Welcome to my little world.  I'm glad you're here!  I'm a full-time public school teacher in my 24th year of teaching. All of my experience thus far has been in the elementary school setting and I'm looking to branch out.  I have discovered a passion for technology and am hoping for an opportunity to share that passion with others.  I'm certain this advanced degree with an emphasis on technology will open up a whole new world of career opportunities for me and I'm excited to see what the future holds.  

     I have taught Kindergarten, First, Second and Sixth grades previously throughout my career and have recently moved to Music. It's a wonderful assignment!  I get to interact with every student in our school every single day.  Plus, I get to share my love of music and hopefully illustrate the benefits of the arts in education.  And who wouldn't want to spend a little part of each day with Mozart, Bon Jovi, or YoYo Ma?! In the immortal words of Plato,  “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything.”

     While music helps us connect to our inner beings, technology helps us connect to others.  That's why I see it as beneficial that we (teachers) integrate technology into every aspect of our students' learning, including the arts, to demonstrate their understanding of content knowledge and their technology proficiency.  Our text cautions the reader that frequently when planning for the inclusion of technology in lessons, teachers mistakenly consider the tool before considering the learning outcome.  Therefore, one must be thoughtful and purposeful when considering how to incorporate technology in one's lessons. According to our text, "..teachers who use technology effectively are able to integrate instructional moves to leverage better learning with the digital tools" (Kolb, 2020, xiii).  Further, lessons should be planned such that the technology tool adds value to the lesson's objective rather than becoming the central focus of the students' attention.  Fortunately for educators, the ISTE standards provide a roadmap for effective integration of technology.  

     I have selected to focus on ISTE standard 3C under Knowledge Constructor: curate information from digital resources using a variety of methods and tools to create collections of artifacts that demonstrate meaningful connections or conclusions.  As my current placement is teaching elementary music, the Oklahoma Standards for Fine Arts standard I have chosen to address is M.CR.1: Generate musical ideas through reading, notating, and/or interpreting music; specifically M.CR.1.5 Experiment with variations in and demonstrate understanding of tempo, timbre, or tone color, dynamics, and phrasing for expressive purposes. Although my primary purpose is for students to demonstrate their existing knowledge of these concepts, a secondary objective is to foster their creativity and demonstrate their technological skills.  According to Mark Gura, author of Make, Learn, Succeed: Building a Culture of Creativity in Your Students, creativity isn't just found in moments of spontaneous inspiration but also in calculated processes. Further, Gura identifies creativity as part of a team as being necessary in the 21st Century world. With that in mind,  students in my fifth grade music class could collaborate with a partner to create an original piece of music demonstrating their understanding of tempo, timbre, and dynamics by using Chrome Music Lab or Groove Pizza.  The students would be responsible for creating a piece of music to accompany a commercial for a specified item. The music should convey the appropriate mood while demonstrating students' knowledge of the musical elements as identified. 

     Kolb points out that as one considers whether or not technology is adding any real value to a lesson, one needs to consider if the technology enhances the lesson concept and is necessary to support the learning goals. The author suggests asking oneself the following question:  "Is there value added to the learning goals in this lesson by using technology, compared to what I would do without technology" (Kolb, 2020, p. 64). Emphatically, I can say technology would definitely add value to this lesson. Students could demonstrate their knowledge through a pencil/paper activity. However, with the assistance of available websites and apps such as Garage Band, Music Lab, Groove Pizza, etc. students are more actively engaged with the concept and the learning, I'm certain, will be more permanent.

References:

Gura, M.  (2016) Make, learn, succeed: Building a culture of creativity in your school.   Portland,                      OR:     ISTE.

Kolb, L.  (20202).  Learning first, technology second in practice: New strategies, research, and tools                 for student success. Portland, OR: ISTE.