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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

        Like 4         Retweet 54         Printer Friendly         Send via email Learning through Presentations "How many of you have done the 18 minute, right before class, copy and paste, plagiarized, bullet point, turn and read off the screen PowerPoint Presentation? Be honest." Every hand in the room goes up. We know it as educators, kids know it as students. The presentation really is about finding information, putting it on some slides, add some transitions and then telling the rest of the class what it is you found. Then there is the audience who is suppose to take notes on the information. A.K.A. copy the bulletpoints in bulletpoint format onto a piece of paper. Because there is so much learning in copying words from the slide to paper....NOT......and of course as you are busy copying the words you're not listening to what the presenter is saying...not that it matters they're just reading the words off the slides anyway. 

“I’ve read a lot of reviews about ‘Wii Music,’ and I think there’s a lot more depth to this program than people have initially given it credit for,” he says. “Wii Music” doesn’t ask players to match beats, like “Guitar Hero” or “Rock Band.” Using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk controller, players can experiment with more than 60 different virtual instruments ranging from bagpipes to ukulele. They can play mini-games such as "Handbell Harmony" and "Pitch Perfect." And they can jam or improvise as part of an ensemble. That’s the one feature that really hooked Krofchick, who says that younger kids can often be reluctant to improvise musically. “Children spend a lot of their classroom time following specific directions — what to read, what to do — and very little time … actually expressing themselves in the arts,” she says. “Some can be shy to come forward and actually sort of jump in and try something. “But if anything is presented to a child in the form of a game, it’s going to be much more student-friendly or kid-friendly,” she says. “For some reason, there doesn’t seem to be a fear there.”

Smart and Getting Smarter- This site provides ideas to maximize SmartBoards as interactive hands-on, minds-on technology tools to support students as they demonstrate what they know in multiple ways. It provides an overiew and lesson activities and interactive sites in math, science, social studies, humanities, language arts and early learning.

Using Electronic Whiteboards in Your Classroom -This site provides ideas, lesson plans, and websites for using the SmartBoard in the classroom. This site is divided by content area.

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.

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