One of the things that we are supposed to do for this class is to research different topics in technology. Of course I chose to find the articles that also relate to music. Here is the first of those articles that I found interesting.
Instructional Blogging in the General Music Room, written by K. Kerstetter was an interesting article that talked about the shift of general music classrooms from sing alongs and record listening to something entirely different. With technology, music itself has changed so much that the music classroom has digital streaming, document cameras to look at music, SMART boards, and a whole other host of things. The best analogy that I've seen explains that the teachers of yesterday and even some of today are kind of visitors of this new environment, where the students are the "digital natives". They already speak the language and we need to get on board with that. There are several music teachers who have jumped on this idea though and have really shown what technology can do in the classroom. These are professional blogs that are put out to further our profession, but the idea of blogging in the classroom is coming to be common as well. The article gave a number of examples of ways to use blogs in the classroom including, a listening log, evaluating music, "voting" on awards like the Grammys, sharing personal music experiences, and having students reflect of class happenings. It goes on to also mention the classroom theories behind the idea of blogging, talking about Vygotsky's theory of learning. With blogging, it follows the idea of the student's learning increasing when given the opportunity to learn on their own with just assistance from a peer or adult. Another educational theorist, Lipman, then talked about the social component of learning where blogs are allowing students to listening to each other, build on their ideas, and challenge each other in different ways.
I felt that the article was very informative and helped me understand the ways that I can validate blogging. In the music classroom, this would give students an extra opportunity to write and communicate that I don't have the time to do in two thirty minute sessions. The ideas that the article provided for different ways to use blogs was also very helpful. Going forward, I know that I want to let my students do these things, but worry about the legalities and the technicalities of doing so. When I sit down and really think about all that the kids can do, and drawing from personal experience at using things like WikiSpaces in the past, I know that they would love it. This is going to be a goal for me this year definitely, getting the kids online and discussing with each other and me digitally.
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