Technology & Pedagogy

Find my speadsheet at: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtOrJ9gLxqyudHdLN0lrY2c0RmVOZG5TM2VVRnE1U3c&usp=sharing

        I chose to work with this lesson plan because when you're working with a content area such as music, cross curriculum lesson plans are key to forming a solid education for the students. The students will use their prior knowledge from other subject areas to better understand the content in this lesson. After the lesson the students will have a broader understanding of the subject matter for both classes. Although the lesson plan seemed pretty solid, it is not seamless. I think that the goal of showing how visual art and music can inspire the others development was not satisfied by the strategy and procedure used. The lesson plan only has the students analyzing the artwork. The students never analyze the music nor do they cross analyze/compare visual art with music. After analyzing the artwork, they listen to a piece of music and are told to paint a reflection of what they heard. It would have been better to analyze the visual art and then come up with a list of descriptive words that reflect the artwork. Then listen to the music and analyze it. Then come up with a list of descriptive words that reflect the music. (This could have been done in groups) Then cross compare the lists and see their similarities and differences. After elaborating on your findings as to how and why these two art forms reflect one another, play another piece for the class and have the students paint an abstract reflection. The technologies used in this lesson plan were necessary for achieving the proposed goals. Although the lesson plan calls for CD's as opposed to mp3's or youtube, and doesn't particularly state how to show the visual images, I think using a computer with a projector or smartboard is the fastest and most efficient way to get this material to the students.





Lesson plan URL: (http://lessonplanspage.com/artmusicabstractartasavisualmetaphorformusick4-htm/)

Finale - A music dictation software.

Finale is a must have computer software for every music teacher out there. It allows you to be adaptive in whatever situation comes your way. It allows you to be adavite to students individual needs and abilities. And, it's fast and efficient. Finale is a computer software that allows you to dictate notation. It allows you to rearrange other pre-existing pieces to better fit both your ensembles strengths and weaknesses. It also allows you to compose personalized exercises for each students individual needs.

So imagine you're a middle school band teacher and to your surprise your incoming class consists of 13 clarinets, 8 flutes, 0 oboes, 0 English horns, 0 bassoons, 4 alto sax, 1 tenor sax, 0 baritone sax, 3 trombones, 6 trumpets, 0 French horns, 3 euphoniums, 3 tubas, and 4 percussionist. This is an incredibly off balanced ensemble considering 5 of the parts aren't even covered on one side, and on the other you have 14 clarinets. With finale you can take those parts that aren't being covered and write them into the parts of the extra clarinets, alto saxes, and tubas where necessary.

Now imagine you're in a band rehearsal and your first trumpet player keeps messing up syncopated rhythms in two of the pieces you're playing. During your prep period you go to your computer and compose a number of exercises to strengthen his/her's understanding and comfortability of syncopated rhythms. Then, later in the week when you see that student for their weekly lesson you can work on syncopated rhythms using the very personalized exercise sheet which afterwards he/her can take home to practice. As a musician I can't tell you how many times I've gotten "personalized" exercises from teachers and most of the time it was illegible. With the software everything is clean and neat just like it came from a publisher. This software is a perfect example of technology making education more adaptable for the students needs. For this reason I believe every music teacher should have access to this software.              

Technology at the Heart of Education Reform

 I agree with many of the points made in the article "National Ed Tech Plan Puts Technology at the Heart of Education Reform". My initial reaction to the idea of making technology the basic center of education was hesitant, and hostile. But, after reading the article I am able to see it from a different perspective, one which is open to the idea of really using technology to our full advantage, and to it's full potential. For this to work we need to overshoot potential downfalls of technology in the learning environment. We need to experiment with different types of technology bassed learning environments. We need to experiment with these new kinds of interactive/technology guided educational environments.  Technology is the future of education, between online learning communities, interactive educational websites, educational videos, scholarly sources and articles, and so many more. Education reform is a huge topic right now, technology should defiantly play a large role within it.  

 "Technology provides access to a much wider and more flexible set of learning resources than is available in classrooms and connections to a wider and more flexible set of “educators,” including teachers, parents, experts, and mentors outside the classroom. Engaging and effective learning experiences can be individualized or differentiated for particular learners (either paced or tailored to fit their learning needs) or personalized, which combines paced and tailored learning with flexibility in content or theme to fit the interests and prior experience of each learner." 
This is one of the most fascinating elements of this whole technology integration, it is individualized for each students needs and interests. This can get the students more enthusiastic and motivated about learning while being very efficient in the process. I recommend reading this article, it will surly open your mind to a higher level of technology possibilities regarding education. 


http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/11/09/national-ed-tech-plan-puts-technology-at-the-heart-of-education-reform.aspx 

History of Technology in Music education

             In the 1940's listening to records was a new way of encouraging critical listening which is essential for a musician, critically listening to recordings is still a central part of music education today.