Incorperating ISTE - Part 2

ISTE Standard #6 is all about how to help our students become "Creative Communicators". In the music classroom, there is no shortage of creativity! The arts allow for creative composition of ideas, expression of emotion, and connection to others. Though how can I, as a music educatior, foster skills that also encompass creative communication with others?

Its all about how to harness the vast individuality of a creative idea and beign able to convey it to others. There are infinite possibilities. In a choral setting it is communicating without speaking: communicating through gestures and facial expressions. In a general music classroom this could be communicating ideas and emotions through musical composition or performance.

In my Musi Appreciation class this year, I hope to be able to give my students the opportunity to creatively express themselves through a variety of projects. Such projects include allowing themselves the opportunity to choose presentation platforms and a project at the end of the year called "The Soundtrack of My Life" in which the students create a "story album" that represents them.

I referenced my Musical Genres unit in my last post. I am excited to guide my students to creatively communicate their understanding of genres with their peers by allowing each of my students to create a "genre playlist" including one song selection per genre we discuss and one genre of their choice. These playlists will be used to play Genre Bingo as a class at the end of the unit. By allowing my students to curate the playlists, it not only assesses their ability to identify musical qualities, but to seek them out as well. Student created playlists (especially the free choice selections) will provide the entire class with a wider listening repertoire by allowing classmates to expose each other to songs and genres they may not be familiar with.

I have always used Genre Bingo as the final project for my genre unit, but I am so excited to add this student-driven aspect to my unit! 

Incorporating ISTE - Part 1

A large portion of my graduate work in Ed Tech has been the introduction to and incorporation of the ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education) Standards, created to help educators to "rethink education and create innovative learning environments" as well as "re-engineer schools and digital classrooms for digital age learning." (https://www.iste.org/standards). These standards have become a helpful guide in my journey to reach my students in this new age of learning. 

ISTE standard #3 references the student's role as a Knowledge Constructor, being able to research, evaluate, and curate information from digital sources to build knowledge. ISTE standard #4 references the student's ability to take this knowledge and then use it identify and solve problems. 

I'm going to put both of these standards to use in my high school Music Appreciation class. This is a nine-week course that meets every day for 80 minutes. In this course, I take a cross-curricular approach to music learning and base my units off of other academic subjects. For example, the first unit in the course is History in Music. We discuss music's growth since its early inception and many of the genres that have evolved since. This year, instead of listening to me lead them through the information, I want the students to determine on their own what qualities make up a musical genre. They will need to research different genres, compare and contrast them, and determine what makes each sound unique as a musical genre and discover what are the identifying qualities to look for when trying to categorize a piece of music.

I think taking this approach to musical genres will allow the students to look more in depth at the concepts and not only draw knowledge from their own experiences, but delve deeper into styles of music they may not be familiar with or dissect some of their favorite songs. Having the students explore on their own will also give them more ownership of the learning process and hopefully help them discover better listening and analyzing skills along the way!

The Pursuit of Customized Learning

In my pursuit of teaching strategies to best reach today's students (and my graduate degree in educational technology), the term "customized learning" continues to pop up. It makes sense. "Customized learning" only refers to the fact that everyone learns in different time frames and different ways. In this day and age, it seems like a no-brainer as no two students learn exactly the same. However, the progression of our educational society has not allowed for much customization. Until now. Schools are beginning to re-evaluate how they educate and are diving into techniques and strategies that best serve the students of today's world.

In his article "10 Key Components of Customized Learning" Mike Muir discusses the teaching trends in Maine and the considerations they are taking in re-vamping their educational systems. I found it so inspiring that there are educational systems today in the US that are moving forward and providing a new-age education to their students. In my last post (and first post... a year ago-- apparently I am not the most consistent blogger) I spoke about my district moving 1:1 with iPads and my excitement and reservations about doing so. I am happy to report that I am still excited about this implementation and taking an initial step in the direction of redefined education. Overall, the year went well and I continue to work toward my goals.

Evaluating the last school year in terms of Mr. Muir's components of customized learning:

I feel that I did very well in the components of instruction for low order thinking skills and introducing some instruction for higher order thinking skills. Teaching to the low order thinking skill is a safe zone that I assume most educators are very comfortable with, but I did ask my students to think more creatively at points during the year. After concerts at the end of the year, I assigned each one of my choirs a separate video project: Sr. High Concert Choir - a music video incorporating solfege, 8th Grade Chorus - a video definition of a music vocabulary word of their choice to be turned into an interactive word wall, 7th Grade Chorus - a "Join chorus!" trailer in iMovie to be shared with the 6th graders as they consider their schedules for the next year. These projects had very little direction as far as content. It required the students to determine what was important and how best to present that in a video format. Some projects were met with great success. Others with need some revision for the next year, but were a great starting point.

