Thing 21 – Casting my Pageflakes

My Pagecast is still a work in progress. I do intend to add more content and resources. I plan to use this tool to create separate pages with different music related themes, such as origins of instruments, Theory Games, puzzles, composers …etc. I also think I can eventually let this page ( with some changes) be a class page that will act as a kind of online Newsletter/Resource page for students and parents.

Thing 19 – YouTube is an Education about People

I have been a YouTube cruiser for a few months, so I already had an idea of which videos I wanted to present. Yes, there is a lot of inappropriate drival out there but you just have to hunt through it to find some pretty creative and surprising talent. The following video will show how a boy, only 11 years old, can not only play but verbally tell the story of the piece he is playing.

Camille Saint Saen’s “The Swan” played on the Cello by Nathan, 11 years old

In this next video, violinist, Kolja Blacher is playing a Beethoven piece that I have always wanted to play but could not quite perfect.

Ludwig Beethoven’s Romance # 1 in G for Violin and Orchestra

The following video counts as my “How to…” assignment. Some will probably think of it as funny/crazy but he does  bring in a little math. I also two cats who exhibit many of these characteristics.

The Engineer’s Guide to Cats

This next video is my funny/cute catagory. Since I have a granddaughter, whom I have videotaped many times while she is singing ( I never thought of putting her on YouTube, yet ), this appealed to me and the ending is pretty funny.

“Hey Jude”, performed by a 3 year old boy

Thing 12 – My Slide Show

When I began looking through Flickr for photos to include in my slide show I ran into the usual problem ; so many photos, so little allotted space. I chose ” Music as a Global Language” as the theme and then found photos that represented that theme. I wanted to use the idea that music can be understood and enjoyed by people around the world even if they did not speak the same language. I would really like to expand on this theme with many more photos and a longer show but this is a start.

I chose Animoto for the presentation, mainly because we (Prescilla Chang) used it to prepare some  slideshows of student activities during the year, to be shown while parents were arriving at Richardson Hall for the Lower School Spring String Concert.

I learned one lesson; get the information for your Attributions right then or you will have a difficult time finding them later.

To view the slideshow , go to my TwitterWiki .

Thing 11 – Flickr Fun

I have have a fun experience investigating Flickr. I am still discovering pictures and videos that I would like to consider using in class. Being a visual learner myself, I think I should be able to use Flickr to reinforce some of the history lessons I plan to use.

I have decided to use ” Music as a Global Language” as my theme. Everyone around the world is drawn to music for practically every aspect of their life. Music is used for the happiest of times as well as the saddest. You are not only subjected to music at concerts but also in your car ( or someone else’s if it’s loud enough), in commercials, in grocery stores and even in a parking lot.

Image By : Sylvar

People may not be able to read and /or speak every language in the world but they can and do come together by either listening to or reading music.

I would like to be able to also encourage my students to look at music in this way.

Thing 10 – Borrowing and Sharing in CC

Up until this class, I was not aware of Creative Commons. As I delve into some of the resources, I will certainly be aware of it. Over the years of teaching and performing, I have been keenly aware of the copyright laws. It is stamped on every piece of music that I teach or play. The laws are a bit nebulous as to how much you can copy for “educational purposes”.

I think it is wonderful that I and my students will be able to learn from and expand upon information developed by someone who is also willing to share. I have not gotten to the point ( until this class) where I would have considered sharing on the web, but I think that will change. When you think of the possibility of many people around the world viewing and learning from your projects, your ideas, you want to make sure it is something worth “floating out there in space”. This would be the impact I would want it to have on my students.

I have not been able to think of any negatives if students are properly informed and guided about borrowing and sharing on the web.

Thing 8 – Wiki together.

Exactly ! Wiki’s are intended as a way to enable collaboration to present information on any subject. In the wiki sites that I read through, I found information on anything from books that could be viewed online in Grazing for Digital Natives, to assignments about the Holocaust. Book reports such as Turn Homeward Hannalee, where the students give a chapter by chapter summary and Go West, about life on the Oregon Trail are good ways to enable students to not only be informed but to inform others.

**** You internalize your knowledge when you share that information with others. ****

As a music teacher, I would enjoy creating a class wiki featuring composers, composing, musical styles, even famous musicians, past and present…etc.

After viewing some of the wikis, I would create a site that :

• Clearly stated a purpose/theme.
• Concentrated on maybe one or two subjects per quarter.
• Arranged the subject(s) into sections. This would allow for students/teachers to edit a bit more easily.
• Have a Resource site section, initially established by the teachers and then any additional information on sites added by the students. Of course, creativity in graphics and media would be encouraged and guided.

I think it would be a fun project to find a way for a class to compose a tune on a wiki site.

I am already enjoying playing around with my Wiki site in the Web 2.0 sandbox.

Thing 4 – Blogging – Creative Learning.

I have been reading various blogs for the last few days. I could not stop at just 5 because each one of them seemed to have a different twist on how blogging could be used. Up until this class, I have never really investigated “Blogging”. I will have to say that now, I have joined the “Blogosphere”.

What is so refreshing about Blogging, is that even young children can have the chance to share ideas and opinions on their level and be collaboratively creative about their chosen subject. In Duck Diaries the children were free to write their ideas and opinions without having to worry too much about spelling.

There were two Blogs that I read about environmental concerns. One was about the need to use alternative means for getting your groceries home. I have already begun to do this myself, so this especially related to my life. The other was about our being more conservative with the use of the precious resource; water, which is very close to our hearts here in Atlanta. These are examples of ideas that allow other people to collaborate on an original idea for a solution.

Although I love to read, I am mostly reading articles in magazines, the newspaper or special interest websites. Now, I have added various Blogs. I do love a good chapter book but because of some visual problems , I have difficulty reading for long periods of time. I think the blog by Mark Ahlness about the volume of reading his students do, even though they are not reading in what we might consider a traditional way, says a lot about how information will be “consumed” in the future. To expand on that thought, the blog on “Rationale for Educational Blogging” did a nice job of giving reasons for using the Blog as a way of teaching students responsibility in public writing, how to collaboratively connect and learn from others and have confidence in their own ideas and opinions.

There were two more sites that really interested me, especially since it made references to “The Arts in Education”. Since I am an instrumental music teacher and a product of the Arts being taught in school it really spoke to my rationale for why we as teachers need to find some time to encourage the students to use their ” Creativity” and talents. Within that Blog was a film of a very inciteful talk by Sir Ken Robinson on why we might be killing that creativity.

This past year, We ( Prescilla Chang and me ) initiated an assignment that allowed our students a chance to explore their creative side. The students were told to compose a tune ( only 4 measures long) . They were given 10 basic rules of composition but the rest was up to them. This gave them a chance to show us and themselves what they had learned about music, so far. We had some students who ran with it and even added text ( which was not assigned) and also came to us asking for more staff paper to make their tune longer. We also had some students who used the minimal amount of space , which was OK because we understand that everyone is not interested in composing.

We (myself included) need to more occasionally, raise our heads out of our lesson plans and tune into our student’s needs to explore their own modes of learning and creativity. Yes, there are many Blogsites that are publishing inappropriate and incorrect information but I am sure with our informed guidance, the students will learn to be able to disseminate the ones that are worth reading.

Thing 2 – Thoughts about Web2.0 in the Classroom