Users can Collect posts into a printable, sortable format. Collections are a good way to organize posts for quick reading. A Collection must be created to tag posts. More Help Thread: Post: Author: Class Blogmeister Class Blogmeister Renee Mendenhall Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 17, 2011 10:35 AM July 17, 2011 12:23 PM Published Class Blogmeister (http://classblogmeister.com/index.php), created by David Warlick, is an online publishing tool intended for teacher and student blogging in the classroom. Most general blogging tools on the web allow anyone to post and comment and are not screened. Class Blogmeister, however, assures student work is appropriate but giving the teacher control of the content. Writings do not go public until approved by the teacher. In addition to sharing words, students can add pictures and videos to enhance their blog entry. There is a convenient searching tool on the front page of Blogmeister. You can search for blogs by country, state, or grade level. Students in grades K - 12 (as well as a few college students) are participating in Blogmeister. Itís neat to see the stats of participants (1,074,792 blogs have been posted!).To sign up, you need to register your school by adding basic school information, receiving a pass code, and then setting up an individual blog. You can customize your classroom page by choosing a template, writing a description of your class and courses, and adding pictures and favorite web links. You then set up individual profiles for each student. A student is able to work on their blog entry and revise until they check the ìpublishî box. An email notification then goes to the teacher, and the teacher can approve the entry for publication or send it back for revision with comments. When a student makes a comment on an entry, the teacher is emailed. The teacher can choose to show or delete the comment or keep the comment hidden. I think this site would be a great tool for use in my music classroom. I was initially unimpressed with the look of the site (the colors and layout) but find the ability to ìcensorî student writing and explore the blogs created in other classrooms around the world valuable. I know my students love being on the internet and writing back and forth to their friends on sites such as Facebook and Myspace. I feel my students may be more motivated to respond to a classroom prompt if they are able to ìpublishî it online for others to see and comment on. Students are also able to add an ìAbout Meî profile to the side of their blogs (which would be fun for students to create). If I was using this in my classroom, I would have students reflect upon listening examples in class or have students choose a piece of music they like and write about it. In addition to writing, they could also add pictures of the composer or band, recordings of the piece, or a video of a performance to enhance the blog entry. I feel students would be much more motivated to produce this form of reflection than simply writing notes down on a piece of paper. It encourages self-expression and creativity. By allowing students to comment on each otherís entries, the class can be engaged in discussion and collaboration. Students may also find it enjoyable to journal about their progress in band class, share their thoughts on a current piece in the concert line-up, or discuss a guest artistís performance. Here is a good example of a class blog created by a 5th grade classroom: http://classblogmeister.com /blog.php?blogger_id=65078 (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: Writeboard Posted Date: July 16, 2011 6:17 PM Writeboard Status: Published April Racana OK 1 of 14 Writeboard is like a simplified version of Google Docs. It is a free site where a group of people can collaborate on a virtual whiteboard. It is set up in a simple format for straight forward use, and can be set up to be password protected so that only the people in the group have access to the document. The format allows a group of users to share text documents, edit them separately or together, and go back to earlier edited versions without losing any later versions created. Advantages are that it allows you to keep track of ideas, for example if you're writing song lyrics and have an idea you don't want to lose, and want to be able to access it from anywhere, and/or want to share it with a co-writer without having to email back and forth. Similar to google docs, you simply add someone's email address and invite them to share the writeboard. This might be especially useful for students who might not have access to google docs or who are younger and could benefit from a simpler format, that might be more straightforward. If two or more students are working together on a report or song-writing project they can each add their ideas and edit without worrying about overwriting, deleting or changing any of their partner's ideas, as you can always go back to earlier versions. There is even a 'compare' button where you highlight the changes that were made so you can easily compare the changes between versions. Another idea that might be interesting to use Writeboard for, is for students to collaborate with other schools at a distance. For example, my school overseas, might be able to set up groups of students to collaborate on a project together. Students could use the Writeboard to share reflections, compositional ideas, feedback and other collaborative endeavors towards a final project. One idea we have been learning about in our Composition class, suggests collaborating with Music Education students at a university to get/give feedback on student compositions. This benefits both the young student and the prospective music teachers as they learn to give and receive feedback in a manner which promotes growth and collaboration in the process of editing and improving their compositions. The Writeboard could be used even at a distance for groups of students and educators to collaborate, or even for two classes to collaborate on a composition together long distance, by sharing verbal ideas on what they have in mind. (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: PBworks PBworks Amber Evey Schmidt Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 16, 2011 4:41 PM July 16, 2011 5:06 PM Published PBworks is a site that hosts workspaces for business, education, and people. These educational workspaces allow teachers, school districts and universities to create collaborative learning environments to help enhance student learning. Teachers are able to build a workspace that gives students the opportunity to respond to questions, work on group projects, and even create their own web page with embedded images and video. The information that teachers or students post can be secured so only people with permission may access and view these items. PBworks features the ability for teachers and students to customize their own look and allows for multi-media to be posted on the workspaces. 