Sunday, January 29, 2012

Wicked Project Part A- Incorporating Technology into Music 3-5 Curriculum

An educational need that I currently have is a way to incorporate technology into my music curriculum. Creating interactive, relevant music lessons will help to get students more involved in learning about music. Technology can also allow students to perhaps create their own music or identify music concepts and implements in a more fun and memorable way.

I wrote a grant last year for a Mobi View to use when teaching technology. Now that I am in a new position I have yet to use it An article in Tech& Learning, “Product:Mobi View” describes the Mobi View and how it can be utilized in the classroom.

I would like to create technology rich interactive sites for my students in 3-5 music. I would like to locate sites that I can use with my music curriculum which would involve the use of the Mobi view and create an interactive music experience for my students.

My music units revolve around a 10 day block. I would like to find and create lessons that I will be able to use in the last 10 day rotation. Students grades 3-5 will all be utilizing the Mobi View and the interactive music sites. I will create lessons and mini lessons that allow for both individual and group interaction using the Mobi View.

After conducting a Google search I have come across quite a few resources. One site I found was Fun Music Company. This site emails you free music lessons to use with your smartboards. I also came across The Whiteboard Blog which had an article that talked about 11 Ideas for Music Lessons on your Interactive White Board. From this article I found a site called HelpKidzLearn where students can play a piano, they also have a DJ beat game where students can pretend to be a DJ. I also came across Music Shake which is a free online music creation site. I believe my students would love this site and be excited about being able to create their own music to save and share with others. Lastly, I came across a Music Wiki: mustech where music teachers have shared interactive lessons and ideas for using smartboards in the music classroom. I know that these are just a few of the many free resources available and I am looking forward to finding, organizing, and utilizing these within my classroom.

During this course I will incorporate the use of technology through use of the Mobi View with my current music students. I will continue to utilize the sites once the course has completed and if I am teaching music again next year I will continue to use the lessons and resources that I create during this course, as well as expand them into the units I have already taught this year.
I am planning on judging the outcome of incorporating interactive technology lessons by assessing the students learning while using the technology. I will have the students independently write three things they have learned while using the technology. I will also gage the success of incorporating technology by judging if the students are more engaged in the lessons.

5 comments:

Chuck Commeret said...

Great idea. You have found some good resources online. Were you able to find any research on music and technology?

How do you plan to access student learning? Will there be a pre and post measure? If you can figure out how to measure student learning (even if it goes beyond CEP 812), you may create a good case for Mobi integration at your school. Additionally, it may help with future grant writing.

I look forward to hearing about the implementation of your project! Sounds great.

K. Mahoney said...

I think it would be a real challenge to bring technology into music, especially with young children. Mobi View is very cool! Such a great resource.

What kinds of lessons do you hope to bring in? And will you have a way to assess what students are getting out of the interactive learning? Also, do you think it will be a challenge to only have one Mobi View? Perhaps that will allow you to utilize centers?

I am really excited to see how this turns out!

Danielle said...

It sounds like you have already found a ton of really cool resources to use online! I've only briefly glossed over the capabilities of a Mobi View, so I'll be very interested to hear all of the specific things you choose to do with it.

The one area that I think you may want to go back and look at is how you will assess students. Will this be a project that you will use one lesson plan for all of your grade levels? Or will you come up with at different plan for each grade level based on your GLCEs? I would assume that they are different for every grade level, but I can't say that I've ever looked at music GLCEs. This brings me back to my point, which is how will you prove that the Mobi View is truly effective in reaching your students?

Just some food for thought, but I think you've got some great ideas. I'm excited to see how they turn out!

Edwlaws said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Edwlaws said...

Most time when I think of technology as it relates to Music, I always think of software for editing. Your idea enlightened me because I never thought of using technology on an introductory level in music. I will be interested in seeing how you use technology whether it be actually note identification or actually beginning lessons. As a child I had music lessons and hated them because they were uninviting and boring. The lesson themselves turned me off. I believe your project will present an opportunity to spark an interest in music.