One news feed that I added to IGoogle was entitled The National Association for Music Education. This is a professional educational site run my music educators. This site provides information on professional development workshops, articles on teaching tools for the classroom and ways to find resources such as grants to sponsor music instruments. I joined the above mentioned feed, as all the topics will be useful for my as a music educator. I provided the link below.
http://www.menc.org/news.rss
Another IGoogle Feed I decided to add was the Jazz Education Store. The site has teaching tools to teach students about jazz music such as texts, workbooks, flash cards for use in the classroom. This will be a useful feed for me as it will provide me with update information and methods to teach my students the asepcts and compents of Jazz Education. I provided the url below:
http://www.jazzeducationstore.com/rsscategory.sc?categoryId
The next feed I decided to join was called Mouse Breaker. This site provided a place to find educational interactive games music games. This is a great way to make teaching aspects of music education more engaging and interactive for students. I joined this feed to know to keep up to date with latest and most interactive music theory games for my students. I provided the link below.
http://www.mousebreaker.com/feeds/latest
This news feed provides information on how to develop lesson plans and lesson plans ideas for all subjects including music education. I joined this site is it be used to give ideas and sample lesson plans for teaching aspects of a music curriculum.
http://www.lessonplanet.com/articles/feeds
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Anti Teaching
Now in the process of completing my program in Educational and Media, I have been more awakened on how out of touch today’s teaching is with the 21st century learners in the classroom. Since I entered into this program I have learned that I need to change my thinking and mindset about my students. Today’s 21st century learners are digital natives in that they live by technology at many facets of their life everyday. Thus, as a teacher one must tape what kids know best, which is technology, if one truly wants to engage one’s students. If one takes the time to do such a thing, then lessons can become interdisciplinary lessons, in that the core concepts can be taught while infusing technology. This allows for brain-based learning and uses multiple intelligence, which is how students learn, retain and make deeper connections to material being taught. Thus, based on what I have learned and said, our how info-structure for education needs to be revamped.
Since I have started my program at Full Sail I find myself online looking at the growing number of online schools that are doing what I have learned through the courses of haven taken so far in my program. As a teacher, I always strive to find a learning environment that fits the needs of my learners so that optimal learning taking places everyday in the classroom. I find be having this mindset as a teacher, it makes your as a teacher to have a more important goal then just teaching for the test.
In my sixth year of teaching, I find that there is a huge disconnect between what students learn and why the students have to learn the material they are being taught. For myself being a music teacher, I find that students hear the end product of artists performing songs on the radio. However, my students do not see the training and practice that it takes to become a famous musician. For example, my students do not understand why they need to practice so many hours on their instrument, or why they have to learn how to read music to be the next famous artist on the radio. Furthermore, I have many students who take my general music classes that this class does not count. The students feel this way because they do not test on music on the state test. I think this example shows how education is focused on just taking state tests and not the needs of 21st century learners. Our schools have be so focused on taking the state tests, that students are starting to not value specialty classes, such as music or art. However, multiple intelligences make a strong argument that students need more of the creative subject areas, as students need to ability to apply knowledge and novelty and creative ways such as music and art. Furthermore, I have colleges of mine telling me that after lessons students ask, “Will they ask us to do this on the test?”
I had the ability to redesign my school for 21st century learners it would need to be more then infusing technology into the classroom based on what I stated above on how 21st century students learn. I would change the instructional approach the use a blend of Project-based learning, collaboration and critical thinking skills with the use of technology.
In the article entitled Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance”, Michael Wesch says, Students – our most important critics – are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education”. I feel that this statement reinforces my earlier comment about students just seeing learning material as something needed to pass a test. I could not agree with Mr. Wesch more in that students do not understand the goal of school is not passing a state test. Students are not understanding how to take the knowledge their learn into the classroom and apply it to their life.
