Hi All,
Well it's here, our final week together. In our last week we read about productivity and professional development. There are a lot of items within the reading that I believe all of us as teacher can relate to. If you are anything like me when you first started teaching you were so excited to get in front of the class and share your love of music in hopes that it would be so infectious that your students would develop a new or greater love for it. It never really occurred to you that there was all this other stuff attached to teaching. This chapter is full of all that other stuff. Bauer opens up the door to prepare teachers for the behind the scenes work in this chapter. If only we all had this reading in undergraduate studies.
Organization
Bauer mentions a two main ways to help you stay organized: task management systems and calendars. Personally, I use to do lists all the time to keep my thoughts organized and help me remember exactly what I have to do. I also have a calendar that I write all of my important school dates on (concerts, meeting, afterschool rehearsal, color guard practices, ect.). However, I have never used any sort of online system. I hand write my to do lists everyday and my calendar sits on my desk. Even though this works, there is always the chance that I will misplace my to do list or neglect to see something I have written on my calendar. There have also been times where I have had to call in sick and I didn't realize I had an after school practice because it was on my calendar at school. There are many benefits of using an online calendar. Such as Bauer mentioned, "Most digital calendars and to do lists will sync their data among devices, so once entered, the information is available on one's computer, phone, tablet, and so on." (Bauer, 2014, p. 169). I have made it a goal to look into a digital system and test it out to see if I am able to adapt to working with something new.
Tech Use
In my program I use quite a bit of technology. We use everything from Garageband and FruityLoops to recording and playback technology for rehearsals to walkie talkies during marching season in order to communicate with the drum major and guard captains. I think for someone to neglect to use technology would be impossible. My school itself uses a lot a technology as well. Just today we had a webinar on "The Pedagogy of Questioning" as part of our professional development. It is an amazing presentaion, and I definitely recommend looking into it. We also utilize an online calendar, online sports schedules, and Facebook.
Instrucitonal Support and Databases
I am sure that most of us use Microsoft Office programs for many of the same things. On a daily basis I am making worksheets, permission slips, information letters about concerts, newletters, concert programs, ect. In excel I have inventories of all the instruments, marching uniform assignments, color guard uniform assignments, seating order for ensembles, beginning instrument assignments, fundraiser spreadsheets, and music club records. The Office programs are extremely helpful to anyone in a teaching position. They provide us with the means to create and edit documents easily and efficently.
Before this class I have never used a PLN or have been connected with teachers outside of my area. I love that I am able to read others opinions that come from many different places around the country and world, and are from many different teaching environments. It has been a pleasure and privilege hearing what everyone has to offer. Thank you for all the wonderful ideas that you have listed in your posts. I look forward to keeping in touch with you all and reading your final posts as our final week comes to a close.
Good luck everyone
H
Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
