I never dreamed I would be exposed to so many different tools and actually be able to "master" (at least to some degree) some of them when I started this class. I signed up because I knew it would "force" me to go through these tools and that through the process I would become somewhat more "literate" on the web! Yeah!! Mission accomplished!!
Now the challenge for me is to continue learning and experimenting, not being afraid to try new things and to implement at least one or two of these "things" in my classroom and/or personal life. The ones that I want to try to use are Google Docs and Google Reader.
The most challenging part of that for me is to be confident and to take the time to play around with a new "tool" in order to set up a new "system".
Right now I feel like I've just been to a banquet with many delicious foods being served, but I've been rushed through each "course" and only taken a few bites. What I'd really like to do is to choose several of the foods and eat a whole meal of that food!
All in all, this has been so amazing and helpful for me and has helped clear up some of the fog in my brain about many of the web tools that are available. And at least now I know where to go to find answers and help in utilizing them in my profession! And I will be ready to sign up for another discovery class like this in the future!
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Thing - #23 Ning Network
The last "thing"! I think these "things" are finally clicking with me! I feel like this last exploration into another web 2.0 tool has caused it all to make more sense to me and brought everything together.
I definitely can see how the use of a Ning network could benefit me professionally in my pursuit of excellence as an educator. Searching through the comments of other educators really pricks my brain and stimulates thoughts in many areas. I found a Music Techie Teachers network that had interesting posts on Garage Band ( a tool we've used in choir for recording). I would like to use this more and it was interesting to see that it is so widely used in music classes. I also found an interesting music theory project that could possibly be useful.
Another use for a Ning network could be our TFME group (Texas Future Music Educators) or our Region 3 choir directors. Again, I can see that email is cumbersome at times compared to some of these new tools.
In my personal and family life, my husband and I enjoy running and have been in quite a few 5k and 10k races. It would be fun to set up a Ning network for runners or sprint triathletes (I've been in a few sprint triathlons) - or to narrow that to educators that are runners!
Visit 23 Thingsters
I definitely can see how the use of a Ning network could benefit me professionally in my pursuit of excellence as an educator. Searching through the comments of other educators really pricks my brain and stimulates thoughts in many areas. I found a Music Techie Teachers network that had interesting posts on Garage Band ( a tool we've used in choir for recording). I would like to use this more and it was interesting to see that it is so widely used in music classes. I also found an interesting music theory project that could possibly be useful.
Another use for a Ning network could be our TFME group (Texas Future Music Educators) or our Region 3 choir directors. Again, I can see that email is cumbersome at times compared to some of these new tools.
In my personal and family life, my husband and I enjoy running and have been in quite a few 5k and 10k races. It would be fun to set up a Ning network for runners or sprint triathletes (I've been in a few sprint triathlons) - or to narrow that to educators that are runners!
Visit 23 Thingsters
Thing #22 - Facebook
Well I finally joined Facebook! I know it's about time and probably I've been resisting due to the "time sucking" machine that it is!
I'm glad I was required to for this class so that I would have that "push" to do it. I know it's important as an educator to be current on what my students are doing, and also as a parent to keep up with my children! The funny thing is, though, that most of MY age friends, coworkers, and people I go to church with are the ones that are so wrapped up in Facebook!!
Educational uses and applications?? I'm not sure about this one! I can see students really getting bogged down in the social aspect. How many are really on Facebook to get help with a homework assignment?? I think a wiki or a blog would be a better tool for collaboration and communication for a class.
What do I like about Facebook and what insights did I gain? I like the options for privacy settings. I would prefer not to have the entire universe able to search for me. I do like the ability to communicate quickly with a lot of people if there is something going on that I want my friends to know about -- (i.e. trips, graduations, weddings)
I think Facebook has the most useful features. I think more of the communication is "appropriate" than on MySpace. I also liked the ability to upload pictures quickly and easily.
The whole concept of these social networks blows my mind! It is important to understand the ramifications of this in our students' lives - truly their way of approaching learning, relating to people, and communicating is totally influenced by this!
I'm glad I was required to for this class so that I would have that "push" to do it. I know it's important as an educator to be current on what my students are doing, and also as a parent to keep up with my children! The funny thing is, though, that most of MY age friends, coworkers, and people I go to church with are the ones that are so wrapped up in Facebook!!
