Article Review: Google Classroom

Nagel, D. (2014). Google’s Free LMS ‘Classroom’ Goes Live. THE Journal. Received from http://thejournal.com/articles/2014/08/12/googles-free-lms-classroom-goes-live.aspx

Nagel (2014) explained that Google Classroom “allows teachers to create assignments directly within Google's apps, which students can then complete in Google Docs and turn them in through a one-click process”. Other features in Google Classroom include the following: “grading, real-time feedback on student work, real-time questions, commenting, homework collection and organization within Google Drive, commenting, and announcements” (Nagel, 2014). Teachers also have the ability to collaborate with students online while they are working on their assignments. (Nagel, 2014)

Incorporating a tool like this in my music class would be outstanding! Just like listed above, Google Classroom features a variety of abilities that allow students to access music class outside the music classroom. Not only do I see this as a great idea for academic collaboration, but I also thought it would really set up a community for the students.

I also see this as saving me a large chunk of time in the classroom. Instead of having the students watch a 5 minute video in class, they could do this simple activity at home, and when they come to class, we can deepen the meaning and understanding of the point of that video. I could even give students websites that foster the growth of music composition. Students could work in class, but could also work at home with their assignment. When they finish their composition, they could share a web-link to in onto a class Google Doc so we could listen and discuss it the next time in class.

I do see this potentially not going over well with students to begin with because what elementary music teacher gives students homework? But I could combat this in ways that make the learning very individualized, fun, and lasting for no more than 10 minutes when they first start working outside the classroom. Even though I am nervous about first implementing these resources with the kids, I know that this is meaningful integration of technology, and the pros definitely out weight the cons.

Article Review: On Using Google Forms

Mallette, M., & Barone, D. (2013). On Using Google Forms. Reading Teacher, 66(8), 625-630.

 "Google Forms is a free and easy web-based application for collecting information through online surveys and forms. Responses are sent directly to a spreadsheet, which is set up for easy analysis, and automatically saved and stored on your Google drive" (Mallette & Barone, 2013). This article is a great resource in terms of giving teachers 8 ways to easily incorporate Google Forms into the classroom. The list consists of the following: Library Book Check Out, Online Reading Records, Reading Journals, Collaborating on Definitions, Student Notes, Playing Jeopardy with a Survey Form as the "Buzzer", Get Feedback from Parent, & Stimulating Staff Meeting Debate (Mallette & Barone, 2013).

Out of all of these different ways to bring Google Forms into the classroom, Student Notes and Get Feedback from Parents are the two tools I could see myself using as an elementary general music teacher. Student Notes allows for students to give their peers feedback on their assignments in real time, while on the other hand, Getting Feedback from Parents gives teachers an alternative way to community and interact with their students' families. (Mallette & Barone, 2013)

 By allowing students to take notes about their classmate's work, the teacher is integrating a type of learning culture in the building that encourages student collaboration and reflection. In this type of learning environment, students are invited to use technology in a personal way to them. In music, I could have students share their compositions with the class. After the students share, each student has the opportunity to express what they liked about the composition and why. This would challenge students to understand how to give appropriate feedback while also allowing building each other up with positive words of encouragement.

 By getting feedback from parents, this is a great anonymous way for parents to share their thoughts, while also getting specific information you are asking for. You could use this feature of Google Forms to also ask for parent volunteers, invite them to the classroom, and register students for an ensemble. For this next year, I will be starting the first elementary choir at my building. I have already found after school performance opportunities for the students, and by creating a Google Form that allows parents the ability to sign up their child for any of these opportunities is more convenient for everyone, and less paperwork to have to deal with. That alone is why Google Forms could be a great resource in my classroom.

Article Review: Music Education for All?

Bledsoe, R. N. (2015). Music Education for All?. General Music Today,28(2), 18-22.

