TPTE 486 as a Whole

Now that I have completed this class I feel a lot more comfortable with finding ways to use technology in the classroom. I have always been a believer of using it in the class but only had a limited about of ways to use it and now I have pretty much tripled the amount of ways within the past month while taking this class. I am very glad that the education department has this course as a part of our curriculum. So, all in all, I will definitely be using technology in my classes for as long as I teach.

A Blog About Blogs

Blogger is a free to use blogging tool which is part of the Google world. I found blogger to be very easy to navigate around and post to. The tool provides plenty of ways to personalize the look of your blog and i just found a new way to create backgrounds today and you can see that on my blog entitled Mr. Miller's Band Class. I really like how easy it is to post pictures or videos to my blog. I can definitely see myself using a blog with my band to remind students of upcoming events.

Wiki Wiki Wiki

 

PBWorks is one of many free web tools that allow you to create a wiki community. These wikis are very easy to navigate around and simple to input information. They are great for creating a companion class website to have extra information on the appropriately corresponding wiki pages. These could also be used to create study guides and numerous other things to advance the students learning speed. While creating wikis I had a fun time interacting with my classmates to make a great resource wiki for us to use as teachers. I feel like by doing this I have created a huge library of musical resources via the web for me to use in the classroom.

Making a movie with Movie Maker

Movie Maker is the movie making software that comes with PCs. I had previously worked with the older version of this software before this class but I have to admit the new interface of the Movie Maker is so much easier to deal with. I came prepared with my storyboard and all my pictures re-sized to class and it took no time to put together a nice educational video about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

I chose to create a movie on Mozart because it was something I could use when teaching a General Music class to kick start a unit into the Classical Era. I chose to add a piece by Mozart to help with the full affect, so I added his "Piano Concerto In B Flat". I can totally see myself using this tool in the future for multiple reasons throughout every school year. It would be a great way for parents to see how their children interact in the classrooms for projects and/or rehearsals.

My Musical Life via Animoto

Excelling with Microsoft Excel

Google Forms

Inspiration 9

Inspiration 9 is a software for creating webs, diagrams and outlines. Honestly, I don't think I will have any use for this tool in my classes. But, however, I can see how important this tool is for an english class so that that writing papers will be easier.

My example from Inspiration 9 that you see below show a little history from the jazz art form. I started with my main topic being Jazz. Then I broke that down into 3 sub groups: Bebop, Swing and Cool Jazz. Each sub group then has some additional information that tells how each group is different from the other. I also provided some clip art pictures to add some visual aid for the viewer.

Glogster

Glogster Edu is a really fun and interactive way for students to create class projects and for you, the teacher, to provide interactive items for your students to use to study and learn. This web tool can be purchased for a school and it will only cost the students $2 a kid per academic year. This is really not an expensive investment and makes learning and studying fun for your students of all ages. This tool has a very easy and friendly interface that allows you to search for public glogs, make glogs your favorites and manage classrooms.

It is nice that on glogster I can upload audio files, such as recordings of concerts which is what is on my current glog. I also like how you can upload YouTube videos as well. I could possibly see myself using Glogster in the classroom when I begin teaching.

Smilebox

Customize a free digital collage

Musical Hunt at UTK

Scavenger hunts are a good way for students to show off a creative side while accomplishing academic work. I enjoyed doing the scavenger hunt due to the fact that we weren't just given instrument names but we were given facts about instruments. This allows you to assess the student on the information as well as allowing them to have participate in this fun activity.

We then learned about two programs online that are free to create slideshows of the pictures we took during the hunt. We used Picasa and Google Presentation. Both of this programs are Google based and completely free. As for me, I would choose for my students to use Google Presentation. I found it to be a little easier to use and I liked how there was more room for creativeness.  Also, I found it easy due to its similarity to Microsoft Powerpoint.

Wordle with Words

WebQuest

 

Today in TPTE 486 we took a look at WebQuest that could be used in the classrooms with our students. I think these WebQuest are good ways to help the students research topics and do appropriate projects with the topic. However, I am on the fence debating on how I could use these in the music education field. But I think I would keep them out of the band classes because I would rather have them practicing on their personal instruments. I think I would use this in either a music theory class with the WebQuest that has the student make their own compositions or in a general music class with WebQuest based on music history. 

I looked through the website for a WebQuest that I could use with my general music class. The WebQuest is titled "The Sound of History". It has the student go in and research a historical topic. Then the student must find a song of any genre that relates to the historical topic. They then would play the song for the class and follow it up with a presentation on the topic and song using either PowerPoint or a presentation board. This is a great way to have the student realize how events in history can effect the music of that time and this might also begin to make students have a new way of interpreting music and make music more enjoyable.

When I first was going over this WebQuest I kept thinking of the song "We Are the World" by Michael Jackson. But I did not think of the original version of the song. I thought of the remake version that was made for the tragic earthquake in Haiti. This is a great example of how the song was used based on a historical event. However, this can also be done based on the original as well.

Taking a closer look at DrummerWorld

Drummer World is a great drum set based website full of pictures, bios and videos of all the greats in the drumming world. For about the past year or so, I have began to use this site extensively for my own personal growth. The site was put together in 1997 by Bernherd Castiglioni and he still runs it today. Castiglioni states, "My intention is to spread the word and show the younger drummers and students the masters at work - from the beginnings to the present". This is what shows me that the site was started for educational purposes. So I personally think that this site would be ideal for using in either a percussion class in high school and/or for students taking private lessons so they can see how masters of the drum world do their thing.

Birth of a Blogger

Well this is a completely new experience for me. I have done Myspace and Facebook before but I have never attempted to join the blogging world. I am a musician so posts on my blog will be centralized around the music field.  I am super interested in taking this class and when I first looked over the syllabus I became interested in what all would be presented to me and to what extent. Throughout this class I hope I can find out new ways to use web 2.0 tools in the classroom to help teach either general music in elementary schools or to provide resources for instrumental music students in middle or high schools.