What+are+our+next+first+steps?

What is our next first step?

Submit Sessions at MMEA!!! Session submission link (available June 3rd) [|www.mmea.org/winterclinic.htm]


 * Seth Boyd**: First of all, let's not put the cart before the horse. It is with some embarrassment that I find myself developing a reputation as a technology expert. I know how to use technology, but I am frequently skeptical about it. Often, technology is gimicky and substanceless.Rather than being known as the technology guy, I would much rather be known as a fabulous music teacher. I think the "next first step" is to ask "will this technology make us better music teachers, or are we doing what we want to do just as well without it?" If the technology does not expand our musical palate, does not streamline a boring yet necessary process, or does not motivate our students enough to compensate for the time it takes to train our students to use it, I would rather wait until it is refined. I might even consider abandoning it altogether. Some would say that this attitude is backward thinking, but I think it keeps us focused on the prize. When we can point out how student learning and greater musicianship will result from an investment in technology and prove it, we all come out ahead.

That said, here are my technology goals for next year. Notice that all of these goals have a direct benefit to student learning and music making.
 * Make sure there is a direct connection between the microphones in my room and my computer. For as advanced as Minnetonka is, this is not how my sound system is set up. If this were done, I would be able to eliminate wasted time between takes in a recording process and do more recording as a matter of course during lessons. Students give insightful and sometimes harsh critiques of themselves when they hear how they sound, but the end result is that they work VERY hard to improve when they notice a flaw.
 * Use youtube as a promotional tool for my choir. While it may not elevate my choir to the status of PS 22, it may make other students more excited about being in choir and increase my numbers for next year.
 * Find out how I can get access to iPads in my classroom. There are many around the district, but they are often tied directly to literacy components. This opens up some doors to reading sheet music and possibly setting up an iBand, at least for a class period or two.
 * Research music making apps. Synthesized and electronic music speaks to students, but they don't often get the chance to work with those sounds at a young age.
 * See if I can use iPads to hold sheet music for my 11 voice choir twice a week. I would like to experiment with this to see if I prefer it to regular sheet music.

Here are a few ways I think that the Perpich Center could foster appropriate use of good technology.
 * Have a person (or group of people) who enjoy researching the latest gadgets and software on the look out for things that might benefit music education.
 * Once a particular product has been identified as having potential, invite master teachers to be trained in the technology and ask them to use it in their classrooms for a year in whatever way they think will be useful. This may require investigating corporate partnerships to see if they will loan out the materials. A word of caution, though. Don't select a teacher on the basis of his or her proficiency with technology, or at least keep that as a background factor. You want a real first rate teacher who will look at that technology and put it to work in a meaningful and productive way. A technologist might get too excited about the gadgetry and lose track of the point. Then, invite that teacher to participate as a presenter in a workshop about good teaching, but ask them to use the technology for at least part of it.
 * After those workshops, invite in teachers who are comfortable training with a specific type of technology to lead workshops on the "how to's" of specific technology. Advertise these technology workshops at the end of the good teaching workshops.

If this is done, the end result will be that many teachers who are interested in seeing master teachers at work will see them working with useful technology in practical ways. They will want to learn more, and will have the opportunity to do so. As a result, some teachers who roll their eyes at the thought of attending a music technology workshop will see potential in some technology that they hadn't before. They will demand (and eventually get) this technology in their classrooms. Since the technology was shown to them as part of a seamless lesson plan that emphasized student learning, these teachers will put the technology to work with that perspective in mind. The end result will be better teaching by teachers and better learning for students.


 * Chris Russell**: Some quick ideas:


 * 1) Open a Minnesota Chapter of [|TI:ME].
 * 2) Find ways to demonstrate technology for music education for music educators. If they can see what they can do, they will want it, which will drive them to acquire and use it.
 * 3) Technology newsletter? Technology article as part of Interval?
 * 4) Continue encouragement of tech-related presentations at MMEA Mid-Winter Conference.
 * 5) Research? Where are music educators with technology?