My+Reflective+Journal

media type="custom" key="6479353" June 10, 2010

Technology Autobiography

I am not the savviest technological person in the world but I can get by. I have come into this class with eyes wide open for possibilities beyond my wildest dreams. Admittedly, I left the first class on Thursday with the greatest headache EVER. Upon great reflection, I realize that there is much that I do not know. I am looking forward to incorporating the technology I learn in this class for my future music education classroom. I am not a big fan of blogs as I barely have time to check the hundreds of emails I receive a day. I have a family and a life. But, to each his own. I am a MAC owner and proud of it. MACs are the way of the future and I am happy to know that they will be in more JCPS schools. I will look forward to continuing this blog as this class progresses.

June 15, 2010

John Philip Sousa was the first pioneer to fight for copyright laws due to the invention from Thomas Edison of the wax cylinder. The fair use video was great to watch. I never knew what the proper term for using exerpts from movies, etc. Fair use is a defensible position and can be used for teaching. I must keep a running word document with URLs for any thing I use in my classroom. Creative commons liscencing is used for youtube. TDNs (take down notices) are common now on youtube due to copyright infringement.

June 16, 2010

Today, my group worked on our Voice Thread project which we will present tomorrow. The whole voice thread idea seems to me to be a great invention. I plan on using this service with my music students and post weekly threads about either compositions, singers, composers, performances or just theory practice. I will only see my three classes once a week but this will enable me to give them interactive things to work on when we are not together. I want to learn more about websites that can capture students' interest about musical genres and the history of how music was born. In working on my powerpoint today, I found that, because I had not done one in a while, I was searching for a lot of stupid and easy things. Finally, my groove came back. It made me realize that if we do not keep up on our skills and knowledge, we will surely lose the knowledge we had with which to begin.

June 17, 2010

Well, I am quite proud of myself. Today, along with three other colleagues, I helped create a voice thread about Digital Commerce. I have to admit, when we were beginning to record our voices, I got cold tongue..For the first time that I can ever remember, I could not think on the fly. Sure, I had notes with me but I wanted to sound comfortable and natural. I had to let someone else go before me so that my nerves could relax. That never happens to me but this is an indication of how uncomfortable I feel with technology. I need to get more savvy, as I said earlier, and experiment on the internet with different programs and software. It was a good day!

June 22, 2010 Digital Animation

Today, we worked on digital animation. This class was one of the most fun and time consuming classes so far. I found myself wanted to go over class time to create new things on my animation. I chose goanimate.com because I had seen other colleagues use it and thought it was very cool. After I embedded my video, I noticed that one of my slides was out of order. So, now I need to go back in and try to change that. The creative juices flow when you create digital animation. I look forward to teaching my 8 and 6 year olds how to do this. They are going to have a blast.

June 23, 2010 TPACK

Today, we learned about how to integrate technology with content and pedagogy. During the lecture, I could not help but think about the vast number of teachers who are using textbooks and lectures in our schools. They may not have the technological wherewithall to confidently incorporate technology in their classroom. I find it to be a great disservice to our school and hope that this issue will be addressed with the proper funding and professional development for these current teachers and new teachers coming in. Students learn with many different styles and they need different venues to express their creativity.

June 24, 2010 Podcasting

What fun to podcast! Podcasting is a great way to send videos and service messages on the web. It is also a great way to stay in communication with your students and parents. Our podcast was about inappropriate use of technology in the classroom, which can be a huge problem if not monitored. I think many teachers just give an assignment and focus on other work they need to do without constant monitoring. This may give students the idea to visit other websites not related to their work and end up having incomplete assignments. Teachers need to be hands on in the classroom even if the student has free time.

June 30, 2010 HAT Youtube PSA media type="custom" key="6479353"

What fun. Thanks to all of us working together, this PSA was not as stressful as I thought it would be. I wish this class had met more so that I can remember this months from now. I will try to keep up with my new technological prowess. Thanks Mr. Swann. I do wish I had learned how to use a smart board, though.:(