2 of 14 I think this site would lend itself to making a great collaborative learning environment for music teaching and learning. I like the way that PBworks allows secure but easy access to students even if they do not have an e-mail address. The format of the workspace and the ability to post multi-media while having a discussion component would be great to use for my final project of creating an interactive musician of the month page. On this page I would post music and videos for my students to look at and then respond to. I just have to check with my IT people to see if this is something that I can use. (We seem to block everything in our district. I.E. Youtube, Google Docs, Google Sites, i-tunes, etc...) http://pbworks.com/ (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: MindMeister MindMeister Nicholas Conner Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 8, 2011 11:12 AM July 14, 2011 8:04 AM Published http://www.mindmeister.com MindMeister is an online, collaborative mind-mapping tool, similar to Inspiration or MindManager. Once an individual creates a map on the MindMeister website, however, the map can be shared and edited by multiple users, allowing for easy development of a map by group. The website offers several levels of their product, including business and education subscriptions. These levels include an admin interface with some useful tools for the teacher. The admin front page lists data on the group members (potentially a class), showing the number of students logged in currently (useful for computer lab time), a breakdown of how each student is contributing to the projects, and how many maps each student has created. The front page also has a feed that shows changes made by students as they happen. In comparison with other mapping software, the online-based nature of this product helps in many ways. Firstly, the online interface loads quickly and updates quickly, which hasnít always been the case with other mind-mapping software that Iíve used. Secondly, apps are available for iPod Touch and iPad, so that students with these devices can work wherever they have wi-fi or 3G. Finally, the ability for each student manipulate the map from his/her computer makes collaboration much more flexible. A friends list can be populated for each student to make it easy to create work groups for specific projects. One large downside that I can see is the lack of a chat module, which would be helpful when collaborating from different locations. This could be circumvented through any number of chat clients, but it would be nice to have the capability in-software. I see several great ways to integrate this software into my classroom. Firstly, students could explore online resources to learn about music in a computer lab setting by creating an existing map with several questions or topics to be researched, then allowing 3 of 14 students to populate the map with responses over the course of a class period. The resultant maps could then be reviewed by the entire class so that all students are aware of the context of the concert repertoire. This could become an especially creative project if students are encouraged to attach artwork or links to video (another feature of the software) to their responses. Another benefit is the ability to attach assignments to specific entries on the map. Students could use their personal access to the map at home to remind them of what needs to be practice for the upcoming playing test. MindMeister will email students a reminder that the assignment needs to be completed, and once students mark it completed in their mind map, the feed on the admin page will signify that the student is done (and that I will have a recording to grade). Overall, this tool has potential to be useful both for students and teacher. Performance skill maps would allow students to better visualize the course of instruction as they improve, as well as providing a clear organization to the assignments they receive. Also, using this software to structure collaborative research time streamlines the information gathering process, and allows students to collaborate remotely, freeing up time for playing instruments in class while moving research time to home. (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: Voicethread Voicethread Jamee Rund Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 6, 2011 10:34 AM July 13, 2011 1:45 PM Published VoiceThread is a website that lets members have group discussions around various media, or slide shows. Basically, you can upload an image, video, or document, and people can leave comments or have discussions. The unique thing about VoiceThread is that comments can be made in various ways; while you have the option of leaving a text comment, you can also leave a voice comment using a mic or your phone, a video, or a audio file. The final product is called a VoiceThread, and users can share it with specific people or make it public. The site is organized simply and intuitively; the home page gives you succinct information about VoiceThread and provides you with the option to learn more through VoiceThread tutorials, check out the products VT offers, (especially for education) get help, browse VoiceThreads that are made public, create your own, and check out your "cabinet" of VoiceThreads, called "MyVoice". VoiceThreads give users the convenience of facilitating online discussions, and the ability to hear someone's voice when they comment (or watch them, if they choose video). The site boasts that this format provides more of a sense of community than traditional online discussions, since often the inflection in someone's voice can provide more information, or rather, it better represents a person's true voice than text alone. Instead of downloading an application, everything is contained on VoiceThread's site, so it works like Facebook, where you have a profile and a little pic that represents you. When you create a VoiceThread, you upload whatever media you'd like, and if you want to "narrate", your pic comes up next to it and a little cartoon "text box" pops up with a speaker icon showing that you're "speaking". If others would like to comment, their profile pic does the same. As the creator, you can determine who can participate in your VoiceThread; you may share it (with the option to comment) with individuals, a class, or you can make it public. 4 of 14 Thread: Post: Author: Soundcloud Posted Date: July 13, 2011 10:49 AM Soundcloud Status: Published Shane O'Shea In the era of 'cloud' technology I thought this maybe of interest. This site offers anyone, anywhere an opportunity to share sounds, music, compositions etc. You can upload your 'sound' and it creates it in waveform for you. This is probably the strongest aspects of this site. Your friends and fans can listen to your creation, and comment exactly to the timed waveform, giving opinion and suggestions for improvement. This is where I can see a positive use in the classroom, as the teacher can on and comment on a students work. This then can be sent to the student automatically and the student receives a note, via a desktop set up, that comments have been made. Therefore it is quick and easy, and offers the teacher a very user friendly and efficient way of commenting on class submissions. This site also offers the chance to connect to over 100 applications, free and all useful to aid in working on and sharing your creation. There is also a cool recording feature, based on the KORG iMS-20, which can enthuse even the most negative students. Your work can then be linked to social sites such as Twitter and Facebook. Overall this is can be used in numerous ways in the classroom. For example, classroom compositions done during class, can be uploaded immediately, thus allowing the teacher to feedback quickly and when the students work is still in there heads. Anything that allows a teacher to time manage more efficient is a valuable tool. www.soundcloud.com (Post is Unread) When others comment, their pic gets put to the side of the thread. These can be set to play automatically, or you can select the pics to select which comments you'd like to hear or view. Anyone can use VoiceThread, all it takes is an account linked to your email, but it seems to be used largely for education. In fact, Penn State has formalized use of VoiceThread by purchasing a network of accounts for the entire student and faculty population. There are many possibilities for VoiceThread use in education. It is ideal for discussing visual art, because of the focus on the visual component, but I have seen