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The beginning of this chapter talks about productivity. This is an area that I continue to work on each year. I was introduced to Google Drive and all of the Google Suite applications that Google offers. I use my Google Drive more than I ever thought that I would. I used to use Dropbox for almost everything, but there is a maximum capacity issue with Dropbox that Google doesn't have. Having all of my files in Google Drive and being able to access them on my phone or iPad has been an excellent way to stay organized. The next section in the reading talks about communication. I think that music educators have to be excellent communicators. For me, my students have a lot of after school activities including marching band, pep band, jazz band, and other performances. If you don't have an open line of communication between you, your students, and their parents then that reflects poorly on you as the director. This can potentially cause issues between you and the administration. I u...

The reading this week made me reflect on my first teaching position. The example story with the first year teacher Elizabeth was similar to the way that I started my career. In the chapter, Elizabeth focused on choral conducting and her personal vocal development in her undergraduate studies. Elizabeth didn't expect to get a job teaching anything other than choral classes. I can relate to Elizabeth's situation because I went through the same thing at my first position. When I was getting my undergraduate degree, I wanted to be a high school band teacher and only a high school band teacher.  I had no interest in teaching middle school instrumental, vocal, or general music. I especially didn't want to teach elementary aged students. After I graduated in the fall semester from my university, I looked for a teaching position for around six or seven months. One day I received a call from a local area principal at a tiny rural school asking me to come in an interview. I agreed ...

There were a few ideas mentioned in this week's reading that made me think of how I plan and approach my teaching. I really liked the backward design method of planning. This technique made me think of how I prepare for a specific lesson or topic. I utilize the backward designing method with my high school concert band class. When we are developing a piece of music that has an unfamiliar key signature rhythmic figure, I work backward to plan for my students. I would first identify the new topic or topics, prepare an assessment, then design a way to introduce the topic.  Another topic from the reading this week that made me think of my teaching experiences was the discussion of the music learning activity types. The musical application example using Peter and the Wolf in a general music setting made me reflect on my time as a general music teacher. I had a unit on the instruments of the orchestra and the instruments that were used in Peter and the Wolf. I incorporated techno...

I have wanted to purchase SmartMusic for years. During my student teaching, my cooperating teacher had a subscription and used it occasionally during class. One feature that I like about SmartMusic is the loop feature. Looping a phrase and playing multiple times in a row is a technique that I use in class and in my personal practice. The repetition helps students create the muscle memory and the complete understanding of a specific phrase or a whole piece of music. The implementation of the SmartMusic technology would be a relatively easy task for my students. Students at my school are required to use personal computers in each class. If I were able to purchase SmartMusic TEACH, then all of my concert band students would be able to complete their playing tests and finals using SmartMusic. SmartMusic makes it easy to practice with or without accompaniment. Students can toggle the accompaniment on or off by clicking the accompaniment volume. The same goes for the student's part. ...

When reading this week's assignment, the section on practice motivation made me stop and think about my students. I know that some of my students do not practice at all. Some students only practice for the grade on their practice assessments. Fewer students enjoy practicing and are intrinsically motivated to do so on a regular basis. I have to admit; I was the student who didn't practice as much as I should have. As a percussionist, all of the concert band music, pep band music, and for the most part marching band music came naturally to me. Now as a music educator I can look back and tell my students that even if the music comes naturally, you still need to improve on something each week. The sentence about teachers extrinsically motivating students also made me think of my classroom and students. I do use small prizes, stickers, and rewards to help motivate, especially my younger students, to practice. Wouldn't it be great if all of our students had that intrinsic drive t...

This week's lecture and reading made me realize how little I know about digital audio and recording in general. I have been using music notation software (Sibelius) for years; writing percussion music for marching bands, and indoor drum line, etc. I know what MIDI is, how to use the music notation software, and I have used Garage Band a few times to edit music, but that is pretty much the extent of my digital music knowledge. When listening to the lecture for this week, Dr. Bazan talked about creativity on his last slide of the presentation. He said that he "was surprised that many music educators and music education students aren't experienced composers, song writers, or improvisors." This statement describes me in a number of ways. In my high school we didn't discuss composition. We really didn't even talk about how to improvise. We didn't have a jazz band to even start the conversation of improvisation. Even in my undergrad, we weren't required to...