Educational uses and applications?? I'm not sure about this one! I can see students really getting bogged down in the social aspect. How many are really on Facebook to get help with a homework assignment?? I think a wiki or a blog would be a better tool for collaboration and communication for a class.
What do I like about Facebook and what insights did I gain? I like the options for privacy settings. I would prefer not to have the entire universe able to search for me. I do like the ability to communicate quickly with a lot of people if there is something going on that I want my friends to know about -- (i.e. trips, graduations, weddings)
I think Facebook has the most useful features. I think more of the communication is "appropriate" than on MySpace. I also liked the ability to upload pictures quickly and easily.
The whole concept of these social networks blows my mind! It is important to understand the ramifications of this in our students' lives - truly their way of approaching learning, relating to people, and communicating is totally influenced by this!
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Thing #7B - Google Reader Revisited
One of the blogs that I have been following on my Google Reader is of particular interest to me. This particular post,"Where's the Art in Autism Education?(& the music too)" is written by a mom and professor, whose son is autistic. I think this particularly interests me because there has been quite a bit of research and interest in the effects of music on children with special needs. She tells how her son's education is missing an important ingredient - that of exposure to and experience in the arts. She would love to see those more integrated into his "basics". I thoroughly agree, not just in the case of an autistic child, but with all children. Music provides a way to reach children in a way that nothing else can and in this case, although the child is not able to read words, he can read music. What a challenge and opportunity for us as music educators to learn how to reach those children with special needs and to instill a love of music to help them through the many challenges that they face!
Thing #21 - Google web tools
I explored several of these google tools, and decided to set up a Google Calendar and Google Alert. My calendar is for my husband to keep up with all of our personal "comings and goings" and also some job related stuff that I have going on this month. I am such a calendar nerd! We all tend to live by them in my family, so this will be a very helpful personal tool. I think I will also use it for my colleagues to keep up with my busy schedule during the school year. And of course, this would work for our "choir calendar" to share with students and parents.
The Google Alerts that I set up are for the Texas Rangers Baseball team and the Van Cliburn Piano Competition - two items of interest to me! I definitely think that on a professional level keeping up with news events for my field as well as education in general is very important. Google Alerts is good for people like me that don't have time to sit down and scan a newspaper or magazine, but can be up to date on information relating to a specific subject, team, competition, or specific event. This will be very useful!
The Google Alerts that I set up are for the Texas Rangers Baseball team and the Van Cliburn Piano Competition - two items of interest to me! I definitely think that on a professional level keeping up with news events for my field as well as education in general is very important. Google Alerts is good for people like me that don't have time to sit down and scan a newspaper or magazine, but can be up to date on information relating to a specific subject, team, competition, or specific event. This will be very useful!
Thing #20 - Google Docs
I have had a little exposure to Google Docs at a training session at Poteet last year, but had not really experimented and put it to use, but had thought of many ways to implement it. In working directly with and actually "co-teaching" with 2 other choir directors this "thing" will eliminate all of our messy email attachments that actually get really confusing when we are constantly editing and updating information. Last year when we were preparing our NYC trip packet, I was confused on several occasions as to which was the most recently edited version! With Google Docs we can all make corrections and changes as we need to without the confusion. Another use would be for the uniform check out process that I am responsible for, but at times the other directors need to update or change information as students drop or add choir, change sizes, etc. I think it could also be useful in preparing our programs - one director prepares the document, and the others can proof it and edit without emailing the attachment back and forth. Wow! This would save a lot of hassle! The spreadsheet that I prepared is a roster for my piano studio next fall. I have 2 assistant teachers that work with me and they can edit and collaborate with me on this.
Finally, I prepared a document to use in my choir classes next fall. It's basically a "Welcome to Choir" and" answer basic questions so I can get to know you" questionaire. I put in a link to our choir website so the students can also "get to know the directors" and get in the habit of checking the website for updates and information. Again, each of the directors would be able to update information, collaborate, and make changes as necessary on this document! I love this "thing"!