it used in music, where the student composed their own short piece, and the image was simply the document of the music. The "narrating comment" was then the performance of the piece. This lets others see what they're hearing, and then of course contribute any comments. Others have made a video of their music class performing, and then inviting comments from there, simply as a critique. The commenting feature, probably the most important part of VoiceThread, lends to facilitating discussion and reflection well. Since reflection is a major element of being a musician, VoiceThread can be a valuable tool to promote this, and can be used for performance critiques, journal entries, response to exercises in class, or explanations of work. For music classes, it might work best to use video as the center of the discussion, but there is also the possibility to post an image and have student post audio responses in reaction to the image, in addition to leaving other kinds of comments. This allows you to have engaging discussions outside of class, providing students have access to the site. (Post is Unread) Thread: Facebook! Posted Date: July 12, 2011 9:12 PM Post: Facebook! Status: Published 5 of 14 Author: Stacey McCormick I think that Facebook would be a great tool to use in your classroom. As the teacher, you could create a group for your class or performance group. You could invite students to join (or parents too), and they don't have to "friend" anyone else in the class to join the group. (An important suggestion is if doing this, create a professional profile for yourself that is separate from your personal one.) Once students have joined this group, there is much that can be accomplished through this tool. You can post announcements for the students (and parents) to see. A calendar can be created that will show any dates and times for any upcoming performances, events, etc. Chats can be held between group members from this page. Additionally, documents can be posted. Unfortunately there doesn't appear to be a way to upload existing documents, though they could be copied and pasted into the document-writing field. Photo albums can be created as well. The Facebook site also allows for posting links to videos- you could post a link to a Youtube video of a piece for the upcoming concert so that the students could refer to it to help them learn their parts and get the feel for the work. Also, videos of your groups' performances may be posted as well. You can also link to useful websites. One of the coolest tools on Facebook Groups is that you can post polls for the members, such as a poll deciding on the next t-shirt color and design. As the administrator of the group, you have control over everything on the site. Just be sure to monitor it regularly, to watch for any inappropriate posts by students or parents. A disadvantage to using this tool would be that not everyone has access to internet... and most schools have Facebook blocked on their school computers, which then presents an issue for these particular students. Contrastingly, most students do already know how to use and navigate Facebook. Facebook groups is still developing, though it could prove to be a great tool to music teachers. I look forward to using it in the future. http://www.facebook.com/ http://www.onlinecollege.org/2009/10/20/100-ways-you-should-be-using-facebook- in-your-classroom/ (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: edublogs edublogs Michael Ross Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 10, 2011 7:03 PM July 10, 2011 7:21 PM Published http://edublogs.org/ Their website claims that they are the "World's Most Popular Education Blogging Service" though I don't know where their data comes from. The offer 3 different levels of service, Free, Pro, and Campus. Obviously only one of those options is free, and of course there are more advanced features available at the levels you have to pay more for. Some of the features include: 6 of 14 Creating blogs Creating posts and pages Posting images & audio Storage of 20 MB, 10 GB, or Unlimited Either some advertisements or no advertisements Free Themes, Premium Themes Embedding videos Mobile blogging Having your own domain name Varying levels of support Forums Threaded discussions Comments Video comments Community wikis Friends & Messages Uploading custom themes Requesting new features (Post is Read) Thread: Wallwisher Posted Date: July 6, 2011 10:52 AM 7 of 14 Post: Wallwisher Edited Date: July 9, 2011 4:20 PM Author: Kala Lorey Status: Published Wallwisher is a ìsticky-noteî program that can be used for making comments on a thread. To sign up, you must choose a username and provide an email address. It is very simple and user friendly to do so! When you receive a confirmation email, you then are welcome to create a new ìwall.î Each wall is simply a discussion which members can make comments on. If you are the administrator for the wall, you can also choose to ìsee comments before postingî so that you can make sure all comments are on subject and appropriate for your students to see. I thought this was a great feature for school-aged children! Another thing that I thought was really great about this site is that you do NOT create a profile, so no personal information is being shared. I think this is important for keeping an air of professionalism to the discussions if this program were to be used in the classroom. Every wall that you make is essentially for a new subject. Walls can be customized based on formats provided to you by the website. You are asked to provide a picture (and they have some you may choose from or you can upload one of your own pictures), a title for the page, and directions from those leaving posts. Posts look like sticky notes and are formatted to look like the theme of each page. Each site can be found with a URL personal to the discussion. When you log into your account, all of the walls that you have created are shown and you can see how many posts have been applied to your wall, and you can also moderate and edit the wall. Another option for this program is that you can be the only person allowed to leave notes a post. This might act as a great way to brainstorm for a project, or you can have your students use this site to collaborate as a group for a project during class. Then these walls can be saved, and you can have your students choose to show the wall so you can see their work during class. I think this site has a lot of potential for classroom activities. First of all, it might be a great way to make announcements, and each student (or parent!) can post that they received this announcement. It would be a great way to collaborate between classes, and each student, especially those not as apt to speak up during class, can make a brief post on their opinion or ideas. Finally, this site also features a blog to keep current with what is going on, and it links to Twitter, so students may find it even more appealing. The one problem that I can see with this site is that it is still working out some of the kinks in the program, however, I have been able to use it with no problem! In fact, I made a test, site for our class, so feel free to leave a comment! WALL LINK: http://www.wallwisher.com/wall/nutechnology (Post is Unread) Thread: http://turntable.fm/ Posted Date: July 7, 2011 6:11 PM 8 of 14 Post: http://turntable.fm/ Status: Published Author: James Baum This is a really cool new site that answers the critics of ipods who say that they way kids are getting their music now shuts them down to other people while they listen. Unfortunately it's still in it's beta testing stages so it's not open to everyone, you have to have a facebook friend who is currently using the website. Luckily for you, I am using the site, so if you want to check it out and currently don't have a friend on facebook using the site, add me as your friend. The site is basically a chat room for music lovers, but with a twist. Once you log into the site, you can choose from various rooms featuring different styles of music. Once you are in the room, there will be up to five DJ's who take turns playing their music from their computers. If there isn't five, than you could be the fifth DJ. as one DJ selects a track for everyone to listen to, the listeners in the room vote on the tune, if enough people dig it, the track continues, but if people hate it, it will stop playing. The DJ's earn points based off your votes too, that way they can buy more avatars (i'm not exactly sure why). For more information about how the site works check out this video:
