Productivity and Professional Development Through Technology

            The readings in weeks one through six focused on various ways that music teachers can use technology within lessons to enhance or facilitate learning. This week, Bauer’s (2013) work reminds us that technology can be an important part of the administrative facets of the music education world. Productivity and professional development are two of the areas covered in this chapter.

            Productivity includes various jobs that keep teachers organized in the classroom and as professionals. Calendars, to-do lists, communications, and public relations tasks were traditionally completed with pencil and paper. Today, there are several online programs that teachers can use to stay organized. For example, Evernote allows the user to create notes and to-do lists that are available on any device. The benefits to using an online, cloud-based program is that it is available anywhere there is a device with internet connection. No longer do we have to carry papers and files – they can be easily accessed through Google calendars, Evernote, Gmail, and other such applications.

            Attendance, seating charts, and grade books also used to be pencil and paper affairs. I can remember my teachers carrying the big, olive-green gradebook through the school, marking down grades and student absences on the pages. Now there are applications for iPads and programs for computers that can help us organize all of that data. iDoceo is one such application. iDoceo can be downloaded to an iPad for a one-time fee of twelve dollars. With that investment, users can receive updates as they become available, and all of the features are included for that fee.

There are no in-app purchases that teachers would need to buy in order to make full use of the program in their classroom. The most recent update includes the following: planner, diary, grade book with attendance, calculations and statistics, summary view in each class with configurable widgets, schedule, seating plans, handwritten notepads, text notepads, resource manager, and bulletin boards. From my limited investigation of this application, I feel that

it would be a good investment and could help teachers stay organized in the classroom.

            Professional development is another area that Bauer (2013) suggested could be enhanced or even simplified using technology. As we certainly know, there are a multitude of online educational programs available today from many well-known and accredited universities. This allows students to participate in quality programs even when they are not near the actual university. Kent State’s Master’s in Music Education program is just one example of this type of professional development. There are also many less formal professional development options available online. There are Facebook groups created and joined by music teachers. There are also blogs discussing many different music education topics, and NAfME Academy offers online professional development opportunities for music teachers. These formats allow for more informal discussions and provide assistance to teachers from other teachers facing and solving the same issues within their classrooms and schools. As Bauer (2013) stated, “from informal personal learning networks to formalized graduate degree programs, technology can empower music educators with personalized, sustained, flexible, and social professional learning opportunities,” (p. 186).

            Throughout this class, we have learned about the various ways we can incorporate technology into our music classes. This week, Bauer (2013) reflected on the ways that technology can help music teachers to stay productive as well as to continue to develop professionally. Technology can play an important role in all facets of a music teacher’s professional life.  

References:

Bauer, W.I. (2013). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and

responding to music. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

iDoceo. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.idoceo.net/index.php/en/

The Art of Listening

     Why and how do we teach listening skills in the music classroom? "Listening is the fundamental music skill....Such listening is a skill in and of itself, as well as a vital part of all other musical skills," (Haack, 1992 as cited in Bauer, 2014, p. 106). I believe that we should be teaching our students music theory and music performance, but our most important responsibility is to teach our students how to listen, interpret, and understand the music they hear.
     Why should we teach listening skills? I think that we must do so because our students will be life-long music listeners. When an elementary student begins to play an instrument, we as teachers have no idea whether they will continue to play through the entire school year, let alone into their adult life. When we encourage them to join a choral group, we may wonder if they will be singing in that type of setting when they are adults. But when we include Bauer's (2014) music listening suggestions on page 110, we are helping them to acquire the skills and information they need to listen and appreciate the music they will listen to throughout their lifetime. Giving students a voice in what they listen to in music class, exposing them to many different world music genres, and giving them the musical tools they need to accurately describe their listening experiences are all important in helping them to become successful music listeners.
     How do we teach these listening skills and give our students the necessary tools to critically listen to music throughout their lives? Technology can play a large role in this process. First of all, through  music streaming sites like Pandora, Spotify, and YouTube, students have access to many different genres of music. This music can be enjoyed using smartphones, computers, tablets, or digital music players. In order to speak intelligently about the music that they hear, students need to have an understanding of music theory concepts like pitch, dynamics, and form. Bauer (2014) mentions tools like Music Ace and MusicTheory.net that students can use to learn and practice these types of concepts. Cross-curricular teaching can also be beneficial to student learning, but Bauer (2014) cautions that "a concern some educators have is that when music study is combined with another discipline, music can be used in a superficial manner," (p. 120). Rather than using music to learn rote facts, teachers should use music in conjunction with the other subject. Students learning about the Civil War in history class could learn about the music used by slaves and the impact that music had on their lives. Finally, WebQuests can be used to guide students in the learning process. The WebQuest provides a structured approach to internet-based research and learning on a particular subject. Students learning about instruments of the orchestra could take part in a WebQuest that guides them to learn more in-depth about a particular family of instruments or even an individual instrument.
     Teaching listening skills to our students takes planning and thought. Different methods and technologies can be employed to support this learning in the music classroom. It is important that music teachers do the planning and teaching to assist their students in acquiring these listening skills. As Bauer (2014) states, "by aligning musical outcomes related to responding to music with appropriate pedagogies and supporting technologies, music educators can assist students in their continuing development of knowledge and skills essential for meaningful, lifelong involvement with music," (p. 122).