Finally, I prepared a document to use in my choir classes next fall. It's basically a "Welcome to Choir" and" answer basic questions so I can get to know you" questionaire. I put in a link to our choir website so the students can also "get to know the directors" and get in the habit of checking the website for updates and information. Again, each of the directors would be able to update information, collaborate, and make changes as necessary on this document! I love this "thing"!
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Thing #19 - VoiceThreads
I looked at several Voicethreads and was interested to find out about this tool as I had not been familiar with it before. One that I explored gave ideas for "bellwork", the concept of students having an assignment as they come in the classroom while the teacher is taking care of "housekeeping" duties. This was intriguing to me as we have Theory packets in choir that students do as they come in the room. I'm not sure if the VoiceThread would work for this or not, but I think if there was a way to incorporate it, the students would definitely be more motivated and engaged
in learning. The Web 2.0 Promises and Potentials VoiceThread that I had seen before was such a statistical reminder that our students truly "think" and "learn" in a totally technological way and we as educators by necessity need to utilize the tools that are available.
I think of all of the "things" so far, this one is the most difficult to adapt to a fine arts classroom. Maybe I need to do a little more "sampling" or hear comments from other fine arts teachers who have used Voicethreads, to stimulate my creativity as to how to use them in my own classroom.
I could see them being helpful for a department "meeting" instead of an actual face to face meeting or a conference call, all participants could make comments and viewing and listening to the information being presented.
in learning. The Web 2.0 Promises and Potentials VoiceThread that I had seen before was such a statistical reminder that our students truly "think" and "learn" in a totally technological way and we as educators by necessity need to utilize the tools that are available.
I think of all of the "things" so far, this one is the most difficult to adapt to a fine arts classroom. Maybe I need to do a little more "sampling" or hear comments from other fine arts teachers who have used Voicethreads, to stimulate my creativity as to how to use them in my own classroom.
I could see them being helpful for a department "meeting" instead of an actual face to face meeting or a conference call, all participants could make comments and viewing and listening to the information being presented.
Thing # 18 - YouTube
Searching through YouTube for music videos is something that we as musicians, especially choir directors, do frequently! I enjoyed my "required" searches for this class, however, and found a few extra tools along the way that I know will help make my future searches quicker!
I chose to search for High School choir videos, and actually found one of our Poteet Choirs from 2007! I also put in a search for college choirs, and then specifically, UNT, my alma mater, and found a great chamber performance of "Jesu Dulcis Memoria". I also searched for videos on family vacations, since that is on my mind right now - and found an interesting video on a BEACH vacation in Lido, Florida. My "how to" video "find" was the "Iowa City High Freshman Concert Choir Rehearsal". I'm always looking for tips to teach sightreading to beginning groups and YouTube offers resources for this. However, you have to be careful as some of the choirs obviously, do not have the "polish" and quality that I'm wanting to "model" in my choirs!
Finally, I searched through worship music as I am often using YouTube for new ideas and songs at my church. Since I seem to be having a "beach/mountain" theme this summer, I chose this video!
I chose to search for High School choir videos, and actually found one of our Poteet Choirs from 2007! I also put in a search for college choirs, and then specifically, UNT, my alma mater, and found a great chamber performance of "Jesu Dulcis Memoria". I also searched for videos on family vacations, since that is on my mind right now - and found an interesting video on a BEACH vacation in Lido, Florida. My "how to" video "find" was the "Iowa City High Freshman Concert Choir Rehearsal". I'm always looking for tips to teach sightreading to beginning groups and YouTube offers resources for this. However, you have to be careful as some of the choirs obviously, do not have the "polish" and quality that I'm wanting to "model" in my choirs!
Finally, I searched through worship music as I am often using YouTube for new ideas and songs at my church. Since I seem to be having a "beach/mountain" theme this summer, I chose this video!
Monday, July 6, 2009
Thing #17 - podcasts
I was anxious to get to this "thing" since my son is constantly talking about several Christian podcasts that he subscribes to. I explored several of the educational podcast sites and found some that I think would be useful in my field. One that especially fascinated me was the Cranbrook Composers' Podcasts. This is an excellent tool to encourage musical creativity in middle school students set up by a fine arts teacher. Through The Tech Teachers I found a podcast for music lessons. This could be a tool to aid students and teachers in their search for additional instruction on a specific instrument. I like the feature of the continual updating of information through podcast subscriptions.