The coolest thing about this site to me is that it's connecting people from around the world through music. While the music plays, people discuss the piece currently playing. That's also the potential downside from an educational stand. The comments aren't censored, so there can be some bad language. Usually though the comments are clean and contain really interesting discussion about the song playing or the style itself. The other really cool experience while using the site is the diversity of music one will hear when entering a room. It widens your listening pallet and exposes you to stuff you might not normally hear. It's about hte closest thing to live music, or old time Live DJ'd radio you can get now a days. The safest way to use this in a classroom would be to have your students log on and then create a room for your class online. Then the students could all join that room. The students could then take turns being the DJ, and all could discuss the music while it plays. This would also give the teacher "censoring" abilities. You might be asking "why not just set this up in real life?" There are several advantages to using this site. To begin with, it's fun, new, and hip, so kids are going to naturally be attracted to it. More importantly, the typing to each other allows people to listen to the music while discussing the music with each other. In real life, as soon as someone starts talking then you stop listening. Additionally, it allows every student to have the same voice. some students aren't good at articulating their ideas verbally and this gives those students a leg up on discussion. The big question is how to use this site in the classroom? I think the most practical purpose would be in a critique/music review unit. Students could informally review music together as a class while the teacher moderates the discussion to make sure that all students are participating and contributing to the exercise rather than goofing around. This could be a really fun site to use, now if only they would pull the facebook requirement so that we could actually use it in the classroom. 9 of 14 (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: Brightcecilia Classical Music Forum Brightcecilia Classical Music Forum Jennifer O'Donnell Posted Date: Status: July 7, 2011 1:01 PM Published Social Computing Site for Music Teachers: Brightcecilia Classical Music Forums http://brightcecilia.com/forum/ Brightcecilia is a non-profit classical music forum and social network site for those not only interested in classical music but all genres related as well. Brightcecilia gives listeners the ability to listen to music as early as the Medieval time period all the way to more contemporary music as well as the genre of popular music. Members include musicians of all ages, music teacher, composers, and music enthusiast. Members come from all over the world and range in a variety of abilities, interests, and expertise. This is a safe site so music teachers can feel comfortable including their music students to such a site although students need to be over the age of 13. Your Brightcecilia profile can include threads and posts, announcements, tags, cookies, calendars, communication with other members social groups, friends and contacts. You can also include pictures and images, and attachments. Plus, personalizing your settings can allow you to remain as private or public as the user would like. This can provide great security for your students and also allow you to set up a social group for only the teacher and the students to view. The music teacher can then share music and ask for comments (threads) from students (and only receive comments from the students). If I were to integrate this social network into my teaching, I would create an account that allowed me to create a social network group for only my students and myself to view. I would initiate topics often that ask students their comments and input on various musical topics. I would pick listening suggestions that tied into class discussions but also stretch their ability to listen to music that they might not listen to regularly. This would provide a safe environment for students to discuss music outside of the music classroom and hopefully spark new musical interests for all my music students. Also, since this site offers special features like music calendars, announcements and the ability to post pictures and podcasts, I could include more of what is going on in the music classroom into this site. I could update the music calendar with our concerts and other musical events students might be interested in attending. I could include announcements that are reminders of what was said in class. Plus, I could post pictures of rehearsals, classroom or school events to the site as well. I could also record rehearsals and ask students to comment on what they heard and how we could fix problem areas in future rehearsals. I could also post concert recordings so students can listen to and share these recordings with others. I find Brightcecilia to be a good quality social network site that as a teacher, I can feel comfortable allowing my students to 10 of 14 explore, listen to and discuss a variety of musical topics. (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: Glogster Glogster Jesse Rathgeber Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 4, 2011 3:20 PM July 6, 2011 8:37 PM Published http://edu.glogster.com/ Glogster is a social networking site that allows users to create, share, collaborate, and comment on interactive posters. Glogster was launched in 2007 and became popular, as a tool for expressing personal creativity and self expression. The initial popularity was especially concentrated among teenager. In 2009, Glogster EDU was launched in an effort to parlay the siteís popularity for use in educational settings. Glogs are graphical blogs where users (called glogers) can upload and manipulate images, audio, and video along with shapes and text to create unique interactive posters that can be shared. Also, Glogster allows users to embed YouTube videos into their glogs by simply supplying the hyperlink. The site relies on Adobe flash and its basic subscription level is free. Glogster itself is open to any users, and the glogs can be shared and embedded within Facebook, Wikispaces, and in personal websites. Glogs can be commented on and rated, however one must also be registered and have a login ID with glogster to make use of this feature. Glogster EDU is more tailored towards teacher and student use. Teachers may create an account for free and create a virtual classroom page and for up to 50 students. The basic features of Glogster EDU allow teachers to keep track of their student work and control if and how student glogs are shared. With a yearly subscription at the premium level, educators can create class pages, projects, and assessments. They can also communicate with students (and vice-versa) and experience gloging without advertising. Overall, Glogster EDU