that might be used by my students either in class or out of class, I have come across this nifty little site, called Sphinx Kids.
It’s not the best of sites, but it has a nice use of bright and appealing colors and would be fun for the younger to middle range of general music grades. Maybe up to fifth grade. The games are simple, and I really like the interations that you can do for learning about composers. Overall, a good little site to keep track of possible future use.
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10.21.08
Posted in Blog Reference at 6:01 pm by Abby
I’m writing this post tonight about another post on a blog that I have started to keep up with that is not that of one of my fellow classmates. The blogger, Mystro2b, has a lot of inspiring and thoughtful things to say, and I enjoy reading them. Go give him a visit and see for yourself!
This post is specifically about one of his own posts called “You can never have too many sharpies on hand“. In this post, he gives quite a few wonderful technique suggestions, as well as ideas on how to word things not only when talking to students, but also to their parents, something very useful to keep in mind for the future! I think the best thing about this post is that it takes a humerous approach to things that are really quite serious for keeping in mind. You need to be highly prepared and have an abundance of resources of the oddest things because the kids will ultimately forget them when they need it. I had never thought of the fact that I might want to be certain and have numerous sharpies handy for use! Nor had I ever thought of having kids ‘fake play’ while working with the rest of the ensemble, though it seems like the most practical thing in the world to do!
His post just makes me think that despite the number of years of education classes that I’ve taken to prepare myself for the big picture of teaching, there’s still a LOT of fine points that I don’t yet know about. But it’s people like Mystro2b that helps me to learn those fine point things before I go to the job!
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10.08.08
Posted in Music, Technology at 6:44 pm by Abby
In today’s world, it is almost impossible to not find some form of technology in any sort of classroom, music included. At the least, the teacher will have a CD player of some sort, most now have white boards which, in their own way, are also a form of technology since they are more advanced than the chalk board.
In the student teaching that I am doing in my Methods class, I have several times found myself wondering on which way is better: To use a more traditional method or use technology? The specific event that I will bring up this evening, is on what students should read off of when not using their books.
In the classroom that I am at, we spent a day singing along with popular songs. The teacher handed out an individual piece of paper to each student which held the lyrics on it, then they passed them down to return to her as she handed out the next paper for the next song. I had a thought that it would be much faster, and would save trees, if it was set up on a PowerPoint and shown on the projector. Just click next and you’re ready to go without hassle unless your computer should randomly explode.
But then I began to think. With the paper, the kids were seated rather lazily, some facing towards the front, some a bit to the side, looking down and singing rather comfortably. With a projector, the kids would have to all be staring at the same spot on the wall at the same time. The upwards angle would be no better for their posture (or their throats) than being hunched down. And while, yes, you’d be able to see rather clearly if anyone isn’t really paying attention since they would probably not be looking at the words, would it really be better for the kids? What about those with vision difficulties? Should you hand out a piece of paper to them? Which will make other kids want to read off of paper, and by the time all of that is sorted out you might as well stay with handing out papers to all of the kids.
So, when is it truly best to upgrade to a more modern use of technology (such as putting the lyrics to songs on the projector), and when is it best to stay ‘old fashioned’ (just handing out pieces of paper to the students to read off of individually)?
And is there really any sort of definite answer to it?
Adding Technology to the Music Classroom
I found this site (or specifically, the PDF) to have an interesting and useful list of technological things that could be added to a music classroom. If I actually happened to find myself at a school able to afford them and genuinely concerned about the wellfare of its music program.
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