Flashcards

This week in the Music Teacher's Blog I came across a YouTube video of a teacher using flashcards in a small Suzuki theory class. I really like to see ideas and strategies being used by teachers in real classrooms. I find it much more effective for me to actually see strategies in effect rather than simply reading about how they should be implemented. I think that teachers can and should learn from each other, and YouTube is one way for us to do so.

Video

Assistive technology

The topic of assistive technology is really important to me. I feel very strongly that IDEA legislation is essential to protecting the rights of disabled individuals, and I'm absolutely thrilled that the SoundBeam and other technologies like it are out there being used by teachers to make a difference in young peoples' lives. I don't really know how to sum this up, but just reading about the SoundBeam made me cry, so clearly this is an important topic for me.

PLN 11/13

This week, I found a great article on a subject that has constantly worried me when it comes to my own future teaching: classroom management.  On the "So You Want to Teach?" blog, Joel posted this about classroom management and rules.  If you ignore the constant biblical references, it's possible to read into the teacher's experiences without getting a religious bias (which may or may not be helpful to you).  Mainly, I thought that the ideas he expressed about expecting kids to know what to do without telling them and how to establish "rehearsal skills" were concepts immediately applicable to any new teacher's life.

Digital photos, citizenship, and Copyright

The article on digital photography didn't have much new information for me, but I did learn that cropping a photo reduces the overall photo quality.  That should be a fairly obvious concept, but I hadn't even considered it.  Using GIMP, however, has forced me to reconsider the way that I use my own digital camera and the resulting photography.  There are many times that I will take a photo and be displeased with the quality or content of the photo.  Now I know how to use GIMP to retouch or crop that photo to my liking.

Digital Citizenship is an interesting concept for me.  Having grown up as a "digital native," many of this articles concepts and ideas did not seem readily applicable.  After reading through it however, I think that this article addresses valid concerns about students and technology, not only pointing out the issues but also offering at the very least partial solutions.  I think that if we are going to require that individuals be held accountable and responsible for their own use of technology, they must be educated to become a digital citizen.

The article on copyright and fair use was extremely relevant to our status as current students and future teachers.  I'm sure all of us have had a teacher hand out photocopied articles or chapters for use in the classroom.  Depending how how much they copied and how often they copied it, our teachers might have been breaking copyright laws.  It is essential for teachers (current and future) to be familiar and comply with copyright laws so that we may continue to be awarded the fair use privileges that are enjoyed today.

PLN- Infinite Thinking Machine

This week I discovered the Infinite Thinking Machine, a blog/videocast about education in the 21st century.  The thing that I'm most appreciative of coming out of this service are the live interactive interviews that they host online through Elluminate, a collaborative online workspace.  These interviews are most often with interesting, dynamic individuals in the fields of education and technology.  The site is very progressive in its thinking and approach towards synergy in education and technology.  There are some really neat things going on in terms of combining new tech with education, and the Infinite Thinking Machine is right on the cutting edge.

Digital Learning

This week's information was fairly interesting when read as individual articles.  When combined, however, the concepts discussed were much more potent and immediately applicable to education.  I really liked the idea of not just catering to Digital Natives' desires and habits (such as networked learning and instant gratification) but instead combining both "legacy" and "future" approaches to learning and education.  I also really appreciated the fact that Ms. Driscoll didn't say that technology is always good and must be embraced, but urged teachers to use technology in context and explore the positive effects that the new and changing times can afford the educational system.

PLN #7

This week in "So You Want to Teach?" there was an article about 15 free ed-tech resources to utilize in the classroom.  I thought this was extremely relevant to our recent class topics and after looking through the post I think there are some great resources here.  Definitely check it out.

http://www.soyouwanttoteach.com/15-free-ed-tech-resources-to-implement-in-the-classroom/