tries to empower teachers to engage their students with Web 2.0 tools that encourage creativity and collaboration. As a tool for educators, Glogster EDU has some very interesting possibilities for use in a music education setting. The first possible application would be to use Glogster as a learning/presentation tool. Teachers could create unique and eye catching visual aids and and interactive lessons. One might easily create a glog highlighting a major composer or period of music history include pictures, text descriptions, audio files of exemplar works, and even videos. The glog could be posted on a class webpage for students to further explore at home. A teacher might also include discussion questions on the psge for students to comment on below the glog. By making a collection of glogs, teachers could create interactive, virtual encyclopedias and tutorials for their students to use in a variety of settings. Another application for Glogster EDU is as a student tool for creating and displaying material via independent work and as part of a collaborative team. Students could create posters about their favorite musicians and genres or even biographic glogs about composers. Students might also be interested in utilizing Glogster for purely creative reasons. A music teacher could have their students select/create a poem or picture, build a glog around it, and then have them create musical compositions to fit it. The collaborative aspect of Glogster might also allow students to work in teams to research or present theory analysis, compositions, history reports, or other class material. Teachers can comment on a student or students work and even utilize student glogs as assessments for musical understanding. 11 of 14 Thread: Post: Author: WikiSpace Posted Date: July 6, 2011 3:51 PM WikiSpace Status: Published Julie Simms (Post is Read) (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: Evernote Evernote Lauren Roznowski Posted Date: Edited Date: Status: July 5, 2011 7:52 AM July 6, 2011 12:31 PM Published 12 of 14 Evernote is a social computing website and computer program that has great possibilities for use in the classroom. Evernote is slightly similar to Google Docs in that it is an online ìcloudî system of record taking. The negative is that you must download Evernote to a home device (most likely a computer), but on a positive note, screen shots, pictures, recordings and video can all be clipped and attached to a note. You can then access your Evernote with any digital device (computer, tablet, phone). Both teachers and students can use Evernote independently and together in effective ways. As a teacher, one great way to use Evernote is to scan completed tests to hand them back to students sooner, then enter grades at a later time. A teacher could also create a public note (which everyone with a link can see) with lecture notes, pictures of the chalkboard, or videos, for student use/resources at home. Classes can also be recorded with a phone, and then posted as audio in an Evernote. Every note can be assigned a specific tag that is relevant to a particular topic. For example, I created a note called Chamber Orchestra, in which I place all information about my Chamber Orchestra. I tag every note ìMosaic Concertî that is relevant to this particular concert. If I made the note public, my students could easily find all the information they need to know about the Mosaic Concert. As a private note, I can sort all of my information regarding this one concert. The most useful way to use Evernote in my own practice has been to research the pieces of music my orchestras will perform. I can clip screenshots of various websites or images that may be useful to me, then go back and read over the organized information later when I have time. Even if I do the research at school, I can still access everything at home. I teach with a strong interdisciplinary focus, so when I find a painting, poem, or other artifact that I wish to use as a connection to a piece of music we will perform, I can keep track of them all in one place, ready to be used as a resource when I begin teaching that unit. Evernote could also be used as the foundation or sorting area for podcast creation. If you would like to include various sound clips, video recordings, and images, you can collect all this information in an Evernote, then create the podcast with all your information in one place. Students can use Evernote to take notes for class. If they have a laptop or ipad (or are very adept at typing on their phone), they can forgo the traditional paper notebook and type their notes into Evernote. This is especially useful because they can access these notes from any computer, tablet, or phone. If they are on their home computer, in a school computer lab, or simply on the go with their smartphone, they will have access to their class notes. I write a lot of announcements on the chalkboard, especially as my orchestra nears a big fundraiser or event. Many of my students use their smartphone to take a picture of the chalkboard to help them remember these announcements. With Evernote, they could send the picture to a note, and organize it with other important class information, and access it from a computer as well as their phone. Finally, Evernote has a text recognition function that allows scanned documents to be transferred into text that can be edited and highlighted. PDF files cannot be edited on their own, but once they are imported into Evernote, the possibilities are endless. Evernote is an extremely useful tool for both students and teachers and best of all, itís free! I have found it useful both personally and professionally. The program can be downloaded here: http://www.evernote.com/ (Post is Unread) Thread: Post: Author: GoAnimate Posted Date: July 5, 2011 7:50 PM GoAnimate Status: Published Heather Busch At first glance I thought, "cartoons?" How do cartoons relate to teaching kids about music? (Kind of a duh moment). After browsing through the website without actually making a login account, I discovered different useful areas that would enhance music projects in the classroom. By using pre-made videos, students can create characters, which could then be used as a part of a lesson, for example, students explaining the process of "how to" do something. It would be a creative way to assess knowledge. Some of the themes would be deemed inappropriate, but good news, there's an educator version that includes themes, 13 of 14 Thread: Post: Author: Teaching Music in the 21st Century Blog Teaching Music in the 21st Century Blog Christopher Jamrose Posted Date: Status: July 3, 2011 11:35 PM Published Link: http://teachingmusic.posterous.com/ Description: Brian Wis is a high school music teacher (St. Charles North) in the western suburbs of Chicago. His blog first started as a resource to help music teachers incorporate technology, but has transformed to a website rich with ideas and acts as a communication tool for educators. Within the past few months Brian has fused all of his sites he reads (google reader) into an online magazine for music educators. Using his google reader and RSS feeds, he pulls all of his articles and combines them into a program that can be read using e-readers, iPads (using flipboard...very powerful app!), or a PDF. You have the option of downloading any article individually, or collectively. The website functions as a blog. Anyone can create a posterous as their service is free to use! When one writes a blog, you can tag the blog or file it under multiple tag names so they are easier to search for at a later date. When reviewing Brian's blog, I always check his technology tags because Brian write frequently about the latest technology he can find/use and always provides thoughtful ideas as to how to use the technology in the classroom. What can teachers learn from this website? Brian blogs, however he is also on twitter, musicPLN.org, and facebook. If you're a band person, you might belong to a group he created: I'm A Band Director. The lesson I think is the importance of using the power of collaboration with technology. I have started following many other teachers who share blogs just like Brian because they will re-tweet a post of his or comment on an article. I have learned more from these websites and blogs than I have from attending professional conferences. I think the very least a teacher can do is sign up for Twitter so one can have access to the knowledge and ideas that are available on the internet. (Post is Read) such as Dance, Global Warming, Literature (Of Mice and Men), and other subject areas. I'm not sure how I would incorporate this into my curriculum unless I reserved a computer lab and spent a couple days teaching students who to make an educational video demonstrating a certain skill. http://goanimate4schools.com/public_index (Post is Unread) 14 of 14
