Sunday, September 20, 2009

Week Three, Thing #7

Both in this class and in my professional life I have found myself being swarmed with technology. I have decided to embark on a few technological journeys this year to hopefully enhance the elementary music program at my school.

First thing is first, I am the proud caretaker of a wall-mounted SMARTBoard in my music classroom. For those of you who do not know, a SMARTBoard is an interactive whiteboard. I utilized the mobile one so much last year, I was rewarded with my very own for this school year. Though it is not 100% operational, I have been anticipating its arrival by producing visuals and scanning traditional paper worksheets that I can now use with the smart technology. I will keep you posted as to my progress!

Also delivered this week was my new Ipod. I had used a personal Ipod in previous years and was very much looking forward to an Ipod that could hold all of my exclusively school music. I had been developing the playlists for over a year and was thrilled with the ease of plugging it into my stereo system and scan through the endless possibilities.

Finally, my newest goal for the year is to utilize the school website as an opportunity to publicize my program. I have periodically taken pictures of my students during special performances but never during regular class time. My goal is to use the digital camera to catch learning moments in the classroom. I plan to use those photos both on the website and to create a Powerpoint presentation for Open House so that I can show parents exactly what their children are doing in my classroom.

Though I do not consider myself technologically impaired, I am continually shocked by all that is out there! I look forward to learning more to continue to enhance my students' classroom experience.

3 comments:

  1. Good for you. I am jealous about the smartboard. My husband got a promethian (very similar to smart) board in his room at the end of last year and he loves it. I am thrilled to death with my LCD projector and use it all the time.

    Have fun with the ipod and smartboard!

    Brandy Elfod

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  2. you're really leveraging your new tools -- great!

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  3. Wow you are really on a roll! I have a smartboard in the lab and I am learning how to use it. There are so many cool things you can do with it!! the iPod is a great tool too. We are experimenting with what we can do with an iTouch this year. It's very exciting!

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