Microsoft One Note Review

Microsoft One Note is a free software that allows users to create notebooks to share with students and colleagues.  These notebooks can be divided into sections based on the user’s needs.  Each section can be color coordinated for organizational purposes. The user will be able to upload images, audio files, videos, and recordings of himself to the notebook. Because this is a Microsoft software all office software can be downloaded to each notebook. Educators can make quick use of this software.  Each section of the notebook can be dedicated to a specific task like lesson plans, assignments, class reading, recorded lectures, or audio files of various kinds. It is possible to integrate a curriculum into One Note. Any educator that wants to find some way to integrate technology into their curriculum should give One Note a chance. There is a video tutorial that gives step by step guide to how to use the software. Anyone that is not familiar with One Note should watch the videos and should be able to get a good understanding what One Note can bring to their classroom.

Week 7 reflection

           We live in a digital world that requires teachers to be able to use digital tools for professional use and productivity. Instructors are now required to not just keep written documentation files in file cabinets. Today's digital world allows users to keep lesson plans and other important documents on cloud software such as Google Drive or OneDrive. Both software can be used to create and save word documentation, slides (or PowerPoint), and data sheets. Cloud software can be essential to data management. Databases help track a variety of detailed information (Bauer, 2014). Data that is saved on either cloud software can be shared with colleagues and administration.   

  

           I use Google Drive in order to organizing and storing data. My school district recently acquired Google as a new email provider. The district did not just receive Gmail accounts for employees but all of Google's services such as Google Drive, Google+, and YouTube.Google drive made my professional life easier.Communication between administration and peers changed for the better.  I no longer had to use a jump drive to save data. I could easily share my lesson plans with the administration. I could collaborate and share documents with other colleagues in the district.   

  

In addition to working with peers, Google Drive teachers have a web page on their school websites. Teachers can use their web pages to communicate with parents about learning activities, assignments, and coming events. Secondly instructors can add calendar dates for important events, post videos or audio files of student performances. On my web page, I use a slide presentation created with prezi.com. Each slide gives the view information on who I am, what students will be learning in my class, and how students are graded.  

  

Social media can be a means to communicate with parents and the community. I use my professional Twitter account for professional learning networks (PLN). Those that utilize social networks in conjunction with technologies such as discussion forums, video conferencing, and social bookmarking can lead to learning experiences specifically for the individual (Bauer, 2014). Though I recently started this blog I have had my twitter account along with my Pinterest and Diigo account for about three years. I had gather information and gained insight on various of topics in education. Additionally, I was able to find other music educators Pinterest boards, Diigo groups, and blogs.  

  

Teachers are now able to communicate, collaborate, and network with other with digital technology. Content are teachers such as Music, Art, or Drama can no longer be secluded at their schools. The digital community is a broad community where individual can find peers with a common interest.


Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding 

                to music. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Week 6 Reflection

    Some of us remember having mix tapes. Mix tapes were made by a person that recorded their favorite songs off the radio using a cassette player. I made mix tapes for myself in high school, and once the technology advanced enough I burned CDs of my favorite songs. When listening to a song, it was in conjunction with other activities (Bauer, 2014). The activities range from traveling, lounging in my room, or cleaning. Most of the music I was listening to was common to what was on the radio. The only intuitive listening I was doing not deemed popular music was Jazz. I played in a jazz band in high school and college. Hearing jazz music was formal listening but later became intuitive listening because the style of music became a part of me.

    Aside from playing in a jazz band, I would have never gravitated towards jazz as I did. As an elementary general music teacher, I am given a tremendous opportunity to expose my students to different genres of music that they would not necessarily choose from on their own. Younger children exhibit more open-earedness than older children (Bauer, 2014). My primary students have been more eager to listen to and sing music from different genres of cultural backgrounds than my preteen students. Nevertheless, it is important to give a representation of different genres of music because it may positively impact students’ reaction to them later in life (p.109).

    My students will continue to listen to music all of their lives, but the goal of a music educator should be to develop lifelong music listeners. Instructors need to develop students’ ability to respond emotionally to the expressive properties of sound (p.108). These properties include the timbre, phrasing, and themes. With elementary students, it is best to use short excerpts of songs. As these songs are being, played instructors should have students attempt to put in words the sounds they are hearing.