In my field we already are using many forms of this such as digital recording of students testing to "pass off" on our contest music and sightreading. We also frequently post mp3 files of music we are currently learning on our website. In my church worship ministry we also use alot of these features such as mp3 files of music for upcoming worship services and for teaching new songs to the congregation.
Perhaps another use for this "thing" could be for clinicians at TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) and TCDA (Texas Choral Directors Association) to podcast sessions from our conventions so that we as music educators would be able to hear sessions at our convenience and leisure rather than trying to "absorb" all of it while we're at these conventions. We would also be able to "re - listen" to the sessions as needed!
In my field we already are using many forms of this such as digital recording of students testing to "pass off" on our contest music and sightreading. We also frequently post mp3 files of music we are currently learning on our website. In my church worship ministry we also use alot of these features such as mp3 files of music for upcoming worship services and for teaching new songs to the congregation.
Perhaps another use for this "thing" could be for clinicians at TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) and TCDA (Texas Choral Directors Association) to podcast sessions from our conventions so that we as music educators would be able to hear sessions at our convenience and leisure rather than trying to "absorb" all of it while we're at these conventions. We would also be able to "re - listen" to the sessions as needed!
Thing #16 - LibraryThing
Being an avid reader and since reading is one of my favorite things to do in the summer, exploring "LibraryThing" was very interesting to me. I did several searches that I thought would be applicable to my class -- "composers" (narrowed it down to "Bach"), "piano", and "choirs". I was surprised to find that not only did it give me a very extensive listing of books on each of these subjects, but also listed actual music. What a helpful resource! Several ways that I would use this would be to assign students who are researching and writing reports on composers for extra classroom work, or to make up assignments for missing a performance, or simply to find out more about a piece that we are working on to find resources quickly. Another way would be to use it to find repertoire for a specific composer or music history period or style.
In my personal life I think the 50 Book Challenge would be a fun tool to use as a family since we are all avid readers! I could even see us involving our extended family in this. My two sisters and I have 14 children between the three of us! I also enjoyed seeing a book, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, listed on the "25 Most Reviewed List" when I explored Zeitgeist. I "randomly" bought this book at Half Price Books and read it earlier this summer!!
It was an easy read and very thought provoking. I can see why it's on the list!
What a great and very easy to use tool this is! I definitely will explore it further and use it again!
In my personal life I think the 50 Book Challenge would be a fun tool to use as a family since we are all avid readers! I could even see us involving our extended family in this. My two sisters and I have 14 children between the three of us! I also enjoyed seeing a book, The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold, listed on the "25 Most Reviewed List" when I explored Zeitgeist. I "randomly" bought this book at Half Price Books and read it earlier this summer!!
It was an easy read and very thought provoking. I can see why it's on the list!
What a great and very easy to use tool this is! I definitely will explore it further and use it again!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Thing #15 - Wiki Sandcastles
Playing in this sandbox was quite an experience! I'm glad I was forewarned about all of the steps!
What a unique tool this is for communicating information, sharing pictures, collaborating, and organizing data! I really loved it and had fun setting up my page. I enjoyed expressing myself creatively in this way and can see this as a very useful means of communicating in a classroom or as a department. I usually introduce myself to my choirs at the beginning of each school year and try to share a little about myself personally with my students through a collage or a "me bag". Maybe this fall I'll use a wiki page instead!
I also brainstormed about uses for this in my church worship ministries that I'm involved in. We collaborate on worship planning and a wiki would be so much less cumbersome than emails!
I really liked visiting the other wiki pages of my classmates and reading the "burning questions" - quite thought provoking! Of all of the "things" so far this is definitely the one that I spent the most time on, by nature of the assignment, but also, because I found myself wanting to be more creative and it was really fun to experiment and play in the sandbox! After all, building sandcastles is so much fun!
What a unique tool this is for communicating information, sharing pictures, collaborating, and organizing data! I really loved it and had fun setting up my page. I enjoyed expressing myself creatively in this way and can see this as a very useful means of communicating in a classroom or as a department. I usually introduce myself to my choirs at the beginning of each school year and try to share a little about myself personally with my students through a collage or a "me bag". Maybe this fall I'll use a wiki page instead!
