Today was wonderful! I LOVE Pinterest! What a great visual tool for cataloging important youtube links, websites, and documents. I now have four pinterest boards; Music Education and the Common Core, 7th Grade General Music, 6th Grade General Music, and 5th Grade General Music. This will be a great tool to use with students for "in class" work as well as "out-of-class" work.
I am excited tomorrow to start a pinterest "chorus" page. I would like to include exemplar youtubes as well as on-line voice lessons.
I am also anxious to find more resources on music education and the common core. Hopefully the creation of a twitter page will help in my search for the latest thoughts regarding this important topic.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Summary of Wednesday
I'm not completely sure on a final project.
I spent a lot of time today on becoming familiar with "diigo." I have a fairly organized account now with website addresses for 5th, 6th, 7th grade general music, chorus, and professional affiliations. This convenience will save me a great amount of time in daily lesson plans.
I also spent considerable time looking for music composition sites that would be used by my general music classes to create simple ABA and Rondo song compositions. I found three good programs, but all come with a financial cost. The free site is one that was on my laptop all along, "MuseScore." I spent time trying to learn the program, but need to spend more in order to determine the program's future success with my students.
I spent a lot of time today on becoming familiar with "diigo." I have a fairly organized account now with website addresses for 5th, 6th, 7th grade general music, chorus, and professional affiliations. This convenience will save me a great amount of time in daily lesson plans.
I also spent considerable time looking for music composition sites that would be used by my general music classes to create simple ABA and Rondo song compositions. I found three good programs, but all come with a financial cost. The free site is one that was on my laptop all along, "MuseScore." I spent time trying to learn the program, but need to spend more in order to determine the program's future success with my students.
EdCafe Take Away
Video one (chemistry teacher) -
“Student questions are the seed of real learning.”
Curiosity comes first
Embrace the mess
Practice reflection
How will I grow curiosity in my students? Should I be searching for the best compositional tool, or should I be asking my students to do the search? Should I encourage my students to search for answers on their own, rather than spoon feeding them exactly what I want them to know? Given a limited amount of teaching time, how much “searching and exploring” time can you give away before you have lost all of your instructional time? Or, is it okay to not teach the lesson to its fullest, but instead to show students the paths to finding even more lessons, therefore encouraging them to do more compositional work outside of class?
Video 2 - Angellaless Duckworth (math teacher turned psychologist)
Predictor of success - Grit (passion, perseverence, stamina, sticking with your future, working really hard to make your future a reality) “Grit is a marathon, not a sprint.” How do we build grit in kids? How do we build work ethic?
Many talented individuals that do not follow through.
Growth mind set - the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, and it can change with effort and challenge. Failure is not a permanent condition. You have to be willing to fail.
“Grit” is a something that needs to be taught and encouraged from birth by parents, and by our schools. Teachers need to be given the tools to teach this important life skill. We need to be gritty about getting our students grittier.
“Student questions are the seed of real learning.”
Curiosity comes first
Embrace the mess
Practice reflection
How will I grow curiosity in my students? Should I be searching for the best compositional tool, or should I be asking my students to do the search? Should I encourage my students to search for answers on their own, rather than spoon feeding them exactly what I want them to know? Given a limited amount of teaching time, how much “searching and exploring” time can you give away before you have lost all of your instructional time? Or, is it okay to not teach the lesson to its fullest, but instead to show students the paths to finding even more lessons, therefore encouraging them to do more compositional work outside of class?
Video 2 - Angellaless Duckworth (math teacher turned psychologist)
Predictor of success - Grit (passion, perseverence, stamina, sticking with your future, working really hard to make your future a reality) “Grit is a marathon, not a sprint.” How do we build grit in kids? How do we build work ethic?
Many talented individuals that do not follow through.
Growth mind set - the belief that the ability to learn is not fixed, and it can change with effort and challenge. Failure is not a permanent condition. You have to be willing to fail.
“Grit” is a something that needs to be taught and encouraged from birth by parents, and by our schools. Teachers need to be given the tools to teach this important life skill. We need to be gritty about getting our students grittier.
Monday, June 17, 2013
"Seek first to understand, not to be understood."
I really liked Rita Pierson's TEDtalk, and particurally appreciated her advice to "Seek first to understand, not to be understood."
In working with such large groups of students, my instinct is to always begin the school year by making my classroom and performance expectations clear and leaving very little wiggle room in the way of conversation and socializing, student to student as well as teacher to student. While this technique ensures proper classroom behavior and good musical accomplishment, the atmosphere is rather cool, and is reflected as such in the December concert. While the performance is sound, it generally lacks the energy and emotion that is usually demonstrated in the spring concert.
I believe this is because it generally takes me at least a semester to really get to know my students and understand what motivates each chorus. If I focused more at the beginning of the year on building stronger relationships, student to student, and teacher to student, the technical learning might occur more slowly, but by December the performance would ultimately be stronger with the added energy, emotion, and motivation.
In working with such large groups of students, my instinct is to always begin the school year by making my classroom and performance expectations clear and leaving very little wiggle room in the way of conversation and socializing, student to student as well as teacher to student. While this technique ensures proper classroom behavior and good musical accomplishment, the atmosphere is rather cool, and is reflected as such in the December concert. While the performance is sound, it generally lacks the energy and emotion that is usually demonstrated in the spring concert.
I believe this is because it generally takes me at least a semester to really get to know my students and understand what motivates each chorus. If I focused more at the beginning of the year on building stronger relationships, student to student, and teacher to student, the technical learning might occur more slowly, but by December the performance would ultimately be stronger with the added energy, emotion, and motivation.
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