    This school year I made it a priority to expose my students to music from different time periods. I choose “In the Hall of the Mountain King” from Peer Gynt Suite. With this particular theme, I was able to expose students to different musical terms such as tempo and dynamics. With my older students, I was able to explain the idea of a motif and relate it to music they hear when they watch a movie. Most importantly students were encouraged more to describe the music they hear in class. I don’t expect my students to gravitate to every genre of music they hear in my classroom. I do want them to be expose to different styles of music and make connections with it.

Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding 
                to music. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Week 5 reflection

     If there is anything to abhor in the practice of teaching is when educators make the mistake of ad lib lessons. If a teacher wants to make sure that their students learn very little to nothing the instructor would come to work with no lesson plans for the next three to four weeks. According to Bazan, there are numerous excuses to not plan a lesson such as lesson planning is time-consuming, or other teacher model do not plan lessons. Lesson plans do take much time and effort to create. However, the amount of time planning a lesson should not be a deterrent for creating a lesson plan.

     Bazan states that one of the values of lesson plans is that it ensures the connection of instruction, assessment, and objectives.  Before any good lesson, there must be an objective or target of what is essential that students must learn. Afterward, the instructor must determine what would be the evidence of the student meeting the target. The educator then decides on learning strategies that will ensure that students will meet the desired learning outcome. An ad lib lesson lacks the vigor of a predetermined lesson or unit plan. There is a far greater probability of students meeting a target with a well thought plan than a student being taught by an educator that does not value lesson planning.

    If teachers are daily giving impulsive lessons then there, the instructor has likely not given a thought to properly measuring student outcomes. Assessment is an important part of the planning; it measures what students have learned and gives informs the design of instruction (Bauer, 2014). The validity of a classroom assessment is determined by the alignment of learning outcome and assessment. If the assessment process is valid, it will help to improve learning.

    After an educator has established a target and an assessment to show evidence of reaching that target, an instructor should come learning activities to guide students to the desired learning outcomes. Learning activities should not be taken lightly because a teacher must consider a multitude of detail in planning learning activities (Bauer, 2014). Some of those details include prior knowledge of students, materials needed for the lesson, and classroom environment. The learning activity must focus on students meeting learning outcomes and the assessment where students will produce evidence of reaching the target goal.

    All great lessons come from objectives and assessments that were decided previously. Inconsistent planning or ad lib lessons will only ensure student failure to learn and a teacher’s failure to instruct. Consistent planning and well thought out lessons will have a greater chance of  student success.


Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding 
                to music. New York: Oxford University Press. 

Chromatik and SmartMusic Review

         There are plenty of accompaniment software in the market. The two feature software that will be discussed is SmartMusic and Chromatik.. Chromatik is a free web bases accompaniment software. The website is made up of a small team of workers that create free sheet music for the user to practice. The user has the option to select the instrument for the sheet music the user wants to practice. Chromatik also provides accompaniment music via YouTube URL to play as the user practices the instrument. Chromatik is also available on Apple, Android, and Amazon products. On a tablet the user is able to record and share practice sessions with other users and receive feedback.

            SmartMusic is an accompaniment software that allows users to practice assigned composition.  Music educators are able to assigned music for students to practice. The students are able to practice the musical pieces at home and receive feedback. Students are able to see where they made mistakes. Teachers are able to get an accurate time of when students practice a particular composition at home. SmartMusic is available Window and Apple computers and the iPad.

            What both software are to do well is the enabling the user to share and receive feedback from others. Chromatik allows the user to share recordings with not just an educator but also classmates or other peers. SmartMusic was more design for the teacher student perspective. The educator assigns a piece of music the student practice the music piece and the teacher makes a comment on how well or poor the student performed. What SmartMusic does as far as sharing practice session with instructors is not a bad thing; it a wonderful feature of the software. However, an educator could possibly use Chromatik to encourage students to do peer review of practice session as well.

            The accompaniments for Chromatik are good but at the mercy of  users on YouTube. If the original video is deleted or the URL does not work the user will not have accompaniment music for the particular song. The sheet music Chromatik uses good but limited. Chromatik has music for a good selection of instruments. However, because there are a small amount of people making arrangement music there will be a limit to the number of songs available. Teachers using SmartMusic have 60 methods books, 600 sight-reading music, 4000 ensemble titles, and18,000 solo titles to choose from. The accompaniment was done by professional musicians ready to be use on the software. Teachers are also able to import music from Finale to their students on SmartMusic.