Bledsoe's (2015) article entitled "Music Education for All?" addresses the issue of are we really teaching music to benefit every type of student that comes through our classroom, or only the students that enjoy ensemble based classrooms? He argues that "the large performance ensemble was established as the model for music education during the early 1900s and has remained relatively unchanged for a century". Based on this model alone, he wonders if that is why there is a low enrollment in music classes. He then asks the reader what more we could offer students beyond the traditional large ensemble experience? (Bledsoe, 2015)

To discuss this idea further, Bledsoe looks at the population of students who's musical careers did not extend beyond elementary general music, and maybe a short experience in a middle or high school ensemble before dropping. He took three students specifically and discovered that though these students did not partake in school music ensembles, it was not because they lacked a passion for understanding music, but instead they we not given opportunities to learn the music that they wanted. Therefore, each student found an alternative form for learning music outside of school, whether self-taught or by a knowledgable peer. Later in the article, we discover that though these students were not given opportunities they wished they had in the school music programs, they still went off to college to major in music in some manner. Interestingly enough, the music that they did study in college, revolved around electronic and digital music making skills. (Bledsoe, 2015)

Bledsoe then wonders what if school music programs offered more electronic and digital music making opportunities? "If technology is already changing the way our students think, what are we doing musically as music educators to attend to this?" Even though all three of the students consider themselves now composers, one of the students was hesitant on labeling themselves as one because of their lack in note reading pitches on the staff. Yet the composition job he has does not require note reading skills. It is on this note that Bledsoe makes his final statement that whether there is a use of technology in the music classroom or not, teachers have to be aware of the subtle messages they are sharing indirectly to their students. (Bledsoe, 2015)

This article really resonated with me on a personal level beyond the use of technology in music education. I appreciate the fact that Bledsoe does address the need in our schools to teach current outlets of technology in music, but what I appreciate more so is his final statements about the indirect attitudes we express to students on the regular basis. I believe this can do more in the classroom than anything else. Let us say that a teacher does decide to incorporate electronic music into the curriculum. If that teacher does it, but has a negative attitude toward it, so will the students. But if a teacher instead addresses it with the attitude of everyone is a learner, and has the ability to understand all the tools this could offer, then the students will also see the benefits of working with that type of technology.

It is sad that our curriculum in music education does push toward the students who will more likely join band, orchestra, or choir someday. I believe we should not completely leave the idea of teaching in a large ensemble format, but as technology and digital music jobs are expanding, it is essential that music educators take the initiative to teach students the same curricular concepts they were teaching before, just instruct it on a variety of different platforms. As much as we are afraid of incorporating digital technology into the classroom for students to work with, we also have to remember Bledsoe's (2015) question he asks, "If technology is already changing the way our students think, what are we doing musically as music educators to attend to this?"

Launchpad Minis with Ableton Live 9

When thinking about how to use the Launchpad Mini with Ableton Live 9 in the classroom, I made 3 sample lessons I would have the students use. There are also ways I can personally use the device in my instruction, but these are the ways in which I would allow my 3rd-5th grade students to work independently on them in groups of 2. I also have a plan of how I would even get these devices for the students and make this an option. If you are interested to see what I would do, here is a rough draft of 3 lesson ideas.

Finance/Set-up:

Cost is $100 per Launchpad Mini with Ableton Live Software

Get a total of 13 devices ($1500 plus tax & shipping)

One device for every two students

Music Boosters, PTO, donorschoose, etc., are the routes in which I plan to pursue these devices

Use a district administered account to register all devices on at http://us.novationmusic.com/

Download Ableton Live onto 13 lab computers and 13 extra computers

The license allows the ability to download the software onto two computers per device, with the policy that one computer is used at a time

Article Review: "How Music Teachers Got Their Groove Back: Music Instruction Goes Digital"

Demski, J. (2010). How Music Teachers Got Their Groove Back: Music Instruction Goes Digital. THE Journal. Retrieved from http://thejournal.com/Articles/2010/10/01/How-Music-Teachers-Got-Their-Groove-Back-Music-Instruction-Goes-Digital.aspx?Page=1

Carol Boos is a 4th-8th grade music teacher, and is determined to connect with the 80 percent of students who are not enrolled in band, orchestra, or choir. She is innovating the music programs by challenging the traditional classroom style that music is taught. Often times music is taught in such a way that the educator is standing behind a podium, telling the students what and how to play, but without allowing wiggle room for students to have a say in their musical education. (Demski)

Instead, Carol Boos is allowing her students to have more musical freedom. She allows for her students to create their own music, which naturally applies the fundamental concepts that are normally taught in the old educational lecture model such as rhythm, melody, harmony, etc. By using this approach, she is engaging students who are not taking part in band, orchestra, or choir, and who never want to be. We live in a digital age, where students have the ability to create music digitally at home, but as educators, we are not meeting them where they are at. (Demski)

