Reflection, Week 7

            As we have learned during this course, including technology in our daily classroom routines could make our jobs a bit simpler. In this week’s readings, I was happy to read about technology as an organizational tool, and I agree with Bauer when he says staying organized is “essential” in the classroom (2014, p. 169). If we do not keep track of the various aspects of our jobs, it is very easy to fall behind on our responsibilities. There are different ways a teacher can stay organized, including using folders or planners, but digital task management systems are gaining popularity, for they allow teachers to store many aspects of the job in one location, such as the Cloud (2014, p. 169).

            In the Welcome meetings at my new school today, I discovered that the school is transitioning to become a Google Apps for Education (GAFE) school. I was initially intrigued by the OneNote program during this week’s studies, but I think Google is a resource that will provide similar opportunities for my colleagues and me. Within this program, I will be able to store all my teacher documents, including permission slips, take-home letters, music libraries, and instrument inventories. Using Google Classrooms, I may require the students to complete a weekly homework assignment that involves audio or visual recordings of a portion of their practice sessions. They could also complete music history projects with Google Maps and the presentation app. Other apps within Google, such as Google Forms, will help me stay organized while maintaining a paperless environment. Through this app, parents can fill out order forms or contact information forms, and students can complete concert reflections. Communication with parents, colleagues, and community members is crucial for the success of a music program, and digital task management systems, like Google apps, could make communication quicker and easier (Bauer, 2014, p. 171). This system will allow me to create regular newsletters (digital or hard copy) to share important or exciting music news with the public. Any information created through Google can easily be put on a classroom blog or a classroom website, allowing the public to access it at any time.

            Google apps will be a great resource because it allows consistency in programs among teachers and students, which will allow for ease in instruction and an increase in understanding between both parties. I am excited about the opportunities that Google provides for my classroom, and I am anxious to see it implemented at our school!

Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing,

            and Responding to Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Week 7: OneNote

            When we, as educators, first begin our undergraduate journeys toward a degree in education, we dream about working with students and increasing their knowledge each day. What we do not dream about is the mounds of paperwork that come with the job. OneNote is an organizational resource designed for the classroom that aims to improve this aspect of a teacher’s job. When first experimenting with OneNote, it is clear that it is a great all-around resource. Some features included are a synced calendar, a sharing feature through Outlook, and a grouping option called Notebooks (for classes or units). While these and other features are exciting and intriguing to me, the lesson plan template feature is my favorite.

            OneNote provides several template options that teachers can choose from when creating daily lesson plans. These templates can be filled in and saved to the Cloud, allowing educators to be organized and detailed in their planning. If teachers so choose, they can create their own templates through OneNote. If it was necessary for a teacher to provide plans for a substitute, the sharing feature (through e-mail) would allow for the lesson plans to be shared with the principal, substitute, and/or students.

Video: Enhancing productivity with OneNote

Creating detailed lesson plans for my rehearsals has become a weakness of mine. I always have a general idea regarding what concepts need to be worked on each day, but I am a poor planner regarding warm-ups, fundamental work, and overall pacing of the rehearsal. Because of this downfall, my students do not receive enough in-class practice of the fundamentals of music. When experimenting with OneNote, I was thrilled to see the option to create lesson plans. This part of OneNote will help me to hold myself accountable for the development of fundamentals, as creating detailed lesson plans will force me to think through a warm-up routine. Within the lesson plan, I could assign duration of times to each section to help me develop better pacing. I am very excited about utilizing OneNote’s lesson plan feature, as well as other aspects of the program that might make my life as a band director simpler!

            There are a few things that I would like to further research with OneNote. One is the ability to store all my inventory information, including concert band, solo and ensemble repertoire, and instruments. It would also be great to keep track of student information (contact numbers, email, etc.) and phone or email correspondence with parents. OneNote has the great potential to be a great hub of information for my classroom!

OneNote image:
Microsoft Corporation. (2015). Enhancing productivity with OneNote. Retrieved from http://onenoteforteachers.com/en-US/Guides/Enhancing%20productivity%20with%20OneNote 

Reflection, Week 6

            I am quite intrigued by ways to increase listening skills through technology use. Throughout this course, I have stumbled across several resources that encourage the use of listening guides or charts (see one prominent article at the end of this blog). This week, Bauer mentioned the use of listening guides to “help direct students’ attention to important aspects of a composition such as its form, melodic contour, texture, and orchestration” (2014, p. 113). At first, I imagined how these guides might be useful in a general music setting, but I quickly transferred its use into my classroom, and I see it as a great resource for myself and for my students! In my classroom, I could create my own guides using Google Docs, allowing the documents to be saved, printed, and/or projected on a screen. This process would also allow me to study the score of the piece, thus preparing me to teach it to my students. Students could follow the guides while listening to a publisher’s recording or a YouTube performance of the tune before reading through the piece themselves, allowing them to become somewhat familiar with it. In later rehearsals, after we have worked on the piece for some time, we might reference the listening guides again to clarify entrances or form, among other concepts.

