C4Tp Post 1

De Volta para o future

In Silvia Tolarno’s most recent posting of her blog, Lang witches, she focus on how education across the world is being driven towards the use of technology in the classroom. An instructor in Portugal, Ana Paula Cortez, has her students create fictitious Facebook accounts to accompany an imaginary person and the developments of their "lives". Ms. Cortez developed this project to instill an interest in her students concerning the Life Cycle. The seventh and eighth graders were to establish their characters’ storylines, express their opinions and values by posting appropriate materials, upload pictures, and understand what basis were required in order to establish a stable future. With assistance of social media, Ms. Cortez was able to keep her students engage while covering various topic areas in one project. 

Blogging in Math?

Silvia Tolisano's next blog concentrated on how more instructors of various subject areas have started to blog. Recently, math teachers have come to realize that they could take advantage of this form of technology to assist their students. Ms. Tolisano stated that blogging "is about “presenting” your work, your thoughts and products to a large audience FOR feedback". With a blog, students can actually contemplate about their math problems and discuss issues they are encountering. Projects that students were focusing on were reviewed by peers who would give feedback and encouragement. Technology, when used correct, can be a fabulous tool to engage students, regardless of the subject area. 

C4Ta Post 1

In regards to Kathleen Morris's blog, Primary Tech, I found it a bit lacking with her most recent post (January 2014).  Mrs. Morris addresses the fact that she will not be actually teaching this school year due to maternity leave. She states that although she will not be a "producer", she will gladly be a consumer and still be connected with the education community through the use of online resources. The author pointed out that without technology, she would not be able to stay "in the loop" with the advances in the field of teaching. Since the blog has not been updated in five months, I decided to explore older postings that Mrs. Morris provided concerning the idea of starting a blog. In 2012, she composed an article, Five Steps to Starting a Class Blog, that emphasized the benefits in having a blog for your students to follow. Her outline consisted of choosing your platform, finding support, setting the guidelines, introducing your blog to parents, and finally, introducing your blog to the students. Before giving further details concerning how to start a blog, Mrs. Morris presented various items to ensure blogging would enhance a student's education, including the video below:

Blogging can assist a child with writing their thoughts down in an effective manner. Students can develop better grammatical skills and use peer editing. One thing that I found very interesting is that a student stated they liked to blog because they could "talk to other people from different countries". When I taught through the symphony's outreach program, I was constantly encouraging my students to explore other genres of music. I wanted to expose my students to different beliefs, sounds, and cultures through music. Whether we watched women perform "water drumming" in Africa or learned the correct rhythm, melody, and text to "Frère Jacques", my goal was to have my students experience life outside of the US.

I definitely will have my students keep a blog, either individually or with a group, to assist in the comprehension of the different cultures that surround music and what techniques they all use. Before reviewing Primary Tech, I never thought that the use of this technology could be incorporated in a music classroom. With the use of global connections, I can share with my students the various ideologies and techniques about music from around the world. I am already researching ideas for this philosophy of teaching. 

Project #15

Computer Literacy: Search Engines

WolframAlpha: This site states that it is a "computational knowledge engine". WolframAlpha develops output by doing estimations by its personal foundation instead of returning links within the web. Currently, the site only offers information in the English language. It focuses quite a bit on mathematics.

Classical Net: Classical Net is considered to be the essential classical music source. It provides individuals with recommendations of various books and articles pertaining to different music topics, such as music history, opera, conducting, etc. The site gives the user the title, author, ISBN, and a brief description of the work. It also contains biographies and list of works of classical composers.

Bing: Bing is a search engine designed by Microsoft; it was formally known as Live Search. The site is designed to return results in a format that organizes answers to address one's needs. The search engine also displays a list of related searches on the left-handed side of the SERP. Bing would be best used when researching recent news.

DuckDuckGo: This search engine places a large emphasis on protecting its users's privacy and states that they bypass a "filter bubble" of personalized results. They do not take personal information, and cookies are not used by default. DuckDuckGo states that it has less spam and has zero click information which means results can be displayed with the salient points regarding the term that you searched for. Those who value their privacy would benefit from this site.

Dogpile: Dogpile is one of the oldest search engines, and at one time, the more preferred sites. It uses various search engines and directories to retrieve date for the user. Most of its results come from Google, Ask, MIVA, and LookSmart. The image components were well organized and gave a diverse collection.

CareerBuilder: One of the largest online job site in the United States is CareerBuilder. Members can search for numerous positions in different career fields across the states. Individuals can view jobs according to zip code, years experience, education, and salary.

Yahoo!: As of January 2014, Yahoo is the second largest search directory on the web by query volume. Yahoo Search was powered by Google until it became independent; Bing and Yahoo joined forces in 2009. One can view recent news of various types (sports, international, etc.) as well as research.

Expedia: Expedia is a travel website based in Washington state. The website allows individuals to compare and contrast flights, hotels, rental cars, and cruises with various companies. It allows users to filter results by price, departure times, amount of rooms, etc. One can also arrange package deals and can find options of things to do while in the new city.

Blog Post 4

Asking Questions

Effectively asking a question to a group (regardless of age) is possibly one of the most intimidating events a new teacher can encounter. I know from previous experience that without proper research on the subject before executing the idea can and will result in what some would deem as a catastrophe. Luckily, there are online venues that one can find to assist in preparing for the classroom.

