Teacher Cast

TeacherCast.net is a really great site and resource for all teachers and future educators. Teachers are welcome to contribute to the site and it is a completely free and reliable site. You can learn about all of the new and latest educational technologies on it. It has many different podcasts, app reviews, videos, blogs, a job center,m mobile applications, videos, media and so much more. Teachers in any content area can use this site as a resource and to keep up with new and upcoming technology information in education. It also has links to email, facebook, twitter, google plus, linkedin, tumblr, and youtube so it is a great way to network. I think everything on this site is really useful and it teaches you about many helpful things you can use to teach with or in your classroom. We as future educators should definitely bookmark this site, it will definitely come in handy down the road. 

Final Project: Reading music with technological help

My lesson plan is teaching students how to read music. Along with just teaching in a more “traditional” based way with a chalkboard, I designed this lesson to incorporate a lot of technology within it in order to help the students learn and understand how to read music. I could still use the chalkboard for this lesson, but in order to incorporate a more technological approach to teaching I will put the students in a computer technology lab so that they can use specific music notation type systems in the learning process. The lab will also have midi keyboards, software, headphones and speakers at each computer so the students could use them during the lesson when needed.

To begin my lesson, I would start by explaining the staff and note names and where each note goes on the staff. While giving this lecture type of introduction to the lesson, I would have several different self made posters of: the music staff labeled staff, the treble clef and bass clef, the treble clef on a staff with the notes, and one of a bass clef on the staff with the bass notes around the main projector as an additional visual aid. Along with the posters, I will have the students computers set up with a music notation software system open in order to facilitate the staff using the treble clef. The treble clef will have each note labeled on the staff (Since they are just learning the staff and notes for the first time, I will teach them about the bass clef and the bass clef notes in another lesson). The notation software on the computers will be going at the same pace as I would be teaching because the lab computers are hooked up to my computer, which is on the projector as well. This will ensure that the students will be on task with me during the lesson because the information is both on their computers and on the projector.

After we covered the beginning basics to the staff and notes, I would teach the students a way to remember the music notes in the staff using mnemonics. For example, on the treble clef I would teach them that the notes in the spaces made the word “FACE” and the notes on the lines could make up something like “Every Good Boy Does Fine.” I would have the students work in small groups of two or three to start to think of their own mnemonic devices to remember the lines and spaces, but for the time being they would reference the example I gave them during class. They will finish making up their own mnemonic devices for the notes on the staff for homework. The students will have the option of working in their groups or making up their own as a part of the homework assignment.

Next, in the student groups of two to three I would have them take the basic notes they just learned and put them in relation to notes on the midi keyboard. This will help the students become more familiar with the notes because not only are they reading the notes, they are now playing them and seeing how it all ties together. Depending on time, after the students have a good understanding of the notes and where they are on the staff, they will be given a piece of sheet music that has a C scale on it on treble clef. The C scale has no sharps or flats in it and uses only the white keys on the keyboard. The students will use their headphones, the sheet music, and midi keyboards to learn the C scale. If they feel really confident with their notes and C scale they could play it for the class or even record themselves to show to their friends and family.To further the lesson as a continuation for the next class I may also let the students experiment with different midi instruments to further learn the notes on the staff and the names of the notes.

I chose the technology adaptations in this lesson as a benefit to the students. The technology adaptations in this lesson make it more understandable and more well-rounded learning environment. By incorporating the technologies I did, it allows the students to learn both the music staff and the notes and note names on it along with indirectly learning how to use computer software, a midi keyboard and notation technologies.

Matrix

TED-Ed

I just stumbled upon this pretty awesome article that talks about a recently new thing for all teachers. It's something all teachers can use and benefit from. It has a lot of great lessons and it has its own youtube channel. It is a part of the youtube/edu channels on youtube and it's videos cover a lot of great information in a short amount of time. It is up to date with new videos added each week, and before the videos are added they are checked out to ensure they are good enough and legit. This is something that is great for both students and teachers all over the world, and is more geared for high school and college level students and teachers. SInce we are future educators, this is definitely something I think we all should check out.


The link to the article is: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/introducing-ted-ed-uniting-the-worlds-great-teachers-and-animators-to-spread-lessons-beyond-the-classroom-142280635.html

Different music blogs

There are hundreds of blogs out there now a days for basically anything you could need or use. While looking at different music blogs, I stumbled across a lot that I think are very useful for musicians, music educators or anyone involved in music. Although a lot of them all have great information, to be more specific The Musician's Way Blog is one of those many music blogs that are really great and useful. The musician's way blog gives it's readers inspiration, practice & performance tips, career advise and a lot more. The blog is attached to their website called Musiciansway. Both the blog and the website are great for aiding to musicianship.

MusTec.net

Mustec.net is a great website filled with a lot of useful information. It has up to date and updated articles, which cover aspects of music technology. It also has different sections on it for music education, music technology, music advocacy, general education, software discussions, hardware discussions, and more. There are so many different parts of this website, it has a lot to offer. I has lists of current live streams that pertain to music technology.  It also has a lot of sites for the collection of freeware, which is pretty awesome. Overall, it is a really awesome site with a ton of information that you should definitely check out, and definitely bookmark for future use. 

Ipad in the classroom

The topic of using ipad's in a classroom is becoming a more thought of and talked about topic today. I found an article/presentation that goes through 102 different ways to incorporate and use the Ipad in a classroom. I think that this is a really great article and it has a lot of different ways to use the ipad in a classroom setting, which shows a more positive outlook on the ipad in a class. I like how every subject can successfully use the ipad in their classroom, so it isn't just for one specific type of  classroom. I like how it talks about music applications and how there are many your students could use to make music, like virtuoso (which is a large keyboard). I think it names a lot of useful applications on it that anyone could really use, or can check out to get for their own personal use also. 

102 ways to use the IPAD in a classroom

Theta Music Trainer

I found a really great music site called Theta Music Trainer. This site is great for music educators, people who want to learn music, incorporating it in a music classroom or for anyone really who wants to check it out in general. This site is definitely a great tool to incorporate in a music classroom because of how much information it has and how much your students can really learn from it. This is a great way to integrate music technology in your classroom. This site helps expand skills in both music theory and aural skills and so much more. It covers fundamental areas in music that are melody, harmony, rhythm, and sound. This site puts learning and training in all musical areas by using game-based approaches, which are both fun and effective. By having a game aspect to this learning it definitely keeps students attention and would make it easy for them to learn these skills. The games also are in different difficulty levels so it's good for really any age. It also has courses in sound & audio, music theory and basic ear training within the site that have different sessions and training courses. It is all free, but if you are a music teacher and want a special music teacher plan which has a lot of stuff in it you can join and there's a fee for those. But, if not there is still the entire site with all of it's offerings for free.