Be A Techie:)

What a great opportunity to motivate educators to develop and create web 2.0 projects. It is very easy to talk about the technologies, but I feel in order to walk the talk; I should model the projects I have used. So, for every web 2.0 application, I created something personal to me. I am giving a presentation to my Golden Apple Scholar group on Wednesday, during our reflective time.

There are always three parts to a presentation I give:

• Keynote (PowerPoint, with movies and introductions) Posted on slideshare as well.
• Google Doc Presentation of web 2.0 examples
• Internet surfing of technologies such as plurk, twitter, and possible skype calls

I always try to leave at least ten minutes for questions. I am also experimenting with polleverywhere.com so they can use their cell phones for polling. I have never had the opportunity to use this since my students are in middle school and cell connection is extremely poor, so testing this out with my group.

Hopefully, I will motivate you to create and share with your PLN (Personal Learning Network) technologies you find interesting to use. Walk to the talk and share!

Taught/Taut Group 08/09 Golden Apple Scholars

This summer I had the opportunity to work with future teachers, the Golden Apple Scholars, part of the Golden Apple Foundation. This is a wonderful four-year program and starts with the student directly out of high school. It is highly competitive, since they live in the dorms either at DePaul or Elmhurst College for four summers they get “professional” teaching from Golden Apple Fellows and networking with each other. As part of the program, they must attend an Illinois School and teach, upon graduation in a school of need for five years. They receive a summer stipend as well as forgiveness on student loans. The students are amazing and extremely talented in so many ways. They attend for five weeks, so due to this commitment I decided that I would not attend any professional growth conferences or present at any conference for myself, aside from the Apple Distinguished Educators conference I am humbly a part of now.

As these conferences are coming and going, I feel a strong desire to still learn, still grow, and still connect. So, did I make the correct decision by staying behind and work with the new future teachers? Surprisingly I have to a bit of yes and bit of no – wishing I was bonding with all my techies. Thank goodness for ustream, so I can see see what is going on at the conferences. Then it got me to thinking – so many of us in the web 2.0 environment get upset with fellow teachers that don’t get it or don’t want to try new technologies. We don’t understand how they can constantly teach year to year the same way, while we move farther and farther into the new direction of education. As we attend these conferences, we connect and feel we are part of the new direction of education. Ironically and sadly many other teachers, stuck in 1990’s, will NOT have that feeling this summer. But, here is my charge to all of us “techies.” We MUST engage ourselves outside our bubble, search out where we can teach those newbies and be involved in the “old” way in order to help others learn the new technologies, and dramatically change  our classrooms with new instruction.

So, take and give back – isn’t that the motto of PLN? (Personal Learning Network) Take and give, a state of mind. On going, always there.

BTW the group name?? “Taught” or “taut” no slacking! That IS this group – not a slacker to be found!

Go Cats!

As part of the Golden Apple Award, I attended Northwestern University for spring quarter starting from March 30-June 7, 2009. Here is my reflection of the “once in a lifetime” experience.

My composition class with Dr. Maud Hickey was nothing but incredible. It made me see the beginning stages of how we compose to the most complex composition process. I had an extremely classical experience as a child and up through college, so it was not until I started teaching and attended the Vermont MIDI Project’s summer workshop that I became interested in improvisation and composing. I am completely hooked. I created a website with my compositions I created on sabbatical. Thank you Maud for creating a class of improvisation and creating music.

My second class was a graduate music curriculum class with Dr. Janet Barrett. Her knowledge and passion with curriculum motivated me to create and post my entire music curriculum online. She gave of her time to listen and give me excellent feedback on my many papers and thoughts, thanks so much! Her resources and depth of knowledge was a highlight of the sabbatical. So many people have asked me to put in writing what I do and the resources I use. To have someone who is the leader in the field show me how to do this was fabulous. http://beatechie.pbworks.com/

My voice lessons with Dr. Bob Heitzinger on Mondays at 1:30 gave me focus again. This is how I got started in music and by having private lessons again made me feel like a kid again. For the entire nine weeks I was always thinking of when I was going to practice and what. Those musicians out there understand this, for your practice time takes over your life. I love this feeling. He is an excellent teacher and I am studying with him this summer as well.

