EDM613 Wk3 Response to Therese Josephson

Therese's post:

One of the things that I struggled with early in this program was how to actually implement some of the things that I was learning. I think that it is a great step forward when teachers move out of the box and assign students projects that involve Web 2.0 tools and the creation of media.

But I have never really assigned much homework in orchestra class, and don’t feel that just because I know of better ways to do it, that I should begin so now. I’ve said this before. We are hands-on already. Our focus is on improving our musicianship by playing our instruments, so that’s what we do. Play our instruments.

When I can present content with multimedia that I have created, I do so. And I’m seeing that students are far more engaged and retain the information more easily when I do this. This is exciting!

But what about having students be the creators? At the beginning of the program, I couldn’t see taking significant amounts of time away from rehearsing to do this. And, honestly, I still can’t. But I think I’ve found a solution--My student technology committee. There is a small (but growing) group of students that meets with me before school once a week to create projects that we can use in orchestra. We started with some simple games using an online template. But I think we are all most proud of our latest project.

The kids did most of the work--I offered only a few suggestions and did the voiceover because they asked me to. They were so excited to show this to their classmates, and the other students really enjoyed it.

I think that as we continue to embark on new projects and share them, more students will join us. So now, I can help students create multimedia in a way that they enjoy without losing out on the core of what we do--playing our instruments.

My response:

I agree with you – sometimes it’s been difficult trying to incorporate some of the things we’ve learned in this program. I also think it can be overwhelming, trying to bring in too many different new things too fast. I like your idea of creating a student technology committee. Sometimes what we as teachers think is cool is actually very uncool.

Having students play a bigger role in forming their curriculum is a step in the process that almost never happens, but should. If one of the biggest problems in education truly is that students don’t feel connected with what they are learning, then it makes perfect since to include them in the planning. The issue, however, is that there’s never enough time.

I try to allow students as much freedom as possible in terms of what they need to do. I’ve come to realize it’s unrealistic for me to think they can have a major in say in the overall curriculum. So, I allow them as many choices as possible. Whenever they need to write an essay I give them at least three choices. I allow them to pitch project ideas and accept almost any type of book for independent reading. I really try to mix up my assessments so that I am covering all the multiple intelligences; making sure that each student does some work with each type.

When it comes to technology, I am constantly throwing out web 2.0 tools and other applications that I find to see what the students like so that I can incorporate them into future projects. I also encourage them to try new things, telling them that they will never be marked down for thinking outside of the box. I am constantly trying to get them to experiment and be creative.