Week 1

Technology is an incredibly important part in everyone’s lives.  It is a connection to everyone and everything around us.  It is used in our every day lives, even though it may not seem that way.  For some, it is easier than others, but it is something that is constantly growing and improving, whether we choose to keep up with it or not.

After doing my readings for the week, it made me realize, thankfully, that I am not the only music teacher who struggles with implementing more technology in the classrooms.  The concept that most teachers use technology mainly for administrative tasks rings very true in both of my schools.  According to our reading, “Through the use of technology, students can also exert more control over how they learn, resulting in instruction that is more student centered (Russell & Sorge, 1999)” (Bauer, p.7).  I understand the importance of this, as I have seen it work first hand with my students, but it seems every time I attempt to add in more, there are more limitations within my workplace.

When thinking in terms of technology in the music classroom, I use quite a bit in my teaching already, but there is so much more that could be done.  I am generally very good with technology- it comes easily to me as I am considered to be right around the age where I am fall into the category of a digital native.  My family had a computer when I was about five years old and since then my siblings and I always kept up with any changes, getting to know whatever was the most recent thing that was happening.  In terms of my teaching, though, part of the problem is being shared between two schools. Where most general music teachers are in one building all the time, have one classroom, one set of tools to work with and maybe, at most, 700-800 students, I have double of nearly everything.  I rotate back and forth every 3 days between workspaces, have two classrooms (both of which are shared with an art teacher), two very different sets of tools at each school, and roughly 1100 students and thirty-six different classes in six school days.  The main issue with my lack of technology is the absence of tools at each school.  I have one school that has one IPad cart and one computer lab while the other has zer IPads and half of a working computer lab.  This makes things a little difficult when all of the teachers in the school are scrambling for time in the labs with their classes.

This week, though, we have been exploring the website www.incredibox.com. This has given me a new determination to implement more technology opportunities for my students, beginning with this site.  I created my own simple mix this week while exploring the site.  It allows for you to have up to seven sounds playing at once, which are a mixture of beats, effects, melodies, and voices.  It seemed like no matter what combination of sounds I used, they all sounded good.  Another thing I noticed about the site is that it is almost fool proof.  Whenever you add in a new sound, it will only allow it to fully load at the beginning of a phrase.  I think this is great, especially for younger people who may be working with the site.  It allows them to focus on the musicality of their work rather than worrying about logistics.  This leaves many opportunities for teaching other concepts such as layering, form, and creating music through a digital outlet.

My goal to add more technology into my classroom will probably begin with a project using Incredibox.  Although it will be difficult to schedule between two schools, I would like to at least try.  Ideally, my plan is to attempt this project with 3^rd, 4^th, and 5^th grades at some point in the school year.  I am certain my students would love a project using this website.

Throughout this course, my goal is to further myself as a teacher and take away ideas and opportunities that will allow me to better my students as musicians.  When thinking of the TPACK model, I believe I fit into the categories of having the pedagogical content knowledge to do what I do.  I believe I also have the technological knowledge, but I would like to learn how to better utilize that knowledge in a way that would best benefit my students and what I want them to learn and achieve as musicians.