First, Carol Boos used the technology already in her school's computer lab to create an electronic music lab. In her lab, she used a variety of Avid Technology to allow a way for students to input audio through a MIDI device, and used the programs such as Apple's Garageband and Logic Pro to create and compile the music. It is through this technology that she was able to build a music curriculum that incorporated these devices. (Demski)

Ever since allowing these courses as options for students, she has found an increase in student involvement in the music programs. Let's say a sophomore boy with no ensemble experience takes the electronic music class offered, there is a good chance that student might sign up for band, orchestra, or choir the next year. She has also discovered that a high percentage of students who do get involved in electronic music at younger ages, are more likely to go into the careers of music production or engineering. Because we live in a society that musicians can become famous by having little to no musical experience, but by making electronic music for themselves at home, more students are regularly drawn to this form of education. (Demski)

It is articles like these that challenge me to make opportunities like this possible for K-5 music students. I watch music interviews often, and I always find it fascinating that there are a large majority of contemporary music artists that were not involved or just did not like their own school music programs growing up. Yet these are the musicians that my students are listening to daily. As a K-5 General Music teacher, I also find it important to reach out to those students who decide they don't want to do band, orchestra, or choir, and let them know there are still musical opportunities out there for them. We are often told that as educators, we are preparing students for jobs that may not even be in existence yet. When I look at the music industry, I especially see that prevalent. If I knew there were so many jobs in music today than there were 10 years ago, I may have not decided to become a music educator.

The way I see my role as a K-5 General Music teacher is to give my students a "general" idea of all that they can do in the world of music. Yes, we learn the fundamental elements of music, but those elements are accompanied with real-world application. This last year, I introduced my 4th grade students to the Launchpad S paired with Ableton Live. The only experience I had with the software was during a 10 week Electronic Music Seminar during my undergrad. I only got two Launchpads for the students, and I allowed students to voluntarily sign up to work with the device a maximum of 3 times per student during the last two months of school. I pretty much told the kids that I had an idea of how to use these next year when they were in 5th grade, but that I needed their help to show me what they could do with them. Out of 50 4th graders, I had 40 sign up to come to my classroom outside of school. It was amazing! By doing this voluntary activity with the students, they actually taught me how to use the device in ways that I didn't know were possible!

By using the Launchpad S paired with Ableton Live, the students were able to loop a variety of tracks, upload prerecorded music to change in Ableton, record and loop their voice, record and loop the MIDI controller using any instrument sound of their choosing, add special effects to the audio and MIDI files, and put it all together to record and then export the file into an mp3 format. I could not believe they figured all of this out on their own! But it was allowing the students this freedom that they were applying and learning musical concepts that we were covering in the traditional general music class. Beyond even learning music skills, students were allowed to put their creativity and imagination into the music they creating on their own. Having an opportunity like this is not only something that they will remember, but is something that could change their life.

Article Review: "Interactive: Patatap"

Al-wali, A. (2014). Interactive: Patatap. DINA Magazine. Retrieved from http://dinamagazine.com/tech/interactive-patatap/104

Patatap is an interactive website that allows the user to create visual artwork while also creating their own arrangements of sound. Users have the ability to use any key from A-Z to create music, and the spacebar allows an easy transition into different sound sets. Patatap was created and thought up by Jono Brandel and the music group Lullatone. The purpose of this project was to introduce Visual Music to a variety of audiences. This Visual Music also experiments with Synesthesia, which is the act of having a sensory input trigger a response in a different sensory input. In this case, a sound is triggering a visual sensory response. Due to the ease of the website and the instant musical and visual feedback, this site is growing in popularity and trending amongst music lovers from all around the world. (Al-wali)

I had a colleague of mine originally inform me about this site, and it absolutely blew me away! I thought it was so much fun and so cool. Right away I thought this would be such a cool tool to use with my 4th/5th grade music students. Students love websites that they can also mess around with at home. When I first shared this site with my classes, not only the students, but the parents also were trying it at home with their children! But my challenge has become how to incorporate it in my classroom meaningfully and well managed.