I also brainstormed about uses for this in my church worship ministries that I'm involved in. We collaborate on worship planning and a wiki would be so much less cumbersome than emails!
I really liked visiting the other wiki pages of my classmates and reading the "burning questions" - quite thought provoking! Of all of the "things" so far this is definitely the one that I spent the most time on, by nature of the assignment, but also, because I found myself wanting to be more creative and it was really fun to experiment and play in the sandbox! After all, building sandcastles is so much fun!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Thing #14 - Wikis
My exploration of the various wikis lead me to quite a wide range of types and educational levels which I felt would give me a broad range of ideas to get my brain going on how I might implement the use of wikis in my own professional and personal life.
I'll start with my favorite one, a Salute to Seuss. This was a special project for a specific purpose during a specific time period (4 months). The ultimate result and culmination of the project was for all participants to participate in a "read along" using Skype on October 22 to celebrate "Seuss Day".
The features included a slideshow, worksheets, and specific standards broken down by grades. Although geared toward kindergarten through 6th graders, this type of special project could easily be adapted to secondary education as well. I would love to try this with my choirs possibly for a UIL competition. We usually work toward this goal for about 4 or 5 months and could use the wiki for various steps along the way such as information/history on the music we're learning, language pronunciation for our foreign language pieces, comments and editing from the students with their input on the progress we're making, information on extra rehearsals, and finally, comments on the other performances that we listen to.
Another wiki that I looked at was the FHS Wolves Den set up by a teacher in a small 1A school district for her classes. It was very elaborate, detailed, and all inclusive - basically, a complete "manual" as it were for her students and parents. This reminded me of what you would find out by coming to open house (meet the teacher night) and reading all of your child's "packet" about a class all rolled into one website! It even had a link to the school website as well as a link to email the teacher, not to mention a link to the town newspaper! This type of wiki would be an excellent tool for me in my profession to replace our "Choir Handbook" which basically encompasses our calendar, grading policies, performance policies, uniform requirements, and all general information for the year.
Finally, I explored a 6th grade classroom wiki - Room 15 wiki. This was more user friendly and organized in a more basic way, obviously, to be more readable and usable and to invite more editing and commenting from 6th grade students and their parents. It had sidebar links to information for assignments and classroom information. I think if I were to set up a wiki for my class I would start with a more basic format as this one, rather than the more complex one such as the FHS Wolves Den that I discussed above.
I'll start with my favorite one, a Salute to Seuss. This was a special project for a specific purpose during a specific time period (4 months). The ultimate result and culmination of the project was for all participants to participate in a "read along" using Skype on October 22 to celebrate "Seuss Day".
The features included a slideshow, worksheets, and specific standards broken down by grades. Although geared toward kindergarten through 6th graders, this type of special project could easily be adapted to secondary education as well. I would love to try this with my choirs possibly for a UIL competition. We usually work toward this goal for about 4 or 5 months and could use the wiki for various steps along the way such as information/history on the music we're learning, language pronunciation for our foreign language pieces, comments and editing from the students with their input on the progress we're making, information on extra rehearsals, and finally, comments on the other performances that we listen to.
Another wiki that I looked at was the FHS Wolves Den set up by a teacher in a small 1A school district for her classes. It was very elaborate, detailed, and all inclusive - basically, a complete "manual" as it were for her students and parents. This reminded me of what you would find out by coming to open house (meet the teacher night) and reading all of your child's "packet" about a class all rolled into one website! It even had a link to the school website as well as a link to email the teacher, not to mention a link to the town newspaper! This type of wiki would be an excellent tool for me in my profession to replace our "Choir Handbook" which basically encompasses our calendar, grading policies, performance policies, uniform requirements, and all general information for the year.
Finally, I explored a 6th grade classroom wiki - Room 15 wiki. This was more user friendly and organized in a more basic way, obviously, to be more readable and usable and to invite more editing and commenting from 6th grade students and their parents. It had sidebar links to information for assignments and classroom information. I think if I were to set up a wiki for my class I would start with a more basic format as this one, rather than the more complex one such as the FHS Wolves Den that I discussed above.
