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check out my post!!

June 20, 2010 8:14 PM

BP10_20100617_Link to my comment on Larry's blog

June 20, 2010 7:51 PM

See my post!!

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I never thought I would be using or would be thinking about using this tool!!!...

but I'm so excited to try it at the new charter school that I will be opening as the music teacher this school year.

Twitter has hooked me!! The possibilities are truly endless, convenient, and exciting!! With this web 2.0 tool, I can keep in touch with teachers, students, and most importantly... the parents!!! There have been so many times when I have sent letters home about an upcoming concert or performance and only half of the kids show up the night of the event. Twitter can be another way of sending announcements and reminders that if they do not get it from what was sent home with the students. It can also give the parents a way to ask me questions aside from sending email.

One thing to keep in mind with this tool (this can be looked at as a set back) is that you can only send twits with 180 characters. So this may limit you to just brief messages. Nonetheless, I'm verry excited to see how this works this next school year!

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Come check out my comment Larry's blog about Toondoo, a web2.0 tool that you can use to make comic strips. It definitely gets two thumbs up!! As we teachers are considered as great theives, come make sure you come take a look... this might be an idea you may want to steal!!

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Follow this link to my comments on my friend Kristi's blog on a cool tool called blogster. You'll be glad you did!

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I was really excited when I came across the web 2.0 tool ututti because it advertised itself as a "web based Music Teacher office assistant." I think that would be an accurate description. It is a place where a music teacher could store data that is relevant to running an effective music program. This includes a student management piece where demographic data as well as classroom related information could be stored such a instrument played or part sung. There is also an inventory piece which would allow me to catalog all my instruments, cd's, books and anything else of value or significance to my classroom. It conveniently breaks up the inventory into categories making for easy organization. Additionally there is a finance piece to help me manage a budget. There is also a calendar feature and place to maintain an email list with groups for one-click communication. The tool allows for 30-day free trial and then there is an annual fee of $175.00 to maintain the site.

The idea of this sounds great to me. I relish in the thought of having all my information in one place that is easily user friendly and highly organized. There are a few potential drawbacks or at least things to consider. Of course cost is a factor; would my school pay for such a tool or would I be expected to pay for such a luxury? With such sensitive data being stored in a non-district related site, would I gain approval of use? There is also the matter of "uploading" all the data. For many of the features there is an import option but I am not sure what type of source it needs to import from. If the import doesn't work, it would be a tedious and long task to get everything into the system. The thought itself is exhausting.

Other than these concerns, I think ututti has a lot of potential for the music teacher.

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Blogging, like much of what I learned while attending Full Sail, is a new concept for me. I suppose in some ways I have used online media tools to chronicle everyday events in my life (such as Facebook or Twitter) but not at the depth at which one could call it “blogging” as I understand it. Therefore I certainly had not considered using it with my students in the classroom. However, after researching the phenomena that is blogging not only do I see the value it has on a personal level but also on a educational level. “Weblogs can be used to promote literacy in the classroom through storytelling and dialogue” (Clyde, 2005). I can now imagine my students getting online and blogging about their thoughts on a new piece of music that we listened to that week, or about the life of a composer we discussed. The possibilities are endless! In the article educational blogging, Clyde points out that there are many webblog platforms already created for educational use. Teachers simply need to be cognizant of their validity.

Educator Lisa Zawilinski contends that not only does blogging promote literacy, it also promotes higher order thinking skills (2009). Zawilinski provides several graphic organizers to guide student thinking and make for more engaging blogging experiences. I can’t reiterate enough how excited I am about exposing this to my students in the upcoming school year. Blogging can be yet another tool that will promote technological proficiency among my students but also support what the other teachers are doing in their classrooms.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------References

Clyde, L. (2005). educational blogging. Teacher Librarian, 32(3), 43-45. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Zawilinski, L. (2009). HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking. Reading Teacher, 62(8), 650-661. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

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