]Daily ROCK Author: Amber Evey Schmidt Posted Date: July 11, 2011 12:44 AM Edited Date: July 16, 2011 4:34 PM Status: Published I found it very difficult to find a pod-cast that a teacher actually kept doing. Many pod-casts I found had some good material, and it appears as if the teacher or creator had the best of intention, but they did not continue or did not publish very many pod-casts. I would guess this happens because of time constraints and the work that one has to do planning what to post. The video pod-cast I found is for designed for 4th and 5th grade students learning how to read rhythms. Mr. Selak only made two video pod-casts: Daily ROCK Lesson 1, Released March 31st, 2010- Learn about quarter notes and quarter rests.Daily ROCK Lesson 2, Released March 31st, 2011- Learn how to read eighth notes and review quarter rests.Each pod-cast is just under 4 minutes. ROCK stands for Rhythm of Classroom Kids. [ http://k5tunes.com/dailyrock ]http://k5tunes.com/dailyrock[ http://k5tunes.com/dailyrock ]http://k5tunes.com/dailyrock Bill Selak records his computer screen using garage band and records his voice explaining what he wants his students to learn or do. He has the students clap different rhythms with him and with the instruments that he has chosen for garage band tracks. I like his idea and wish I could see more to see the progression that he chose but he did not continue any pod-casts after the second one. I think pod-casts could be very valuable for students, but there is the ever present issue of time. I think that is the biggest issue, because I found many teachers that had started pod-casts with information for students, or pod-casts teachers posted to display student work. The one thing that most of them had in common was the fact that they didn't post very many and didn't continue creating pod-casts. If I were to use a pod-cast, I think I would use it to display what work is happening in our classroom and students individual work. [ Amy Burns PreK-3 Blog & Podcast Post: [ Author: Julie Simms Posted Date: July 14, 2011 2:02 PM Status: Published [ http://web.mac.com/awillisburns/Amy_M._Burns/Amy_M._Burns.html ]http://web.mac.com/awillisburns/Amy_M._Burns/Amy_M._Burns.html Amy is a pre K-3 music teacher who uses her site as a blog/podcasting site related to music education. The site includes information about her background, experiences, performances, her teaching, and provides resources such as articles or links for music educators. The podcast component is used in links to the various grade levels she teaches. She updates each grade level with audio/visual clips of drawings, animations, and recordings that her students have created. She uses the podcast to present classroom recording of singing, playing Orff instruments, student compositions and other creative projects. She has set up RSS feed to subscribe to her podcasts. I think her podcast section is valuable. I was thinking about it from the perspective of a parent and how much I would enjoy this little sneak peak into what my child does in the his/her music class. I also think it is great for the students to see their work 'published.' It must give them a great sense of pride to be able to show their work to the parents or even just to listen to something that they made for fun. For the teacher, these podcasts also document the projects that she has worked on throughout the grade levels and provide great examples to other teachers and administrators. If I had the opportunity to post a podcast, I would probably do something very similar to Amy. I would mainly use it to showcase student's work organized by grade level or ensemble. I think it would be great to add the ability to respond to the podcasts so that students could comment on their own or each other's work. It would also be nice to allow parents that same opportunity. Another idea is using the podcast as a teaching tool. I could post videos or music that will connect to an assignment or the next day's lesson. I could explain homework assignments and inspire discussions if the site was set up with the ability for students to respond to the podcast. James Baum Posted Date: July 13, 2011 7:25 AM Edited Date: July 13, 2011 7:55 AM Status: Published [ http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=62&Itemid=140 ]http://www.bamradionetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=62&itemid=140 This podcast focuses on the relationship of learning and music. It uses current research to back up any claims being made, so it sort of acts as a literature review for any research that links cognitive ability to involvement in music. They phone in top researchers in the field to answer questions about their research. This podcast does not offer it's listeners the opportunity to respond, nor does it incorporate a visual. I'm not sure that I buy into the whole podcast movement, especially in an educational setting. I feel like we are drowning in a pool of media and podcasts are not the life preservers that I would grab for. I like to use youtube for similar purposes. Youtube is much easier to search and find more relevant material that always incorporates a visual. I can't imagine myself finding a podcast without a visual and trying to get students to listen to it. Personally, I've only ever enjoyed a podcast on long distance road trips. They are a welcome break to listening to music for 10 hours straight. But even then, I only listen to podcasts of radio shows like "wait, wait, don't tell me". These are more entertainment based, and less educational. If I were to create a podcast, I would probably use it to review and spread the news of the local unsigned acts that I love to hear downtown. I would do it for my students who don't have access to this music just yet. It would also help these bands by boosting their album sales, hopefully. However, I wouldn't make my students listen to it for a grade. Author: Stacey McCormick Posted Date: July 12, 2011 7:19 PM Status: Published [ http://dmsmusic.podomatic.com/ ] http://dmsmusic.podomatic.com/ This is a podcast that is run by a music teacher at Demarest Middle School. Some of the posts are audio alone, though some do include video. This podcasting site allows for students to record themselves at home and submit it to their teacher for approval and posting. Many of the posts are solo performances. There are quite a few posts however that are music projects that were completed at school, including some GarageBand projects, rhythm ensembles, or mixed groups of singers with GB beats overtop of it. Guests are allowed to leave comments on the posts only if they sign in as a member. The teacher also posts school-wide announcements on the site for viewing. I think