The Thursday afternoon seminar series with all of us, created a bond that will never leave me. Penny Lundquist, a 1986 Fellow lead the group through TED talks and 21st century skills.  Our discussions and presentations from each of us was a representative of the ardor each one of us brings to the classroom.  If I could say one word that describes the Golden Apple Class of 2008 is PASSION. In addition, we created a wiki for others to use that best reflects our fervor to learn and share. http://goldenapple.pbworks.com/

On a personal note, my maternal grandmother graduated from Northwestern University in 1923. The Music Administration Building used to be a dorm many years ago, and yes, the same dorm my grandmother lived in! The staircases have a short rise, since the women all wore dresses and this allowed them to “glide” up the stairs quickly and gracefully. This connection ninety years later is amazing; I even composed a song for “Doris.”

Finally, since I am an Ohio State graduate, I couldn’t push myself to get any “gear,” my friends in Ohio would disown me, so that was the only negative thing I have to say. I couldn’t wear any of MY college t-shirts to class. Just putting the Northwestern logo on this site was all I could do.

I want to thank the Golden Apple Foundation for the incredible experience that has recharged and energized me to create, learn and experience. If you would like any information about the Foundation, please visit www.goldenapple.org

The websites and wiki’s I created

My compositions
http://web.me.com/carolbroos/mycompositions/Welcome.html
Music curriculum
http://beatechie.pbworks.com/
Golden Apple Class of 2008 wiki
http://goldenapple.pbworks.com/

Carol - Band uniform in HS

I love to compose. When I was younger, in high school and college, the emphasis was on how well you could play the written notes. No improvisation, no creativity, no innovative music making. Actually, I remember my first composition in college. I was so scared, that all I did was copy Charles Ives. I got a B- on the final composition.

Jump ahead twenty–odd years, I found myself in Vermont. I was taking classes on how to “teach” students to compose online. Little did I know that I was going to have to compose the entire week myself!  I sat in front of the computer for first day; I had ONE note on the page. I saw how fast others were working and felt completely overwhelmed. I can’t do this. Then the breakthrough came, I started to improvise. I started to just let my fingers play and discover.

What happened that summer liberated me as a musician and a composer. I know that my compositions sound childlike, extremely basic, but they come from me. No stealing from Charles Ives, not coping themes from others. They are all about me and now I teach composition. I now let my students play and discover, letting their “voice” come out, letting them improvise.

During my sabbatical at Northwestern, I finally had the time to experiment and compose. This has been my gift to myself. I hope you enjoy these compositions. I created a website that has all the compositions on it for people to comment about. I can’t wait to show my students.  However, I have one that I really like and here is just the audio, if you like it please go to my website and comment on it.

Click here for website.

David Wonder Playing a Conch

I just got back from an amazing day with Mr. David Wonder a sixth, seventh, and eighth grade general music teacher at Hickory Creek Middle School in Frankfort, Illinois. I met David at an IMEA conference, his energy and commitment to ALL students really shown through. He connects with the students and “allows” his students to excel in their passions. During the lunch period a couple of his seventh graders who had written some songs performed for me. They also have posted the video on school tube. This is talented group of students with a concern about Global events and problems. Take a listen to this; it will blow you away with the harmonies and message it brings.

It got me to thinking, what really matters in middle school is the connection we make to our students. Dave and I have a few seconds (actually, two minutes, you know students in for lunch, students dropping by, six classes…) to discuss how “cool” it is to teach music to ALL the students in a general music environment. We see the entire school, and for most students, we are the last music teacher that many of them will have. He offers an incredible opportunity for his students to learn the guitar, drumming, composing, and much more. He is has a drum set in the back of the room and “allows” any student to play it while the rest of the class performs the guitar songs, then another student sings on a mic and he accompanies the entire group on his guitar with an amp. The students are completely taken in.

Then, I got to play drums, I have NEVER played drums in my life, through his guidance, he created a safe place to get me out of my comfort zone. I have a video of it and will post it as soon as I can.

General music at Hickory Creek Middle School is magnificent. Students are engaged and eager to learn and create. He is another “yes” teacher whenever a student has an idea for a musical project. What a fabulous day!