Reference:
Bauer, W. I.  (2014).  Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, New York: Oxford University Press.

Assessment...Why?...and How?

            Assessment is an integral part of the learning process. As Bauer (2013) notes, “Not only is assessment necessary to determine whether students have learned what teachers think they have taught, but it also informs the design of instruction and can direct adjustments of the specific teaching and learning strategies that are used over time.” Teachers use two types of assessments within their classrooms: formative and summative. Summative assessments are used at the end of a learning experience to determine the level of understanding. Formative assessments are used throughout the learning process to help the teacher adjust the learning experience to the needs of the students. Technology can play a role in the administering of assessments as well as the organizing and managing of the information gathered during the assessment process.

            The Google platform offers some tools to assist teachers in the assessment process. Google Docs can be used to create written work such as research papers. One feature of Google Docs allows multiple people to collaborate on a document. If editing privileges are shared with each member of a group, they all can write and revise information in the document quite easily.

Google Forms can be used to create quizzes that can be shared with students and then graded automatically. The quiz can include various kinds of questions, including short answer, paragraph, and multiple choice. The students take the quiz and their answers are recorded and sent to the teacher. The teacher is able to set up the Google Form with the correct answers so that the quizzes are graded automatically.  

            The creation of rubrics specific to lessons and/or concepts can also be simplified using technology. There are many websites that are available to help a teacher in the rubric-creation process. If the rubric is created and filled out in Google, it can easily be shared electronically with the student, parents, even administrators. This would be helpful in providing documentation to support report card grades. The application Goobric works in conjunction with Doctopus to provide assignments and corresponding rubrics right in Google. Any type of project that can be created in Google will work with Goobric, including presentations and written documents. This allows the teacher to provide feedback and a grade right in the same place, as the rubric is attached to the assignment.

            Teachers could also use recordings (both audio and video) to allow students to demonstrate their performance ability. Recordings are a great method of assessing student performance rather than simple understanding of a concept. Another method of assessment involves the creation of a digital student portfolio. Students must gather written work and recorded work to include within the portfolio. These portfolios can be a work in progress, where the student adds to the portfolio as they complete an assignment. It can also be something that a student organizes into a more formal grouping of their work. This would contain the student’s best efforts and could be used to apply for college or scholarship monies.

            When using various technologies in the assessment process, it can be beneficial to manage these assessments using technology. School districts may utilize a learning management system (LMS) that teachers must use with their assessments. My district uses Skyward to track student attendance and grades.

            In my own teaching, I find assessment to be an area in which I need to grow. I do a lot of informal formative assessments (listening to students clap rhythmic patterns, observe students using manipulatives to notate melodic patterns) but do not record data from those assessments. As our curriculum is updated, the need for corresponding assessments is evident. I struggle with how to use assessments to determine grades for my elementary general music students, though, because I feel that elementary music should be a time of exploration. I am torn between assessing for mastery and assessing the student effort in trying new musical activities. I want to create a positive and enjoyable atmosphere in music and am hesitant to have assessments hinder that atmosphere. I am curious to know how other music teachers (specifically elementary level teachers) feel about assessments and grading in the music classroom. I understand that I will gain more information on the subject of assessment in another graduate class. That information will allow me to more effectively incorporate assessments into my lessons in order to provide information to students, parents, and administrators about the learning that is occurring in my classroom.

SmartMusic...Is It Really Smart??

            What exactly makes SmartMusic so smart? SmartMusic is an online program designed for music teachers and music students. The mission of SmartMusic really spells out exactly what the program is all about in an easy-to-understand way.

Let’s take a look at the features and benefits that make SmartMusic such a smart way to teach and learn music on a daily basis, for instrumental students, vocal students, general music students, and music teachers. We will investigate the costs of the program, discuss the challenges and reasons why not to use SmartMusic, and determine if SmartMusic really is a smart technological addition to the music education world.

            There are many benefits in SmartMusic for instrumental musicians. There are features that are relevant to the classroom as well as features to support individual practice sessions. Within the classroom, teachers have access to a rhythm of the day feature, which allows the teacher to show a rhythm on the Smart Board and have students clap, tap, or otherwise perform that rhythm. The rhythms can also be created by the teacher to address rhythms found in the literature they are using within the ensemble. Warm-up exercises are another useful feature in SmartMusic. The teacher can choose from prepared exercises such as scales or can create warm-up exercises that are individualized to the ensemble’s needs. The listening library feature provides easy access to quality recordings of a variety of genres. Using these recordings to demonstrate desired musical interpretations can assist ensemble members as they work to improve their performance. Another helpful feature within the listening library is the ability to isolate individual voices or instruments, which can help the teacher to focus on problem areas for the individual parts.