For example students learn how to do addition and subtraction for a test but students do not realize how addition and subtraction can be used later in life to balance a checkbook, or make sure their paycheck gave them the correct salary. In this classroom, I have found that showing students how that can apply their knowledge of rhythm to compose a song using similar rhythms that made other musicians famous. Thus why not give students a problem-based lesson where students have to produce their own musical within a fixed budget. This lesson still uses addition and subtraction skills to complete the assignment. However incorporating this project reinforces the math skills taught while creating a problem based lesson.
After infusing problem based learned into my school I would focus on would be collaboration. In my classes I have taken so far I have been exposed to one very useful tool for collaboration, which is IGoogle Documents. This is something I would infuse into my school. This is a tool for to provide peer feedback and help to their fellow classmates create and write projects at the same time. This is important for students to learn as their future jobs we ask and demand for them to work in a group for various work related functions.
The last item I would focus of my school would be on creating students with focus on fostering critical thinking skills. I know I have friends that complain that students graduate school and get a job and then look for the cookie cutter approach to solve job related responsibilities. To be honest, part of the blame should be placed on the school systems. Schools are so worried about students marking the correct answers on tests, that no one is asking the students “why”. Schools are not taking the time to task students why is that the correct answer. Rather schools are more focused on what is the correct answer. Thus students are not developing critical thinking skills in order to be able to find out why something is not correct and how to solve the problem.
Since I have started my program at Full Sail I find myself online looking at the growing number of online schools that are doing what I have learned through the courses of haven taken so far in my program. As a teacher, I always strive to find a learning environment that fits the needs of my learners so that optimal learning taking places everyday in the classroom. I find be having this mindset as a teacher, it makes your as a teacher to have a more important goal then just teaching for the test.
In my sixth year of teaching, I find that there is a huge disconnect between what students learn and why the students have to learn the material they are being taught. For myself being a music teacher, I find that students hear the end product of artists performing songs on the radio. However, my students do not see the training and practice that it takes to become a famous musician. For example, my students do not understand why they need to practice so many hours on their instrument, or why they have to learn how to read music to be the next famous artist on the radio. Furthermore, I have many students who take my general music classes that this class does not count. The students feel this way because they do not test on music on the state test. I think this example shows how education is focused on just taking state tests and not the needs of 21st century learners. Our schools have be so focused on taking the state tests, that students are starting to not value specialty classes, such as music or art. However, multiple intelligences make a strong argument that students need more of the creative subject areas, as students need to ability to apply knowledge and novelty and creative ways such as music and art. Furthermore, I have colleges of mine telling me that after lessons students ask, “Will they ask us to do this on the test?”
I had the ability to redesign my school for 21st century learners it would need to be more then infusing technology into the classroom based on what I stated above on how 21st century students learn. I would change the instructional approach the use a blend of Project-based learning, collaboration and critical thinking skills with the use of technology.
In the article entitled Anti-Teaching: Confronting the Crisis of Significance”, Michael Wesch says, Students – our most important critics – are struggling to find meaning and significance in their education”. I feel that this statement reinforces my earlier comment about students just seeing learning material as something needed to pass a test. I could not agree with Mr. Wesch more in that students do not understand the goal of school is not passing a state test. Students are not understanding how to take the knowledge their learn into the classroom and apply it to their life.
For example students learn how to do addition and subtraction for a test but students do not realize how addition and subtraction can be used later in life to balance a checkbook, or make sure their paycheck gave them the correct salary. In this classroom, I have found that showing students how that can apply their knowledge of rhythm to compose a song using similar rhythms that made other musicians famous. Thus why not give students a problem-based lesson where students have to produce their own musical within a fixed budget. This lesson still uses addition and subtraction skills to complete the assignment. However incorporating this project reinforces the math skills taught while creating a problem based lesson.