I had the pleasure to attend two days of technology infusion, the Tech Forum in Schaumburg and the DEN Virtual Conference. To be able to connect f2f with other techies is such a rush.

It started with a bang, (did you hear it) when I got to meet Meg Ormiston, which was a hoot. Believe it or not, she has more energy than me! Her excitement for moving education forward is breath taking. I love watching her present and show others “the way.” She recommended at new book “The Element,” by Sir Ken Robinson,  I immediately downloaded it to my Kindle. I can’t put it down. This is the best book I have read since Randy Paunch’s “The Last Lecture.” It concerns passion, something I am always stressing in my students, parents, and administrators.

The afternoon was fabulous with discovering new web 2.0 technologies; I could barely keep up with diigo/delicious bookmarks. By this time in the conference, everyone is searching for a plug for his or her computers. That’s the thing about tech conferences, everyone is talking, twittering, plurking, checking email, writing notes on presenters, bookmarking, etc. Wouldn’t this be great if our own students could feel this free and be ALLOWED?

The DEN conference was another time to connect f2f with incredible techies. The virtual conference is education of the future, with screen-sharing and discussing all at the same time. We were ALLOWED to watch the conference via big screen, or simply connect with the group at hand, and twittering, plurking, checking email, writing notes on presenters, bookmarking, etc.

What did I get out of this? The word ALLOWED should be the first word students FEEL in the classroom. The freedom to learn, share, multi-task in order to have their learning ON FIRE. That is how I felt these last two days, completely ON FIRE.

I just got the approval to get at least twelve iTouches in the Music Room, plus Wii Music with eight games. My students are going to go WILD over this. The app store has a lot of free, or nearly free apps that are instruments that you can play. I won’t pay for any app over $5.00. A FREE instrument, a student could have in their hands to create and play! I want to get an ensemble together with the various instruments to start an iTouch Band! Of course I will video record this. I got the idea from (you guessed it) youtube!

All classical musicians goal is to play at Carnegie Hall, the old joke was “How do you get to Carnegie Hall? answer: Practice.

Well, there is a new joke – you upload your audition to youtube, then you are selected. Here is a short video about the event.

90 finalists from 30 countries. I was so impressed by James Frankel’s blogpost, he was at the concert and was extremely moved by it. I think we as musicians already think outside the box, we love to collaborate and practice. This is why I think so many musicians are into the social media and technology. Please visit the youtube symphony site and be amazed. This IS the beginning of something BIG.

Brenda Muench and I have been skyping for over a year talking about music education and technology. She got to thinking that we should start a new blog with the audio files of our chatter. She was all over this, in less than a week, she had a program to record our “talks.” Hope you enjoy!

http://www.techtempo.com/MATS

All the Music Curriculum at Sunset Ridge is project-based with a emphasis on creating and composing, First, let me say I do NOT teach theory, I teach creation of sounds through a story. Even my advanced students do not know the I, IV, V chord or a major scale, they will have plenty of time to learn the rules, I want them to make the music.  They DO know what sounds they find interesting to them and what sounds good to them. The piano and upper elementary band student might have an idea about how music works with its rules, so they might have a western sounding composition.

Every fourth grade student is required to take a band instrument at Sunset Ridge School, so in the spring, every fourth grade composes a song and must play the song. They LOVE this project. Many times the student will change the song, because they don’t like the way it sounds on their instrument, while other students will look up fingerings in order to play the song. All students take their compositions home to practice. Technology has made this happen. I have a 13-station MIDI keyboard computer center in my music classroom, with Sibelius on all the computers.

It goes hand in hand with Sugata Mitra’s ‘Hole in the Wall” experiment in India, how children teach themselves. This was the basis of our discussion at the Golden Apple Seminar this week. We meet once a week as part of the GA sabbatical and it really got me going how I use this in my classroom, but I can do much more.

The general population student’s compositions are wonderful, youthful, and delightful. The students are not scared to create or compose. Too often, we as music teachers want to “tell the answers” using theory, with it’s rules and details, which slows the creation process down. So, the real question is how do we get the word out and let music educators let children create and compose without the rules?

You can hear and see compositions that have been created by 4-8 students as part of the Vermont MIDI Project. You need to download scorch in order to view. It’s free!