In an article on Faculty Focus, Maryellen Weimer listed three objectives when asking a question: prepare questions, play with questions, and preserve good questions. Dr. Weimer stated that knowing the content of the material that is to be discussed is of significant importance, but one should also prepare the questions to make the students think. Writing the question down can help with ensuring that it will make sense to your audience. Another approach she gave in regard to asking a question is not having the students answer it immediately. Allow it to "simmer" within the students's minds. The instructor can present the question in various forms such as having group discussions among students. The objective is to retain the impact the question will have on the students. Dr. Weimer suggested that one could take notes on the answers provided by students so she could possibly revise it later. One could reintroduce or give an example of a previous student's statement in another class session. Not only are you giving a perspective on the topic from a peer, but you display that you value your students's opinions.

The video blog of Dr. Joanne Chesley, Asking Better Questions, focused on the proper technique of open-ended and close-ended questions. In general, instructors are often faced with lack of responses when asking a question because of the format of how they are asked. Dr. Chesley stated that it is partially the fault of the instructor due to not providing the tools within the question that will give a extensive response. She suggested that teachers concentrate on open-ended questions so students are able to respond with an answer that will allow them to think and thus "yield more information". One simply can adjust the word choice to assist in that method.

Project #3 Presentation

Blog Post 3

How Can You Provide Meaningful Feedback to Your Peers?

The term "peer editing" was defined in one of the provided links as "working with someone your own age to help improve, revise, and edit his or her own work" (Tutorial Peer Editing by Adriana Zardini). After viewing the sources required for this post, one discovered the three main factors within peer editing are the following: Compliments, Suggestions, and Corrections. As an educator, one could use this approach to teach students how to refine others's written work and develop self-awareness within their own compositions. Being a music instructor who has worked as a judicator at multiple competitions, I have learned to do constructive criticism. The point of assessing someone's craft is not to break them down but to encourage and give suggestions to better their performance, regardless of the subject area.

Observing Writing Peer Review Top 10 Mistakes made me smile. It took an interesting spin on outlining the set guidelines for editing and is attempting to ensure students do not cause socialization issues among one another. The main objectives when peer editing is to look for creativity and make specific suggestions without being rude to assist the author. One must ask themselves questions while reading their classmate's blog, such as "did that statement make sense?" and "does the topic stay consistent with what the assignment asks?" Overall, we should stay optimistic and benefit from one another's writing. 

Blog Post 2

Mr. Dancealot

The focal point within the Mr. Dancealot video was to demonstrate the need of "hands-on" teaching within the classroom. The designer of the video uses the example of a professor instructing a course titled "Social Dance". As the short film develops, one views the instructor demonstrating various moves for classical dances but never allows the students to partake. The students endure PowerPoint presentations that are read to them on a daily basis. At one point, the teacher scolds a gentleman who stood from his seat to observe the proper steps. The audience does not actually view the students perform until the final exam which is rather chaotic. As a music educator, I am a believer in allowing students to use their sensory processors in order to learn. How does one learn certain subjects when there is no physical interaction? I cannot teach a child to properly tune a violin unless I show them how then step back and let them try it themselves. 

What Does It Mean to Teach in the 21st Century?

In Kevin Robert's What Does It Mean to Teach in the 21st Century?, one is forced to realize that the "traditional" form of teaching is becoming extinct. Teaching is no longer about using a chalkboard or whiteboard, but integrating modern aspects, such as Blogger, Twitter, and other social media sites, into the classroom. Teachers are still intricate factors in the world of education, but it appears that our roles are being redesigned. One can demonstrate and lead a student in the direction that is needed, and we can give them the tools to acquire additional information. Educators should learn to adjust to the changes in society so that the next generation will be prepared for their future. 

The Networked Student

The video entitled The Networked Student explored the idea of "Connectivism" which is essentially giving students the tools to teach themselves. In my opinion, this can be viewed as negligence by the instructor. I do agree that integrating numerous versions of technology in the classroom assist in the learning environment, but to assign a student with the task of being responsible completely in reference to the course they are enrolled in is a bit absurd . Regardless of the subject area they teach, an instructor's job is to not only guide, but inspire. Again, I am not against encouraging students to explore other avenues concerning topics being covered in the classroom, but a teacher should teach. One section that I did like within this approach is having the students share materials they found on their own with their classmates. Personally, I prefer to be more of an interactive and personable instructor who also encourages my students to discover additional ideas. 

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis's video, Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts, illustrated how one can effectively use technology in the classroom by teaching something as simple as the use of a search engine to international collaboration. Davis states that students are "limited by just paper and a pencil". As a music teacher, one of my goals is to expose students to various forms of music from around the world. Without incorporating a computer, my classes would not experience the different genres and sounds. I love the idea of having students interact with individuals in other countries and working with them to complete a common objective.

Flipping the Classroom

The final video, Flipping the Classroom, discusses the idea of having students watch presentations of new material before the teacher introduces the topic in class. The pros to this approach of teaching is that the students will be slightly familiar with the work before class and can ask questions pertaining to the subject; however, there are some issues. If the student does not have the resources to obtain the data (i.e. no access to a computer at home), will the child be behind their peers? Another concern is whether or not the parents/guardians will actually assist the child in learning. As a former traveling teacher, I could detect students who had a healthy home life that encouraged their educational growth and others who experienced the complete opposite. Several teachers often complained about certain parents who never seemed to care about their child's education. I believe the concept is wonderful, but there are too many flaws for it to actually work in the long run.