            The matter of choose of what software to use maybe an economic one. Chromatik is a free software where as SmartMusic has a year subscription. If funding is not an issue and students have a PC or iPad at home SmartMusic should be the logical choice. If funding is problematic then Chromatik is a good alternative.

Reflection Week 4

   With the surplus of software and internet resources available for any music educator, it is important for the teacher to choose the software or internet resource that will be the most beneficial for all students. In order to have a high standard for student’s instructors need to have high standards for the resources that potentially used in the classroom. A music educator must choose software that clearly address national or state music standards. The software needs to have content that align with curriculum goals that the instructor has in place (Bauer, 2014).

    There are also different categories of software to consider when choosing one to aid in student learning. If educators have students that are unfamiliar with music content, the instructor may want to use a tutorial software. A tutorial software does not require prerequisite learning because the purpose of the software is to teach new knowledge and skills (Bauer, 2014). If students have prior knowledge in music teachers can use practice software or games to reinforce student learning. Practice software can use drill and practice programs to give students questions to answer and provide feedback. Additionally, practice software can be used to enhance music performance. Game software can be motivating and reinforce prior knowledge and add new content to students. Most students love games especially those that have a clear goal or prize at the end of the game.

    Using internet resources should be done with caution. Content on the web may or may not be a reliable source of information. Educators and students must evaluate Internet resources  to determine if the source of information is authentic and dependable. The common internet source that teachers and students will use is web sites. Before introducing a website as a possible resource educators have to identify the author and verify his or her credentials. Secondly the instructional content of the website needs to identify to address possible music or technology standard.


Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding 
                to music. New York: Oxford University Press.

Week 3 reflection

Music teachers seem to either embrace or fear music composition and those that hold to composition differ on how to teach it. Instructors tend to war between two approaches to music composition; either standard music notation or non-notational composition strategies (Bauer, 2014).  Both composition strategies have value and are a needed for all students. However, some would say one strategy has more value than the other. The best way for an educator to not undervalue an approach is to analyze and highlight the positives of each approach and consider the overall benefits for the students they teach.

    The music notation composition approach is a tried and true approach to teaching music composition. The argument for notation based composition is the belief that students should learn to read and notate music because it is a fundamental part of music literacy (Bauer, 2014).  Notation based strategies are valuable because those that can read and write music can also perform the music they have created. When considering how to begin to teach composition to student an educator must consider the skill level of the students. For novice students, an educator can start teaching composition with simple rhythm patterns of quarter note, quarter rest, and eight notes with a time signature of 4/4. After students show mastery of rhythmic composition and educator can move on to pitch starting with so mi in C major. After students compositions skills have developed more, the educator can add so mi la, do mi so la, do re mi, C major pentatonic scale, and C major scale.
   
    The non-notation composition approach involves the use of promoting music creativity in technology without tradition composition.  The advocates of non-notation strategy argue that a large majority of their students have an interest in music that are not involved in tradition music settings like band, choir, or small ensemble.  Students use digital audio workstations (DAW) to record, manipulate, and arrange sound. Music teachers that use DAW tend to use technologies that are cost effective and easy to use for students. Bazan states that some students have DAW technology on their home computer. GarageBand is a popular software for Apple products some students already have. Those students that have an iPad or Apple Computer at home can explore the software on their own time. Soundation and Audacity are DAWs that are free and students can download the technology on a PC (Audacity) or use online (Soundation).
   
    Music teachers are going to discover that not all of their students are going to want to sing in a choir or play an instrument in a band, but they will want to be creative with music. Digital audio workstations allow students to become creative with music in their way. On the other hand, music educators will always have students that want to sing concert chorus or play in a jazz band. Students that want to go on to play instruments and sing in choirs need traditional music literacy methods that include composition. The good news is there is composition software like Noteflight and MuseScore that can aide in teaching traditional music composition.

Noteflight Review

Noteflight is a web-based notation software that one user can create a free single account. The features of this website are s most music composition software. A user can create a composition to feature one or several parts. Musical pieces created with the software are band, choir, orchestra, or other musical ensembles. A user can add dynamics, articulation, lyrics, or ornaments to embellish on their compositions.