After infusing problem based learned into my school I would focus on would be collaboration. In my classes I have taken so far I have been exposed to one very useful tool for collaboration, which is IGoogle Documents. This is something I would infuse into my school. This is a tool for to provide peer feedback and help to their fellow classmates create and write projects at the same time. This is important for students to learn as their future jobs we ask and demand for them to work in a group for various work related functions.
The last item I would focus of my school would be on creating students with focus on fostering critical thinking skills. I know I have friends that complain that students graduate school and get a job and then look for the cookie cutter approach to solve job related responsibilities. To be honest, part of the blame should be placed on the school systems. Schools are so worried about students marking the correct answers on tests, that no one is asking the students “why”. Schools are not taking the time to task students why is that the correct answer. Rather schools are more focused on what is the correct answer. Thus students are not developing critical thinking skills in order to be able to find out why something is not correct and how to solve the problem.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Web 2.0 Tools
http://www.go2web20.net/app/?a=TubeRadio_fm
I choose to use ITubeRadio.fm is a web application that I would utilize in the classroom with my students. I feel that this tool will be very useful for myself being a music teacher. First, this tool would be useful for my in teaching music rhythm to my students. I can utilize this tool as I can use current songs on the radio to show students how rhythms taught, are utilized in by artist on the radio. Therefore students will see why learning how to read and write rhythm is use to compose music that is heard on today on the radio. Therefore, using Tube Radio to play demonstrations of rhythms on radio taught in class, gives students a s real life application on why one needs to learn how to read music rhythm.
Secondly using ITube Radio can teach students music genres can be combined to remix and make new version of an older song. For example, Naz has a song out on the radio that my students listen to all the time. However, in the background of the song I discovered that part of Beethoven's Fur Elise is used in Naz's song. Therefore, I can use ITube Radio to play Naz's song, to show students how learning about classical music helped Naz create his HIp-Hop Song. Again, using this web 2.0 tools creates another great real life application for why students need to learn about other musical styles besides rap or hip-hop music.
Lastly, ITube Radio can be used to show how images can be used to convey the message of a song. ITube Radio allows you to search songs by Discography Search. This is another great way i can use ITube Radio with my students. This feature can allow me to search musicians by their music videos. I can use this to search music videos that I think demonstrate various musical elements. For example I can search an artist how is a great player of a particular element of music, such as writing music with a positive message. Naz has another song out entitled "I Can". This would be a great music video I give students as a demonstration on how Hip-Hop music can be used to convey a positive message and still become famous and played on the radio. Also, I can play a music video of to demonstrate how a message in the lyrics of the songs is reflected through the music video. For example, below is a picture for example of Jimmy Hendrik performing his music video. This could be used to describe how African Americans not only influenced Hip-Hop music but also Rock and Roll Music.
Educational Uses for Blogs
The idea of learning how to blog is something I have limited experience in using myself. I feel that Blogs are a simple and fast way to share information to a wide range of people at one time. Therefore, I feel that the first great educational use for blogging, is to convey and provide information from teacher to students. Teachers can use blogging to provide information for resources for students to complete homework assignments, and post tutorials for students to learn how to utilize new types of technology tools. This is important as students will be expected to be up to speed with technology, as the job market will demand our future students to utilize technology. For example, teachers can provide links to self tutorials on their blog spot for students on how to use comic level or second life.
Secondly, blogging can be a way for teachers to allow students to have discussions and collaborate with one another to complete an assignment. For example, students can use blogging in literature class. In literature class, students can help each other discover hidden meanings or main ideas of story lines by blogging to one another other on what they interpreted to be the main idea of a story.
Lastly, I think blogging can be used for students to post resources and websites that they found useful when helping them complete homework assignments or class projects. For example, a students can blog on a great educational website they found when researching an answer to a homework assignment. Thus, this would allow other students to discover a valuable tool to tape into when completing their assignment.
To sum it up, I think the main use of blogging is to provide to ability for students to share, discuss and embark on more knowledge then the would be working in isolation. I think all my educational uses, I thought of for blogging, center around this main overarching theme.
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