Monday, November 15, 2010
Tweets
I like twitter, but not completely sold yet. I think it needs to be connected to a more diverse form of social networking.
Our superintendent, Dr. Jack Barshinger, has given me the most to think about. He mostly tweets quotes and they usually are generated from the business sector, but I enjoy them and think they can be applied to education.
I did an informal poll at work. Barely any teachers use twitter at BHS. Weird. What's even weirder is how many have NEVER used it or even gone on the site. Even more weird.
Ken Robinson's twitter questions where he discussed assessment in creativity were great. He posted them two weeks ago, but I've found myself watching them over and over. There's lots to think about. All of the policy talk is interesting as well. Teacherbeat always has interesting stuff, as does Rotherham.
Our superintendent, Dr. Jack Barshinger, has given me the most to think about. He mostly tweets quotes and they usually are generated from the business sector, but I enjoy them and think they can be applied to education.
I did an informal poll at work. Barely any teachers use twitter at BHS. Weird. What's even weirder is how many have NEVER used it or even gone on the site. Even more weird.
Ken Robinson's twitter questions where he discussed assessment in creativity were great. He posted them two weeks ago, but I've found myself watching them over and over. There's lots to think about. All of the policy talk is interesting as well. Teacherbeat always has interesting stuff, as does Rotherham.
Monday, November 1, 2010
Rock n' Roll Begins Today
Today, we begin the 2nd installment of Rock and Roll Methods at Batavia High School. You can view the first day lesson plan here. Today we begin a two week discussion about decision making in art, taste, and an introduction to aesthetics. We'll be using mostly music created in the last 30 years with visits from authors Oliver Sacks, Jonah Lehrer, and Daniel Levitin. Three GREAT authors on some interesting intersections of psychology and music cognition.
Friday, October 29, 2010
The Ideal Situation
What would make our technology situation ideal?
I'm going to answer this from a hi-brow side because I think most of our tech issues are working instruments (you can consider that the low-brow side). We really need about five laptops in each discipline: band, choir, orchestra. These would have SMART music capabilities. Our recording situation would be more streamlined, but that is about to change once we can get some of the cabling fixed.
Having Sibelius on every computer would help as well. Right now we only have 5 on two, and it makes it difficult to use.
I'm going to answer this from a hi-brow side because I think most of our tech issues are working instruments (you can consider that the low-brow side). We really need about five laptops in each discipline: band, choir, orchestra. These would have SMART music capabilities. Our recording situation would be more streamlined, but that is about to change once we can get some of the cabling fixed.
Having Sibelius on every computer would help as well. Right now we only have 5 on two, and it makes it difficult to use.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Friday, October 22, 2010
Blog I will be following...
I enjoy a few edwonk blogs. By far, my favorite is Bridging Differences hosted at EdWeek. The authors Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier are considered two leading authorities on school change and reform.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
New Blog
Hello! This blog is active for Rock n' Roll methods, a term 2 and 3 course at Batavia High School. Njoy.
What I learned/think about the first course:
I enjoyed the discussion thus far and the fact that it seems that we'll be exploring quite a bit on our own, which I enjoy and learn more from. I also enjoy the fact we are trying to make this a more relevant course and one that we can use almost immediately. I hope we continue to talk about major themes, overarching operations, etc. that are important for our profession.
How will I use this blog in the classroom:
I think this will be the main source of information for my students. I'm going to begin asking them to blog as well. Effectively, I'm asking them to document their own learning online for everyone to see and comment on. We'll see if it has a positive effect and how I can make it more beneficial as the class goes on. I'll also ask students to place their work on their blog and do their aesthetic critiques via youtube embeds. That should be cool.
What I learned/think about the first course:
I enjoyed the discussion thus far and the fact that it seems that we'll be exploring quite a bit on our own, which I enjoy and learn more from. I also enjoy the fact we are trying to make this a more relevant course and one that we can use almost immediately. I hope we continue to talk about major themes, overarching operations, etc. that are important for our profession.
How will I use this blog in the classroom:
I think this will be the main source of information for my students. I'm going to begin asking them to blog as well. Effectively, I'm asking them to document their own learning online for everyone to see and comment on. We'll see if it has a positive effect and how I can make it more beneficial as the class goes on. I'll also ask students to place their work on their blog and do their aesthetic critiques via youtube embeds. That should be cool.
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