            The features that support individual or small-group practice sessions include the availability of methods books, immediate feedback during practice, tracking of practice time, assessment options, and other features such as tuners and metronomes. There are a large

 

number of popular instrumental method books available within SmartMusic. The books can be opened in the program, and individual songs viewed during practice time. The teacher can make notes for the individual student within the method book, in a manner similar to traditional method books. When the students are practicing at home, SmartMusic not only provides immediate feedback in the form of colored notes (green notes were the ones played correctly and red notes were not played correctly) but also by computing a percentage score based on the performance of the piece.  Student practice time is also tracked. The program notes the time actually spent playing, and not the time taken to set up the practice area or putting the instrument together. The teacher can observe practice patterns and habits and help their students to understand the importance of practice outside of the classroom. The program also can be used for assessment purposes, where the teacher creates an assignment and the student records their performance of the assignment. These assessments can be useful for grading purposes as well as for evidence when conferencing with parents or administrators about the effectiveness of the music program. Finally, features such as tuners and metronomes can assist students with details like pitch, intonation, and tempos when practicing at home.

            The benefits for a vocalist in SmartMusic are similar to the benefits for an instrumentalist. Within the classroom, the teacher can use the included warm-up exercises or create individual exercises to focus on elements of which the ensemble is working. A very important feature, especially to the ensemble director who may be piano-challenged, is the availability of rehearsal accompaniments for individual pieces. Using these accompaniments during rehearsals allows the director to be free from the piano and instead focus on the singers. Again, there are a variety of vocal pieces available from the SmartMusic library for this purpose. These accompaniments would also be beneficial to students practicing their music at home, where a pianist probably would not be available. Individual practice times and assessments would be much the same for the vocal students as it is for the instrumental students.

           Several features of SmartMusic seem to lend themselves easily to the general music classroom. The daily rhythm feature could be used with all grade levels in a variety of ways. Students could simply clap the rhythms or they could use classroom instruments to play them. The rhythms could be used in discussions of note values or time signatures. They could also be used to have the students experience other musical elements such as tempo or dynamics. The listening library could be used to provide students with quality musical examples. Within the listening examples, the teacher could isolate an individual voice to emphasize timbre or other musical elements. The composition tool feature could be used as a whole-class exercise with students taking turns manipulating the notes on the SmartBoard. The playback feature would give the class immediate feedback on their compositions and allow them to easily revise and improve their work.

            There are several features within SmartMusic that would be beneficial to a teacher as well. There is a gradebook feature where the teacher can set up classes, enter assignments, and have the student grades recorded right in the gradebook. The SmartMusic program also has a feature that allows teacher accounts to be combined, which would be helpful if the teacher had classes in several different buildings. The composition feature could be used to write or arrange music for specific needs or ensembles. Using the SmartMusic program with students for individual practice allows easy communication between school and home, where the parents are able to quickly see what their child should be working on, and how their student is performing on those assignments.

           The current pricing for SmartMusic seems to be fairly reasonable. There are many features and benefits for teachers and students who opt to purchase a subscription to the program. One notable piece of information involves the cost of a student method book versus the cost of the SmartMusic subscription. One method book that is available in SmartMusic (for the basic program at $4 per year) can cost nearly $10 when purchased online. For beginning instrumental students, the basic program would probably provide enough material to work with as they learn the basics of their instrument.

            When comparing the benefits of SmartMusic to the limitations, it seems that SmartMusic might be the “smart” way to go for music educators and students. The largest concern that I can see is the availability of internet for all students. Those students in rural, low-income areas may not be able to afford or have access to internet at home. This would prohibit them from practicing their instrument at home. If internet access is not an issue, SmartMusic seems like a low-cost, high-benefit program for music students. When looking at the teacher side of SmartMusic, one could argue that many of the benefits could be achieved for free in other ways. The rhythm of the day could be written on a chalkboard or whiteboard each day. The music recordings of various pieces could be found on YouTube or publisher websites. Students could compose music with paper and pencil, or using other free online tools like Noteflight, MuseScore, or Finale (which is a part of the SmartMusic family within the MakeMusic company). Teachers have been creating assignments and grading them for many years without the assistance of technology. All of these arguments are valid but having these features in one easily-accessible place just makes sense. After all, technology should support our teaching of music. As Dorfman (2013) states, “technology is an important means by which we can teach music – introduce its concepts, reinforce them, provide experience, provide practice, assess and evaluate achievement, structure aesthetic interactions, and do all the educational activities that make learning music a distinct, artful pursuit.”

References

Dorfman, J. (2013). Theory and practice of technology-based music instruction. New York:

Oxford University Press.

SmartMusic. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.smartmusic.com