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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 technology

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

This was the first time that I ever used Noteflight or MuseScore. I have to say that I think that out of the two programs, Noteflight was a little easier to use. It was easier to find information and I liked the layout of the program better than MuseScore. I think that both of these programs are easy for students to use. I also like the ease of the sharing features that are in Noteflight. With that said, I have been using Sibelius for years. I frequently arrange tunes for my students, write percussion music, etc. I would much rather use Sibelius if I had the choice. The shortcuts in Sibelius are similar to the ones that Noteflight and MuseScore use, but in my opinion, Sibelius is better. https://www.noteflight.com/scores/view/054a4a98790ce7e682088db319f80cfdfdf8093d

When reading the story about Katie in the assignment, I couldn't help but think of a few of my former students who were in similar situations. These students, Cole and Joey, were both very naturally talented musicians. In my previous job, I taught K-12 general music, middle school band and choir, and high school band and choir. I was the only fine arts class for many years in this very small rural school district. I had Cole and Joey in elementary music classes, and started both of them in beginning band in 4th grade. Cole moved away when he was in the 5th grade. He then moved back when he was in 7th grade. When Cole moved back, he didn't sign up to be in middle school band or choir class. In his junior year of high school, he decided to join the high school choir class after many student's encouraged him to join. The following year, he also joined the high school band class. The whole time that he wasn't enrolled in any music classes, he continued to play guitar and si