that this is a great site for showcasing the talent of students, and what projects/performances occur in the classroom. It is simple. There is hardly any written text, except some to explain some projects or performances. I think that having a site like this would encourage the students to practice more with the excitement of having one of their performances posted on the internet to share with others. It also may encourage more creativity with student compositions and arrangements. If I had an audio or video podcast, I would like to do it similar to this, though I would also like include links to important documents and websites, include important upcoming dates and reminders, and post notes to parents. I am not sure if this particular site format allows for that additional type of information. [ ] Mark as Unread Thread: Woodstation Elementary Post: [ ]Woodstation Elementary Author: Jamee Rund Posted Date: July 11, 2011 10:43 PM Edited Date: July 12, 2011 1:32 PM Status: Published *NOTE* I did not catch that this particular podcast had been covered until I had already completed most of this project. Since the thread was titled "Dr. Lake" previously, it slipped by, and I begun to cover it. I only discovered it was the same before I wrote the last two paragraphs. My apologies to Lauren!
I found this podcast referenced on musictech.net, where there had been a presentation about "Podcasting for PR, Information Exchange, and the classroom" posted by the site's authors. The podcast was shown as an example of what music teachers are doing with podcasting. The podcast's creator, Dr. Lane, uses it mainly to share with families of his students what is happening in music class, and the show is usually features three or four short performances by various classes. It always begins with a simple jingle about Woodstation (I guess because it gives a sense of familiarity- smart choice) and then is hosted by a different group or class of students who apparently "write" the MC parts to the show. After the class performances, Dr. Lane usually comes on and gives more information about how to get involved with Woodstation (including a ridiculously long email address) and the podcast ends with some more "jingle" music- perhaps created in GarageBand. The podcast seems to be updated consistently, about once or twice a month, and seems to involve the students while maintaining a professional quality; there aren't long pauses, there is music in the background when kids are talking (like what happens on the news) and the pace of the entire show is quick, keeping it interesting while demonstrating what kids are working on. It has no pictures or video to follow, but I believe that this only makes the listener more intent on what sounds the kids are creating. As a (future) parent, I can understand how this podcast could be useful in helping me to show my child that I cared about the work they were doing in music and potentially for bragging about my kids' music program to other parents. However, the content is really focused on the performance of elementary school kids' song and Orff arrangements/compositions so I'n not sure I'd want to go the extra mile and put it on my iPod. As a teacher, if I had the opportunity to create a podcast, I think I'd use it in much the same way Dr. Lane uses his; to share students' work with parents and the community. Mine would be based on students' progress, much like Dr. Lane's, but I think it would be interesting to other teachers if I also had a component where students would discuss their views of what they were working on, and include parts that were challenging, why, and what solutions they were using to tackle the problem. I think I would use video for this though, since too much talking without visual demonstration could get boring. This extra element (besides performance) could help parents (well, and admin. too) see exactly how their students worked through problems, and provide a resource for other music students of the same level while documenting the progress, not just the performance, of my students. Author: Nicholas Conner Posted Date: July 8, 2011 11:10 AM Edited Date: July 12, 2011 10:29 AM Status: Published I found a blog/podcast on the iTunes store called "Music Tech for ME: Music Technology for Music Education by Music Educators." The podcast features Keith Mason, Coordinator of Music Technology at Belmont University (Nashville, TN), and Joe Pisano, Professor of Music Technology and Director of Bands at Grove City College (Grove City, PA). This blog addresses uses of new technology for both professional development and for classroom use. For instance, the most recent episode discusses the use of Twitter for music educators. The authors focused in on the use of hash tags to make music education information from hundreds of users immediately available. Both of these authors maintain webpages: Keith runs musictechforme.com, and Joe runs mustech.net. Both of these pages boast a wealth of information and resources for music educators interested in utilizing technology to improve instruction. The podcast, combined with the websites, is an extremely valuable resource that clearly explain how to put to use new technologies. If I were to use podcast as a communicative medium, I would most likely start by creating mini-lessons (audio and video) for the technical content learned in lessons, that students could play at home to review. Eventually, I think it would be helpful to create a "weekly buzz" podcast that parents could subscribe to in order to receive a weekly overview of assignments, concerts, or other pertinent information. Ultimately, the ability to push information out to parents and students would make it more likely that they receive and read/hear important announcements. The audio might also be helpful for families who may have strong spoken English skills, but are weaker with written English. : Selection from UK Post: [ https://courses.northwestern.edu/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=li... ]Selection from UK Author: Shane O'Shea Posted Date: July 11, 2011 10:59 AM Status: Published I choose this website as it offers many examples of podcasting, all subject areas. It collects podcasts coming out of the UK. It delivers in all subjects, search for your subject and see. It is relatively up to date, and displays great examples of the positive way to use podcasting in the classroom. To fully understand the capabilities of Podcasting and how we can use it in the classroom it is essential to not just look at music education examples, but all subjects areas for inspiration and new ideas. Also, it opens the door to interdisciplinary work, collaborations with other departments within your school. The ways I can use this are numerous and vast. Here is the website link: http://www.podcastingnews.com/details/www.recap.ltd.uk/podcasts.rss/view.htm An interesting article in the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/technology/techspecial2/25podcast.html [ ]VoiceBox Author: William Lea Posted Date: July 8, 2011 11:32 AM Edited Date: July 11, 2011 9:26 AM Status: Published [ http://info.voicebox-media.org/search/label/podcasts ]http://info.voicebox-media.org/search/label/podcasts This is a blog that is related to the NPR station in the Bay Area in California. The blog is entirely about singing. The show can run about an hour alone. The one podcast that caught my attention was a show that featured two high school choir directors. This particular show is archived under the June 24th show. The shows are an hour long and mostly feature singers, teachers of singing, or stories about people who are doing something new and exciting in the world of vocal music. The most recent show was titled "Hawaii Sing-O: On the Art of Hula Singing." There are some very