Monday, March 12, 2012

Why Technology, Part 3

Have I convinced you yet that you should include technology in your Elementary Music Classroom every day (if possible)?  Not only does your district have benchmarks and guidelines for including technology but so does our Music Education Standards!

I found an article that goes right along with my previous two blog posts.  You can read the original article here

1.  Using technology helps students understand and retain more.  I have seen this in my own practice.  Since using the SMARTboard, my lessons are more organized and consistent.  The students are grasping the concepts more quickly (and it's more fun, to be sure!).  They are engaged and on-task.

2.  Its DI - Differentiated Instruction - multiple intelligences.

3.  These kids are the 'Net Generation.  They probably started playing with electronic devices before they could talk!  This is what they crave.  Perhaps even, their brains are wired differently (I have only heard inklings of talk like this, but haven't done the research to see if it is true). As adults, they will be using techie tools that haven't even been invented yet in job fields that haven't been created yet!  Can you help to prepare them for that?  And WHY NOT in the Music Classroom?

4.  Using technology the right way in the Music Classroom can ensure your lessons include opportunity for HOTS.  Check out this cool presentation categorizing iPad apps into Bloom's Taxonomy.  (More about this in future blog posts.)

5.  Putting technology into the hands of the student by using student computers, the computer lab or hand-held devices such as the iPod or iPad, the learning becomes child-centered and more personalized.

6. The potential for collaboration and project-based learning is greatly increased with the use the technology in the Music Classroom.

7. Using technology makes it easier to assess students authentically with every lesson.  Testing knowledge and understanding, but also projects where students problem-solve, create, analyze and synthesize.

Did you recognize that all of these are "buzz words" in the education field right now?  Are your students engaged?  Are you teaching tools for the 21st Century learner? Are you teaching Higher Order Thinking Skills such as evaluating, analyzing and creating?  Are your lessons child-centered?  Are you teaching DI and Multiple Intelligences with EVERY lesson? Student collaboration and project-based learning? And what about assessment??

Ok, ok... it is all so overwhelming!  And where to start!

I am working feverishly to develop more lessons to share with you! Not only with SMARTboard lessons, but with cool Web 2.0 tools and detailed lesson plans that also incorporate Kodaly and Orff!  How's that for a complete package!

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