With Patatap, there are a lot of opportunities to differentiate instruction, collaborate between different subjects, and teach a variety of musical skills that are found in the elementary music curriculum. I can differentiate instruction by giving the students a variety of benchmarks they would have to meet, but beyond those benchmarks, they could choose how thoroughly they want to explore the site more. For this following year, I plan to collaborate music, art, and language arts together. They could use the poetry they write in the classroom during their poetry unit, and pick certain words to type to a rhythm on the keyboard. I could then talk with my art teacher in my building to see how we could address composers and artists that both influence each others masterpieces. Then to wrap it all up, students could find a way to notate their composition, and perform it for the class. This project could be either done individually or in groups, and I would allow my students to pick how they want to tackle this project. Finally as a listener, students could anonymously write positive feedback to the performer(s) about what they liked and really appreciated from their performance and composition.

Doing a project like this for my 4th/5th grade music students will allow for the students to see how different subjects influence one another and find personal meaning in their schoolwork. In music, there are 11 anchor standards. This project would cover at least 9 of those 11 anchor standards if not more.

Picture via http://www.nationalartsstandards.org/

Article Review: "Using Classroom Technology to Offer Real-World Experiences"

Ribeiro, R. (2013). Using Classroom Technology to Offer Real-World Experiences. EdTech: Focus on K-12. Retrieved from http://www.edtechmagazine.com/k12/article/2013/07/using-classroom-technology-offer-real-world-experiences

In the article posted above, the author discussed several ways that schools are not only implementing technology, but changing how is it used in their school environment. The first part of the article focuses on the Danish Hellerup School. This school allows students to use technology as you would an adult in the workforce. When visiting the school, you will not find the standard lecture style teaching that we are accustomed to. Instead, students will have various devices depending on grade level, will choose their location of study, number of individuals they want to study with, and what topics to learn more about. This type of learning allows the students to not only learn about the world and how to use technology, but also discover how those two work hand in hand. In the second part of the article, this approach to learning is looked more closely in the subject of music education. Instead of teaching music in a traditional method, Lawrence Grey Berkowitz created his music class into a music studio. He treats all his students as though they were professional recording artists. By teaching music in this way, students are learning the fundamental elements of music, but they are also learning real-world, contemporary application of those skills. In short, this article showed how meaningful technology can become when adding a real-world dimension to it. (Ribeiro)

Right after reading this article, I instantly thought of ways to implement something like this into my classroom. I thought, wouldn't it be cool if the students referred to music class as "The Studio"? How awesome would that be? Students no longer look at my class as a formal class, but a place. It would be a world that they could escape to when life got rough and they needed somewhere to let out their emotions. I already record my students regularly and make audio files accessible to parents, but this would add a whole new dimension to my teaching. Instead of talking about what ways they could be involved in music beyond choir, orchestra, or band, I could instead facilitate an environment that allows for them to experience those different options.

Over the last ten years, I have watched how the music industry has changed, and is continuing to lean heavily on technology. Music is all digital and CD's are slowly going to turn into the new "vintage" tech. With programs like Audacity, Ableton Live, and Garageband, students have the ability to create their own digital music on their portable devices at home. As educators, I believe it is easy to ignore these growing trends and say that they don't impact us, but they do. If what we are teaching doesn't align with what the students can experience for themselves at home, then we are failing them as educators. I still believe you need to teach the fundamentals of any subject matter, but why can't technology help us in doing so? With my Kindergarteners, the big focus is learning steady beat and being able to experience how music can sound high and low. Some days I will pull out my drum and keep a steady beat as we walk around the circle, but other days, I'll go to my digital keyboard and play one of their funky beats while we sing a folk song. Both activities accomplish the same goals, but the keyboard adds a new level of experience for these students. Some days I will pull out my slide whistle, and while I play it, students move their bodies up and down according to what they hear. Yet when I see that my visual students need to see this idea rather than kinesthetically do it, I will pull up a tone matrix app for students to visually see the music in a new way. Again, both activities are important, but these experiences allow for the students to understand and interact with music in a more diversified and well-rounded way.

It is our job as educators to meet the students where they're at. Since technology is growing, and doesn't look like it will stop anytime soon, it is making it harder for us to keep up with the students. But if we constantly find these real-world ways of applying technology to the classroom and giving them experiences that will stick with them forever, then we have done our job, and have done it well.