Don't Stop the Music or the Learning!
Future Goals
The most difficult aspect of having a chapter end is trying to deduce what will come next in the story. After I complete the Master of Arts in Educational Technology (MAET) program, my goals will be more refined than when I began. While I don't claim to be an expert in technology, my goals have shifted to include more precise expectations for myself and for my students. In addition, I plan to be more willing to give technology its due process before implementing it or before writing it off for my classes. As I look to the future, I realize that I will concentrate on the following:
- Write grants to receive musical technology in my school district
- Continue incorporating technology that is important for my program
- Become a voice for music education and share ideas utilizing technology
- Continue to analyze, test and try out new technology in class
Write grants to get the technology I want!
http://oregonmts.com/summer_08.html
It's very easy to complain that my school district does not provide the technology that would be most beneficial for my classroom. Unfortunately, current budgets limit the amount of money that can be spent on programs that are considered "extra" to the curriculum. Since beginning the MAET program, I had the opportunity to explore and research technology that was important to my field. I found a program entitled Smartmusic that seems to be an important and useful program for my band students. I like to say that it is comparable to guitar hero for band instruments. The students are able to play technique studies, their band music, or even solos into a microphone with the rest of the accompaniment playing through the computer. You can alter the speed, and the computer will record the amount of notes you miss during your session. At the end, it tells you the percentage of notes you had correct, shows you the incorrect notes and even shows you how to play the note correctly. I think you can imagine that this is an invaluable tool for a band director, making music fun and also giving students immediate feedback on their playing. I have written a grant to get this tool for my class to no avail, but my goal for the future is to try, try again. The information I've learned in this program has helped me understand how important it is to engage students, and it is my goal to do what I can to receive the technology that is pertinent to my class.
Continue and advance what I'm already doing in class
I am fortunate to be able to share and collaborate with my husband who is also a music teacher. See my reflective essay. Together, we have been able to discover incredibly useful technology to enhance our music programs. One useful technology involves us creating facebook pages for our music programs. This allows us to send out information quickly to parents and students, while also creating a tool to share fun music, videos, and pictures that help our students stay involved. My goal is to get more parents to like the page, share their own information and use the program as a way to promote fundraisers and the band. We have also been using remind101 as a method to send immediate information to students. I currently conduct a middle school jazz band that meets before school, and I find it helpful to use remind101 if there are changes to our schedule. In the future, I'd like to use this with my other classes so students and parents can get texts regarding upcoming concerts, fundraiser deadlines and other class information. Finally, my husband has been learning and incorporating a twitter feed, as well as instagram to accomplish the same goals as the facebook page, but they are both new and fun ways to keep students involved. I would like to incorporate these technologies and increase their potential to reach more people and keep them supporting my program.
Become a voice for music education and share technological ideas
dumage.com
An important lesson I have gained from the masters program at MSU is that there is no shame in spreading and sharing information, or in other words, creating a digital footprint. In the past, I think I've been concerned about people contradicting my thoughts or questioning what I do. I've learned that this is not only an unwarranted concern, but it should be encouraged. We can grow so much by having people question us and force us to explain why we do what we do. It can help us be safer, more professional and can spread the knowledge that we've gained. My goal for the future is to become an advocate for the use of social media and technology in the music classroom. My husband and I have been putting ideas together to present a session at the next Michigan Music Conference in which music educators attend. Our website has been taking different social media programs and explaining how we use them to improve our classes. Sharing this knowledge can help us explain what we know and also help those who might be wanting a change or update to their program.
Continue to discover new technology
http://cyber-kap.blogspot.com/
I sometimes laugh when I tell people that I'm in an educational technology degree and quip that "schools are still 10 years behind what I'm learning" and "by the time I'm done with the degree, a lot of the technology I've learned will already be obsolete." I know it's a slightly negative way of looking at the current situation, but I think it's an honest estimation at where we are in the world. Technology is moving at an incredibly rapid speed, and schools simply cannot afford to keep up on an annual basis. Therefore, I think it's important for me as a teacher and a life learner to stay up to date on technologies that students are so quick to learn and utilize. In addition, it's important to seek out individuals who are doing the same thing in my field that may have new ideas and technologies to share. It is my job to learn what I can about them, test them on my own, and be creative in my incorporation of those programs. As I stated earlier, programs such as twitter, instagram, and facebook are becoming the new communication tool for younger students, and it's important to use what they know to keep them involved. I feel fortunate that this masters program forced me to analyze technology programs and create projects on them, even if it was a struggle and not something I might use again. I gained an important lesson in giving each technology a full test before deeming it good or bad. I have begun to realize, however, that as soon as I become complacent with the technology I know and love, the more my students will pass me by with their knowledge.