One of the major pros of Noteflight is that it is web-based. A user can access the program on any computer or digital device. Teachers that cannot use a computer lab because a time conflict but are fortunate enough to have access to the classroom tablets (e.g. iPad) would still be able to access Noteflight. I use the iPad to complete most of the featured embedded song for a class assignment. Noticed that there is a miniature keyboard at the bottom of the screenshot. A user can enter each note on the keyboard. Also, if you scroll left and right on the keyboard you will see both treble clef and bass clef on their corresponding G4 and F3.

The only con Noteflight has is that it's web-based. The fact that Noteflight is web-based is it's crowning jewel, and its curse. I am reviewing this as a teacher that may use this software in a class setting. Because the software is web-based, the user is dependent on a consistent Internet connection. If I'm used teacher had a lesson on music composition, and there was an outage and could not access the web that day the lesson plan for that day are ruined.

Overall, I would highly recommend  for all music teachers that want to teach music composition to their student. The positives of this web-based software outweigh the one negative. There is a Noteflight for teacher section that allows one teacher to create a site for 250 students. The price is $195 a year, which is cheaper than paying $600 for a current music composition software.

Week 2 Reflection Notation Software

The most tedious thing that a music teacher may attempt to teach is composition. Music composition requires prior knowledge of basic's theory such as notation, duration, understanding of time signature, and being able to hear what you are writing on the staff. As Dr. Bazan stated, "Writing music by hand is time-consuming." However, his composition cannot be avoided because it is a national standard and a state standard in most states. So how do we solve the problem of making music composition easier for students to comprehend and take less time teaching the subject? The answer seems to lie in music composition software.

            When someone mentions music composition software someone who is already familiar with the technology will immediately think of what Bazan refers to as the Grand-Daddies of the particular software.  The software’s that were mention are Finale and Sibelius. Both software is exceptional but, they are expensive. Most teachers are on a fixed budget if they are getting any money at all. There is free music notation software like Noteflight and Musescore that are available. However, there can be other drawbacks like finding enough computers for a class to use. Most schools have computer labs for teachers and students to use. Unfortunately, those labs are assigned to a computer teacher who teaches other students with an identical schedule as another special area (art, P.E., music) teacher. So even if a music teacher obtains enough grant money to buy Finale or get permission from the district to download Musescore there would always be a class scheduled during that time. Most of the schools in my district are using iPads. I recently started testing Noteflight on the iPad. I spent some time struggling with it a little, but it has been going pretty well.

            So let say that a music teacher is fortunate enough to teach in a district that are using iPads and the instructor can use iPads in the classroom for teaching composition. The question Bazan asked in the lecture should apply now. What can a child compose? What can a child their own? Most music teachers would believe that students are capable of composing well thought out compositions with direction from their instructor. Those compositions can be as simple as 2 bar rhythm ostinatos or melody compositions using So Mi or So Mi La in C Major. These ideas are simple and a great starting point for novices. The use of notation software will help students hear each note and become aware of what they are composing. Music educators have a great tool in notation software to teach composition to student and those that are fortunate to have the software need to utilize it for musical development of their students.

Reflection WK 1 Music Education Technology: Don't Panic, Be Resourceful,, Don't Give up

I would call myself a digital immigrant. I was around when the home computers were getting starting. When I was in grade school teachers had students use computers often for either to learn how to type or educational games. However, the technology of the 80s and 90s pale in comparison to today’s technological advancements. There had been times when I had found myself frustrated with new technology. For example, the first time I tried to make a presentation using prezi.com was overwhelming. The problem wasn't because the website was awful, it was because the website was new to me. I had to learn how to create a presentation, upload images and organize each slide at a website that was foreign to myself.  The only options I had were to either to solve the problem or to give up on Prezi. Thankfully I worked out my problems and Prezi has been an excellent way to introduce lessons to my students.

There's always going to be some new website or new software that is going to frustrate the best digital native or immigrant. The best thing to do when being overwhelmed by new technology is to try to work it out yourself. The general rule when confronting new technology was to attempt to solve the problem for 30 minutes before asking for help. When I have a tech problem, I usually use a search engine like Google to look up people who have the same problem. I use a keyword like Prezi help or Prezi FAQ (frequently asked questions) to see if anyone else is having the same problems as I am. This method it usually takes me to the websites help page, or I can find someone that made a YouTube tutorial video on the subject. We all start with a "First.” In a few years when technology advances again we will all have a new “first.” Everyone finds themselves in unfamiliar territory with technology. The best to do when struggling with a new software or website are three things, don't panic, be resourceful, and don't give up.