Friday, July 3, 2009
Thing #13 - Delicious
Delicious is AMAZING!!! I had so much fun with this! I can think of so many ways to make my life as a choir director and my personal life as well, much easier by using this! It took me a while to figure it all out, but after following the steps in the activities it finally clicked and I realized it is really very "user friendly". I explored a few random sites by doing a search on "High School Choirs" "and "piano" which was interesting but a little too broad and very overwhelming. The High School sites mostly took me to specific high school choir websites, which could be helpful if I was wanting to see how other schools set their web pages up. However, the most helpful way for me to use Delicious will be to tag the websites that I use OFTEN, and that is exactly what I did.
I'm sure that I will be adding to these as I come across other websites that are helpful for me as a choir teacher and will find some sites that my colleagues have found to be useful as well.
Specifically, the Charms website(an office management system specifically designed for music teachers) is indispensible to our choir department at PHS. We use it for literally every operation and organizational system that we have! By tagging this site on delicious I will be able to access it easily and allow others to access it as well. I also tagged the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) and TCDA (Texas Choral Directors Association) websites. The information and functions on these sites are so essential to teaching music in Texas! This will help to keep me updated and informed of legislation concerning the fine arts in Texas and also upcoming clinics, conventions, UIL rules, etc...
I'm anxious to hear how other music educators use delicious to aid them in the multitude of tasks that confront us daily including choosing music, staying current on UIL rules and requirements, rehearsing and preparing for concerts and competitions, teaching theory, and not to mention trips and all that goes along with that! Certainly, anything we can find to help us will be truly DELICIOUS!
Here is the link to my bookmarks for further information: My bookmarks
I'm sure that I will be adding to these as I come across other websites that are helpful for me as a choir teacher and will find some sites that my colleagues have found to be useful as well.
Specifically, the Charms website(an office management system specifically designed for music teachers) is indispensible to our choir department at PHS. We use it for literally every operation and organizational system that we have! By tagging this site on delicious I will be able to access it easily and allow others to access it as well. I also tagged the TMEA (Texas Music Educators Association) and TCDA (Texas Choral Directors Association) websites. The information and functions on these sites are so essential to teaching music in Texas! This will help to keep me updated and informed of legislation concerning the fine arts in Texas and also upcoming clinics, conventions, UIL rules, etc...
I'm anxious to hear how other music educators use delicious to aid them in the multitude of tasks that confront us daily including choosing music, staying current on UIL rules and requirements, rehearsing and preparing for concerts and competitions, teaching theory, and not to mention trips and all that goes along with that! Certainly, anything we can find to help us will be truly DELICIOUS!
Here is the link to my bookmarks for further information: My bookmarks
Thing #6 - Comment on RSS feed
I really enjoyed finding out about the 30 options for finding books DIGITALLY and how to build a digital library! I admit I never really thought about this before. I LOVE to read and usually read several books a summer, as do my children, so this could open up a whole new world of reading for us as a family, and myself, as an individual. On her blog http://macmomma.blogspot.com/2009/06/30-places-to-find-free-books-book.html she lists sites with a wide range of types of books and reading levels for everyone!
I just returned from a trip to the beach, so was especially interested in the audio books and "Beach Reads" on one of her links. (www.amazon.com.) What a great way to interest our students and children in classic literature, novels, history, or whatever THEY might be interested in!
When my children were young we always enrolled in the local library book clubs and summer reading programs. This was how I instilled the love of reading in them. The concept of building a digital library could also instill this love of reading in our students and maybe even build confidence and excitement in students who have not been exposed to a wide range of subjects and have not been surrounded by "readers" in their households as my children have been. Why not branch out to a new world of "storing" books other than literal shelves in a library or book store??? (We can still enjoy the "hard copies" as well !)
I just returned from a trip to the beach, so was especially interested in the audio books and "Beach Reads" on one of her links. (www.amazon.com.) What a great way to interest our students and children in classic literature, novels, history, or whatever THEY might be interested in!
When my children were young we always enrolled in the local library book clubs and summer reading programs. This was how I instilled the love of reading in them. The concept of building a digital library could also instill this love of reading in our students and maybe even build confidence and excitement in students who have not been exposed to a wide range of subjects and have not been surrounded by "readers" in their households as my children have been. Why not branch out to a new world of "storing" books other than literal shelves in a library or book store??? (We can still enjoy the "hard copies" as well !)
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