Group items tagged

Computers and KeyboardsWe have all 8 computer and keyboard stations connected together through MIDI interface cables. As of August, 2007 we connected all keyboards to the computers using USB cables, a much more economical way to make the connections. The keyboards are used to enter notes onto the screen in Sibelius when creating compositions. Students also enter notes into the computer in note reading drills in Music Ace and Alfred's Theory Games, along with some use in the Groovy music series by Sibelius. We also use Alfred Midi files on the computer as an accompaniment with the students as they practice on their keyboards. All computers have splitter cables to split the sound between the keyboard, speakers and headphones. This helps me to have the students practice on their own or practice with the entire class. We do not have funding available for a group education controller, but hope to be able to purchase one in the future. The computers are either Windows 98 PC's or Windows XP PC's that I repaired on my own from obsolete computers no longer being used at our school. We have limited Internet access in our room. I post our websites on each stand-alone computer so students may work on the quizzes and other lessons if time is available during class.

When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress. The teacher's role changes as well. The teacher is no longer the center of attention as the dispenser of information, but rather plays the role of facilitator, setting project goals and providing guidelines and resources, moving from student to student or group to group, providing suggestions and support for student activity. As students work on their technology-supported products, the teacher rotates through the room, looking over shoulders, asking about the reasons for various design choices, and suggesting resources that might be used. (See example of teacher as coach.) Project-based work (such as the City Building Project and the Student-Run Manufacturing Company) and cooperative learning approaches prompt this change in roles, whether technology is used or not. However, tool uses of technology are highly compatible with this new teacher role, since they stimulate so much active mental work on the part of students. Moreover, when the venue for work is technology, the teacher often finds him or herself joined by many peer coaches--students who are technology savvy and eager to share their knowledge with others.

When students are using technology as a tool or a support for communicating with others, they are in an active role rather than the passive role of recipient of information transmitted by a teacher, textbook, or broadcast. The student is actively making choices about how to generate, obtain, manipulate, or display information. Technology use allows many more students to be actively thinking about information, making choices, and executing skills than is typical in teacher-led lessons. Moreover, when technology is used as a tool to support students in performing authentic tasks, the students are in the position of defining their goals, making design decisions, and evaluating their progress.

Immediately following the release of the National Standards for Music Education in 1994, MENC--The National Association for Music Education released Opportunity-to-Learn Standards for Music Instruction as a guide to what schools should provide to help students achieve both the National Standards for Music Education in grades K-12 and the MENC prekindergarten music education standards. MENC recommends that states either adopt these opportunity-to-learn standards or use them as a basis for developing their own. The standards challenge all who are committed to high-quality music instruction to work together to improve the teaching and learning of music in the nation's schools. The writers of the opportunity-to-learn standards were well aware that new technologies have an impact on the ways schools deliver music instruction. Throughout the text of those standards, there are references to computers, software, MIDI equipment, CD-ROMs, and other resources that are important to the world of the music teacher, as well as essential to the world of music outside the classroom. In the years since the publication of the opportunity-to-learn standards, technologies useful for music education (as for all education) have grown more capable, more varied, simpler to use, and certainly more ubiquitous.

Free Piano Lessons online!- Click here to get 10 free piano lessons. You will need access to YouTube and FlashPlayer to view some of the website. A Simple Synthesizer – Click on the boxes! Play a Virtual Piano!(Must have Java Script installed) Famous Pianist Word Search (Choose “Print” from the File Menu too print a hard copy) Strange and Unusual Pianos Music/Piano Jokes and Funnies Test out some Virtual Drum Machines! 120 Years of Electronic InstrumentsStarts with the Musical Telegraph (1876) of Elisha Gray, who got to the patent office with his telephone patent one hour later than Alexander Graham Bell. Virtual Piano/OscilloscopeAs you play, you’ll see and hear the wave forms! Playing Fraction Pies - Phil Tulga site Music Activities and Classroom Integration (math, science, language arts, homemade instruments) Progressive and excellent site by Phil Tulga. Definitely take a look.

The web is an excellent resource for music teachers who need free education materials for the elementary classroom. There are a number of sites that offers articles about music education and teaching strategies, lesson plans, classroom tools, children’s songs, fingerplays, and other helpful materials. Here are 15 sites to explore throughout the school year.

The web is an excellent resource for music teachers who need free education materials for the elementary classroom. There are a number of sites that offers articles about music education and teaching strategies, lesson plans, classroom tools, children’s songs, fingerplays, and other helpful materials. Here are 15 sites to explore throughout the school year

HomeAAIMWhy Reading 2.0?Low-Tech LabelsQR CodesCreating ScreensaversWordle Book

Wordle Book Ads

Tired of seeing your students sit in front of a computer while your library's books collect dust on the shelves? Turn their fondness for the online world to your advantage by highlighting your library's offerings with the latest technological tools

hen a similar survey was undertaken five years ago, students' number one complaint was the speed of Internet access at school. Now, they point instead to school filters and firewalls. 71% of high school students and 62% of middle school students say that the most important thing their school could do to make it easier for them to use technology would be to allow them greater access to the websites they need

Teachers can discreetly view an individual desktop to confirm the student is on task and, for example, conduct a two-way chat session without disrupting the rest of the room.