I also feel I was very successful creating a climate of voice and choice. I want my music and choral classroom environment to be a safe zone where students can feel comfortable sharing the most intimate part of themselves: their voice. I believe giving them a voice in their learning in the classroom is a baby step toward getting them to embrace their singing voice and feeling comfortable enough to share that proudly. This past year, my goal was mainly to get my students to feel like their voice is heard. This year, I hope to be able to take this to the next level with goal-setting, student-created rubrics, and self-evaluations.

This coming year, I really want to focus on cultivating a shared vision. Some of our district team is 100% on board. Many are not. They desperately want something to change, but are resistant to changing the methods and educational foundations they know. I hope to inspire other members of my team by modelling the possibilities and outcomes of new-age learning and sharing my strategies and philosophies. I hope to be able to make our "burning platform" more visible to those who chose not to see.

I also am really striving to put more focus into learning progress management. I want to incorporate a self-driven piano progression plan for my 7th grade General Music classes. A "Piano Karate" sort of motivation for practicing and progressing in their piano skills. I am working on a plan for my Sr. High Choir to scaffold recording and self-evaluating skills (which will hopefully benefit their vocal skills!) However, this can only be possible if I also make time for formative feedback. With almost 200 singers 7-12, it can be overwhelming to find the time to provide feedback for each student. It is so important though. In order for for their learning to be customized, their feedback needs to be as well.

This is a new age of education and though it is a bit overwhelming at times, it is an exciting time to be an educator and I am very excited to give my students a more individualized learning experience that really drives them to strive for everything they can be.











Muir, Mike. “10 Key Components of Customized Learning.” Multiple Pathways, 23 May 2012, multiplepathways.info/2012/05/23/10-key-components-of-customized-learning/.

A Whole New World...

Now Aladdin will be stuck in my head for the next few hours, but honestly, as a music teacher, I feel like songs in my head make up a quarter of my thought processes!
Welcome to my blog! It's starting as an assignment for a graduate class, but I hope to make it a more long term commitment to connect, organize, and maybe even put out some information others can find useful too (music or otherwise!).

For the past two years, the school district in which I teach has been moving 1:1 with iPads one grade level at a time. Two years ago, they distributed to the new 7th graders, then last year those students took their iPads to 8th grade and the newest bunch of 7th graders received iPads. Since the first 1:1 class will now be moving into 9th grade, we are jumping all in 1:1 7th-12th so that there is equal tech in all the high school classes.
It's been a crazy, exciting, terrifying, inspiring, and frustrating movement for teachers, students, admin, parents, and our amazing tech crew. 1:1 is a whole brave new world of learning that is exciting, but also new and terrifying in all the change it brings to the traditional learning environment. We are SO fortunate to have the opportunity to put these incredible learning tools in the hands of our students to allow for new forms of anywhere, all-the-time learning from not only our talented and dedicated faculty and staff, but from connections anywhere in the WORLD! However... education through technology is in such a stage of infancy that many members of our school community don't know how to teach and learn with them.

So... I decided to pursue my Masters degree in Educational Technology. (For anyone interested in an MET program or PD in ed tech, I highly recommend Wilson College/Eduspire for a vast, flexible program in ALL things ed tech!) This was a decision mostly for me because technology in the classroom really excites me, but also for my teaching colleagues who are a little wary about tossing all of their traditional education and methods to the wind, for my students, and for any parents who may be a little nervous about their children learning in a completely different way than they did.

My 1:1 Goals for the 2017-2018 School Year

- Be POSITIVE about the 1:1 switch: 

It's an exciting thing, but people are scared of change. 

Shedding a positive light on change makes it a little easier for everyone.

-Teach the device while teaching my material:

I am the music teacher, not the tech teacher, 

but that doesn't mean that I can't include tech skills into my material!

-Be a model of technology use:

If students see me using my iPad for its proper and possible uses, 

they will begin to model those behaviors. This also applies to digital citizenship, social media use, 

as well as copyright and fair use policies

-Infuse learning with the technology

This is where I will find the most challenges. In my subject area, it is important that my students also learn through the human connection and express through examining emotion. My great challenge this year will be finding the balance. 

I'm ready for it! This is an exciting time to be an educator and 

I can't wait to see what our school can accomplish this year! 

Stay tuned!