I feel a lot like my students. I get online to research what other music teachers are doing with technology and I get distracted by all the information I find. Before I know, I’ve lost rack of time, where I started and what I was originally looking for. But none the less, progress is being made on my GAME plan.
As for finding information and resources, I am finding some. Don’t get me wrong, there is a great deal of resources available for technology integration in the music classroom. The difficult part is finding what I can afford or what is already available to me and how to use it affectively in a predominantly performance-based classroom. I feel a little backwards from what Dr. Ross suggested in our DVD this week. Dr. Ross said that educators must first identify the learning objectives then determine the teaching method to express those objectives and then follow it up with a supportive technology. (Laureate, 2009) Part of me feels like I must first find the technology and then find a way to adapt it to what is being taught. Backwards, yes, but it is how I feel right now. But none the less, I did make a new discovery this week. While searching for lesson plans to integrate music and film into a lesson for my piano students, I came across free webinars (yes free!) by www.sweetwater.com for music teachers on integrating technology in the music classroom. I signed up for one immediately! So I am finding resources. Now my backwards challenge is to get them integrated into my regular lessons.
I don’t feel like I need to modify my GAME plan at this time. My goals are still to integrate technology into my classroom on a regular basis. If anything needs to change it may need to be my time table for implementing my goals. While I am trying hard to replace one strategy before the end of the nine weeks, I’m realizing that with four performances to prepare for within the first 12 days of December, there is little time to change gears. But I am looking at how to integrate some new techniques as everyone is preparing for new music at the start of the new year.
To date, I feel I have learned some new things. Aside from the few new programs I have discovered, I’m still trying to find that magic balance between rehearsal and technology. This weeks’ discussion helped when I was able to remember using Audacity and my digital recorder to record rehearsals. So I am learning, but it has been slower than I anticipated.
No new questions have popped up either. It is a fine balance between preparing for a concert, teaching the needed concepts to rehearse the music for that concert and integrate technology all at the same time.
I have come to realize that in my heart of hearts, I’m a general music teacher who loves to put on performances. The two usually don't go together. In a general music class, there is time to build projects, do research and reach beyond the “box”. But in a middle school performance-based class, rehearsal suffers in that kind of environment. It’s not an excuse, it’s just a balance I am still trying to find. But I’m getting closer!
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Integrating Technology Across the Content Areas. Baltimore: Author.
3 comments:
I feel similar to you in that I feel that my game plan does not need modified but the change that is taking place is very gradual. In addition you are certainly correct about all of the information. I too get overwhelmed with ideas when surrounded by the ideas of others. The need to find a balance is likely something that all of us are experiencing.
It is indeed a busy time of year and it is hard to manage all of the many things we need to accomplish. Kerry, as you said, it does almost seem like at times you kind of have to work backwards and see how the technology fits into our schedules. Let's face it, we don't always have the best situations with time and tools (some are very expensive as you mentioned) but we are all doing our best to expose our students to technology; a definite step in the right direction!
It amazes me the shift that has happened in my thinking since a year ago when I started these Walden courses. You said it best when you said that "we are all doing our best to expose our students to technology..." I now think it the mode of technology when I am preparing a new lesson or have to develop an RtI plan. How can technology be used here? and so on. It has been good to see how technology can play such a role in our student's lives. As more technology becomes accessible and our students have more classroom access, we will begin to see the difference it can make in their lives and their future. It's a little like we are technology pioneers even though what we are pioneering is not new. None the less, we are all taking steps in the right direction.
Post a Comment