interesting discussions that take place between the host, Chloe Veltman, and the frequent educator guests. Of particular note is the fact that she has a trained music background, and she still currently sings in choral groups and programs classical music for NPR. Within the site itself there isn't much along the lines of social media, but they do have a Facebook page that provides listeners an area to share comments. As a teacher I really do enjoy hearing a talk program with true musical chops featuring relevant topics in my field. ]Stanley Middle School Music Department Author: Renee Mendenhall Posted Date: July 10, 2011 9:16 PM Edited Date: July 11, 2011 8:50 AM Status: Published I found some interesting and valuable podcasts on the Stanley Middle School Music Department' s website [ http://stanleymusic.org/podcasts ](http://stanleymusic.org/podcasts). The most recent podcasts introduce the teachers that are a part of the music department. Each teacher (on video) talks briefly about their background and their hopes for the students in the upcoming year. The teachers seem very happy to be working at the school. I am sure incoming students will be excited to "meet" their teachers online before coming to school the first day. Another podcast shares excerpts from rehearsals and theory classes during a summer jazz workshop. It begins with an introduction of who is involved then an introduction by one the workshop instructors. It goes on to talk about the focus of the lesson - pentatonic scales (the history, construction, use, etc.). Some of the other podcasts include a demonstration of SmartMusic Studio (with student involvement), visits from professional musicians (with commentary), tips on teaching double and triple tonguing, talks about tone quality and pitch control, and coaching sessions. People of the community, parents, and students (both present and former) talk about the music program in another podcast. This is really neat because prospective students (and their parents) can listen to this podcast and know what to expect in the program. This is a great plug for the program! It seems that the director has a lot of support from the community. No students have responded to the podcast. There is a section to send comments to the department but no comments are shown on the website. My school website does not support podcasts, but if I was able to include them I would include introductions of the teachers in my music department, student interviews, recordings of performances, and specific instrument tips for students. ] Mark as Unread Thread: Freedom Middle School Band Podcast Post: ]Freedom Middle School Band Podcast Author: Michael Ross Posted Date: July 10, 2011 6:51 PM Status: Published [ http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freedom-middle-school-band/id193082010 ]http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/freedom-middle-school-band/id193082010 I was looking for a podcast from a school band, and I found this one that was interesting. I couldn't find anything that was current--this one posted 9 episodes, the most current from 2007. But it is still listed in iTunes. In his podcasts, the Middle School band director "Mr. Hoovler" first gives announcements for parents and students, which he calls "News." This includes information about all-district band auditions, due dates for practice journals, permission slips, fundraisers, and concert dates. He sometimes gives practice suggestions, and tells students and parents what music the students should be practicing. Each episode he ends with performances by students. He plays model examples of recorded student performances. He uses this to motivate students to keep practicing--if you submit one of the best recordings, then on the podcast he reads your name, plays the recording, and says something like "way to go Susie, keep up the great work" or "you rock" for everyone to hear that listens to the podcast. I have my students regularly submit recordings of their playing through SmartMusic, so I could easily do something like this. I'm not sure if I would have enough time to though. He also includes some humor, funny background sounds, trivia questions about music they are working on, and sometimes plays games like an "email scavenger hunt" with something to search for on the band webpage. The motivation and humor seemed to work from the limited perspective I have on this, because students posted on the iTunes page comments like "Mr. Hoovler is awesome" and things like that. He says things like "if you want to make it on the next podcast, then keep practicing!" It sounds quite time consuming, but does sound like a creative way to motivate students. But this particular podcast only lasted for a little over a year, and if I were to guess, I might guess that had to do with the time commitment necessary to post episodes regularly. But it is a cool idea, and it sounds like the students liked it. Interestingly, the same school also has an iPhone app available for download with general Middle School news and information: [ http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/freedom-middle-school-news/id358602051?mt=8 ]http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/freedom-middle-school-news/id358602051?mt=8 ] Mark as Unread Thread: Summersong.net ]Summersong.net Author: April Racana Posted Date: July 10, 2011 5:38 PM Status: Published David Summer offers podcasts on his website Summersong, that offer to support flute and trumpet students and teachers. He has recorded podcasts of both parts for over 100 duets that are used in'standard learning resources', as well as recording just one part so the students can play along with their own part. He gives the option of listening for free directly from his website or you can subscribe through iTunes to get the latest updates. He states on his website: "School instrumental music teachers, directing band and orchestra, as well as trumpet/flute instructors, trumpet/flute and ensemble directors, conductors, music educators and others involved in music education may share these podcasts and associated recordings with their...students. Professional... players engaged in giving private... lessons may find these... podcasts to be a valuable adjunct to their instruction. Students may use them to review how their assigned...[part] should sound with both... parts as well as to practice the duets with the " 2nd Part Only" free play-along ...tracks. " I can see how these types of recordings may be helpful for some students and teachers to have the recordings already recorded and available as a resource to support their lessons. However they are quite short and just include the actual recording of the part. I think if I were to use the podcast format for a similar function, I might include other teaching aspects in the narrative, suggesting certain techniques to focus on more challenging passages, regarding fingering or playing techniques, and possibly demonstrate various versions for students to learn from. Including various expressive elements to make the performance better would also be a good feature to add. I think that these ideas might make the podcast format a more valuable and useful tool for this kind of educational resource for music teachers and especially for students to remind them how to play more musically when they are practicing. Also if I were offering podcasts for my students I might want to include a place for them to post replies/comments indicating which parts they were having difficulty with, to get a dialogue going or at least get feedback before the next class so we know what we might want to focus on in the next lesson. http://www.summersong.net/ http://www.summersong.net/podcasts/flute/selectedduets/ http://www.summersong.net/podcasts/trumpet/selectedduets/
