Scenario

My strongest attributes as an educator are an excellent knowledge base in music: history, theory, composition, aural dictation, musical instruments, and singing. I am extremely passionate about what I do and will not let anything get in the way of doing what I love. I believe that schools are here to serve the needs of students and that is what I'm here to do: teach students about music from all perspectives and instruct them on how to play a chosen instrument or instruments and perform in different ensembles and in different venues. I am very responsible, thorough, and focused, and I love to create a fun, informative, and inspiring classroom environment. I admit that my patience is short sometimes, but I make up for it with differentiated teaching methods and hands-on activities. In a few years I hope to be teaching 5-12 band in a large school district; I would love to see a little bit of the country and culture of the United States, since I've lived in Kansas my whole life. At first, I do want to stay somewhat close to home, but after I get really comfortable with my career and get into a groove, I'll go wherever the job market takes me! I have a year of coursework left and a semester of student teaching, then I'll be out in the real world. 

In the event that I was instructed to teach students how to use new software, I would first explore it on my own; I would figure out what I could without any instruction manual, then I would refer to the instruction manual to supplement what I had already discovered. I would probably take this same approach with my students: let them figure a few things out on their own, then supplement what they have discovered on their own with instructions. I would give my students a few pointers to make sure they had their eyes out for important aspects, but I would want them to basically problem-solve on their own.

Technology opens so many different doors to everyone! Students get a chance to learn, collaborate, and exhibit what they've learned in so many different ways and so easily. Plus, special-needs students who may previously have had to get extra separate instruction don't necessarily need that anymore; they have the opportunity to be part of the whole classroom, and they get a chance to be an important part of the regular classroom community and effort. Students don't necessarily all have to use the same technology to learn either! There are so many different programs that cater to different learning styles that no student should ever have to try to learn in a way that doesn't suit them. Teachers have the opportunity to implement a learning revolution for their students now that there is so much educational technology available.

Technology has made my education a lot simpler than it was for previous generations. I can't imagine how much more difficult college would be without even email! Communication is such an important aspect of education, and with increased technology comes greater ease of communication. Also, information sharing has directly impacted my education. Not only email, but being able to share videos, documents, sound recordings, and ideas has changed the way people view the world and themselves. I don't feel like such a small person in a big world all because I have access to anything and everything that I could ever want. This means that I can be all the teacher that I want to be. I really have nothing holding me back from anything.

To encourage other educators in my school to use additional/different technology in their classes, I would try to put them in their students shoes: "Did you like sitting in classes where the teacher lectures all day? Did you like having to write pages and pages and pages and pages of notes? Did you like having to do busywork and cram for tests?" Anyone in their right mind would answer no to at least a few of these questions. Then I would challenge them to think outside the box: be the teacher every student loves because you tell them to get their iPods out instead of put them away. There are ways to use all these "distractions" for truly educational purposes. Now go out, figure out how to use them in your classrooms, and implement these ideas. I would even go as far as to require a minimum amount of technology to be used in a given time or in lesson plans. 

I am familiar with Google documents, website tools (iWeb, Wix, Weebly, Google Sites), Garage Band, podcasts, VoiceThread, Animoto, Delicious, Diigo, Glogster, Google Maps, Google Earth, Prezi, Wordle (and other word art programs), comic strip generators, avatar creators, Twitter, Skype, YouTube, Audacity and Smart Music. Since most of these programs are free or have free versions, I would try to implement as many as possible, especially the website tools, Audacity, Smart Music, VoiceThread, Animoto, Google Earth, and YouTube. I really like the audio/video programs because I teach music. Recording is a instant way to receive feedback; programs like Audacity are free, and have lots of cool sound effects, so students can even edit their own music. I would also love to use the website tools to have students create their own websites, and I would love to have students use Google Earth to create a tour of famous composer's hometowns (if I ever taught a music history class). I hope to be as much of a hands-on teacher as possible, and I think that with the help of all these awesome technologies, I can really make an ideas classroom for my students.

My Wow Moment

My "wow" moment was when I found a website format that I liked and really got going with it. Rather than just doing the minimum for the class, I realized that I can put anything I want to on here and really showcase what I like and what I'm about, especially for my content area. Since I am a music education major and this is a technology class, there isn't a whole lot of information that I would immediately implement in my classroom or use for anything at all. I think my website is the single most useful thing that I got from DED 318; if there was one thing that validated this class, it was showing me how to create and use a website of my own. I can use my website as a resume, an autobiography, a tool for music education advocacy, a resource for other music educators, and a cool collection of music related videos. I am really excited to continue to use, personalize, and showcase myself through this website. I am extremely grateful to have this tool at my disposal and to be able to exhibit my accomplishments, education, and love of music to future employers, parents and students, and other educators. 

Podcast Favorites

Most of the podcasts I listened to were about technology, which I didn't always find helpful. I am a music education major, and I thought they were all interesting, but I didn't really find a lot of the technology information helpful. Of all the technology podcasts I watched, I thought the Salman Khan one was the best and the most inspirational and applicable to all content areas. I think that adding the TED Talks to the list of podcasts for the blog reflections was a really good idea. I did stumble upon a podcast that discussed why music isn't just "fluff." It was one of the K-12 Greatest Hits: Best Ideas in Education podcasts, and it is a podcast full of ammo I can use to fire at anti-music school boards, parents, and just general non-believers in the power of music. 

The podcast/presentation I found kind of late in the game was the K12 Online Conference, and I liked those presentations because they weren't all about technology. They were about education in general and how to deal with different situations, good and bad. They dealt with really deep subjects and the kind of topics that really inspire me to be a great teacher. These are the kind of podcasts that all teachers/nearly teachers should be required to listen to and reflect on because they are rooted in the heart of good educational philosophy.

Semester Favorites

My two favorite tools that I learned how to use this semester were all the different Google tools (Google documents, blogger, sites, forms, spreadsheet, etc.) and (this really counts as more than one thing) all the different ways to access and share information and resources - like how to use Twitter productively and the Web 2.0 tools.

I liked the Google tools because they allow everyone access to a word processor, a spreadsheet, and a way to create online forms without having to purchase an expensive software package (like Microsoft Office). I love being able to easily make online forms; this could potentially eliminate all kinds of paper use. There are so many possibilities for these Google tools, and they're all free!

I enjoyed learning about all the ways to access and share information because it opened my eyes to many, what I previously thought to be unconventional, avenues for information transfer (like Twitter). I used to get frustrated trying to find information for projects or papers because I would always go to the same couple of resources, and eventually those ran dry. Now I feel like I have unlimited resources and resources where I can find more resources.