            With so many students being visual learners, listening guides and charts are excellent resources to help them understand how a piece of music works. This could be especially useful in a middle school classroom, where students tend to be introduced to more literature than in general music. Charts would not have to be elaborate at first, as students may need time to adjust to the new way of learning. For example, I might just include form at first to allow the students to pay attention to patterns. Later, more concepts could be added, such as instrument entrances. Bauer discusses the difference between declarative knowledge (knowing something) and procedural knowledge (being able to do/perform something) in this chapter, which led me to ask How do we teach so that students are constantly combining declarative and procedural knowledge? (2014, p. 115). By including these visual guides in my classroom, I believe more students will increase their declarative knowledge about how music works, leading them to more accurately perform a piece of music (procedural knowledge). I believe the two types of knowledge go hand-in-hand, so finding ways to increase what students know about music and/or performance should help us to increase how they perform music.

Here is an article explaining how the Toronto Symphony uses listening guides at their concerts: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2016/may/how-the-toronto-symphony-orchestra-uses-graphic-design-to-guide-its-audiences-though-its-music/?platform=hootsuite

Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing,

            and Responding to Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Sinclair, M. (May 26, 2016). How the Toronto Symphony Orchestra uses graphic design

            to guide its audiences through its music. Retrieved on August 11, 2016 from

            http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2016/may/how-the-toronto-symphony-
            orchestra-uses-graphic-design-to-guide-its-audiences-though-its-
            music/?platform=hootsuite

Reflection, Week 5

            Assessment is a necessary part of education, as it allows us to monitor a student’s understanding and progress. In music, we assess our students constantly, but mostly through formative assessment during rehearsals, fixing wrong notes and adjusting balance, among several others. For me, assessing students using summative assessment is much more difficult, for progress on an instrument is not always black and white. One student with natural music talent may pass with an A without ever practicing, while another student without natural musical talent might practice an hour every night and still only receive a B. Does this make the second student worse than the first? In my opinion, no! Is there a way that we can assess students based on their progress as an individual musician while still monitoring how they perform as an ensemble member? I am convinced that it is possible, though I am still researching options to try to find the best way to make this possible.

            As an educator, it is our job to set up appropriate ways to assess our students. Bauer says that our first two steps in assessment should be setting learning goals for the students and figuring out how we will prove that the students have met the goals (2014, p. 132). Formative assessment is often used during rehearsals to help students achieve learning goals quickly, as it allows for continuous feedback. For instance, if a learning goal for the day is All students can play using the correct key signature, teachers can check in with students to be sure that they are checking the key signature. In my class, I often ask students questions throughout a rehearsal, and students respond with thumbs up, down, or to the side. This helps me to track their level of understanding or opinions about how we performed as a group. It is quick and easy, but effective. Feedback in music is crucial, for it allows students to track their own progress, instead of just practicing something over and over without understanding the reasoning behind the madness. If we are not providing students with feedback when rehearsing, we are not doing our job.

             Several different forms of summative assessment are available for the music classroom, but Bauer focuses on three: checklists, rating scales, and rubrics (2014, p.137-139). When reflecting on these three options, I thought about which of these is already being used in my classroom. I do not prefer checklists, because I do not think they provide the students with enough information. When giving feedback through assessment, I believe students appreciate assessment tools that go one or two steps beyond the checklist. For my beginning band students, I use a rating scale to judge their solo performances in the spring. I believe that solo festivals in the early years of band should be a positive and encouraging experience. This tool works great in this situation, because it allows the judge to provide feedback to the student in addition to the “score” they receive, much like the IHSMA ballots do for high school students. (The IHSMA ballots, though, are much more specific and can be intimidating for young students.) Students appreciate the feedback, as it encourages them to keep up the good work, gives them specific areas to improve, and explains why they received a specific rating. Here is an example of the rating scale used for my beginning band solo festivals:

Table 1

Solo Festival Rating Scale

	Poor	Fair	Good	Excellent	Feedback
Tone Quality
Intonation
Rhythm
Technique
Musicianship
Stage Presence
Overall Rating: (approx.. average)

            While reflecting, I was reminded of the efficiency that comes from a rubric. This tool could be altered to fit the needs of any band class, and it also makes grading a positive experience, because it removes any bias that may result from student to student. Each of the three assessment tools could be used in my classroom, but I think the rubric would be the most helpful. Here is a short example that could be used when grading scales:

Table 2

Scale Rubric

Concert Bb Scale	5	4	3	2	1	0
Accuracy	Performs with 0 mistakes in pitch	Performs with 1 mistake in pitch	Performs with 2 mistakes in pitch	Performs with 3 mistakes in pitch	Performs with 4 or more mistakes in pitch	Does not perform scale

 

Of course, the rubric could be useful in several other situations, too, including group projects.

            When considering which form of assessment we should use with our students, it is important to refer to the TPACK model. As educators, we need to understand and feel comfortable with the tools used, but more importantly, the chosen tool needs to meet the needs of the students. It is important that we do not choose the most complicated assessment tools for our beginning band students, as it may result in loss of interest in the subject due to confusion or feeling overwhelmed. Likewise, our older students need to be challenged by the use of detailed assessment tools, like rubrics. Overall, I believe that there is always something to learn regarding assessment.

Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music Learning Today: Digital Pedagogy for Creating, Performing,

            and Responding to Music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Janssen, S.L. (2016). Table 1: Solo Festival Rating Scale.

Janssen, S.L. (2016). Table 2: Scale Rubric.