Haiku Deck? Is it a tool for you?

It's February break and I'm more than half way through the school year....wow! I'm currently taking an online blogging course with some interesting articles to read, one being Haiku Deck. Last summer I created a deck using the app on my iPad and my own original photos. I titled it "Meet Ms. Wilcox". My intention was to have my third grade students in two different schools become "buddy classes" and use this app to introduce themselves to each other.

School began and that old freight train got rolling out of control and I never created the blog for the third grade or did anything else with Haiku Deck.

I thought this would be a great place to share my deck creation. It might be something you would use for your own blog...or maybe not? The choice is yours.

Day Four....wrap-up....time to pack up and head home.

Our final day was last Friday and I'm finally getting around to posting a wrap-up post of the final day of class.

Day four of the Music and Multimedia Summer Institute was bittersweet....time to put the finishing touches on some of my different projects that I took on for the week and time to say goodbye.  This was one of the best Summer Institutes I have ever attended!! Not only did learn some of the basics of the Finale software but I also walked away with a multitude of new tools that I can implement immediately. That makes me extremely happy.  Time well spent for sure!

As I was packing up at the end of the day on Friday I found myself reflecting on the first VT MIDI Institute that I attended in 1999. That first institute was different in so many ways. First of all, the equipment that I brought to the week-long session was big, bulky, heavy and FILLED my car!! Yes, it filled my car!!  Zoom ahead to present day and my clean-up and pack-up was no different than any other day of the week....Mac Book, iPad and I was ready to go. We've come a LONG way huh? Those former days of technology also brought along a huge learning curve for me. Those were the days when I had no computer skills to speak of and I was a digital immigrant in the true sense of the word. Today I would describe myself as much more tech savvy and bordering computer nerd and geek...wow! did I actually write that? I LOVE technology and I LOVE using it in my classroom. Does it replace the actual making of beautiful music together with children...no...but, it is another tool that I can use to enhance my teaching. It is also another way to reach the student that I haven't been able to make a connection with yet either...the student who is struggling in my classroom.....the student who needs that extra something.

Where am I going from here? Well, as a result of the Institute, I'm definitely beginning a blog for each of the elementary schools that I work in. I now see that the blog will fill the gap that I have felt for some time in the area of communication with parents and faculty. It is an easy way for me to "tell my story"...and a way to let others "look into my classroom". This is just one of the things that I hope to implement.

Yesterday I visited one of my elementary classrooms and I was pleased to find that tech support was already working in my classroom and making the preliminary connections for my new projector. This is something that I have wanted for a very long time and it is finally going to become a reality. It's very exciting!!!

Did the Institute meet my expectations? Absolutely YES!! Will I return for the 2014 session that will be offered again next summer? Of course I will!!! and...YOU should too!

Day Three...it's getting better and better!

It's Wednesday (well... technically on the calendar it's really Thursday and yes...I'm posting this on Friday morning) but for me, today was day three of the Institute, so it felt like Wednesday.

Today was a day of multi-tasking at its best. A little collaborative singing game sharing with the colleagues in my classroom, sharing of  Notebook files and power point files via Google drive (why reinvent the wheel right?), along with some more good work on my project in Finale.

I can honestly say that today was the first day that my brain was beginning to think like the FINALE program. I was finally getting it!!! My mantra for the day.... "What would Finale do?" helped me resolve some little hurdles and make some more progress with the software. I'm sure that there is more to uncover in the program and al of that will come in due time.

I must admit that at the beginning of the week I had a goal to complete more work in Finale by creating files for my elementary classroom and middle school and high school choral groups but as the week progressed I realized that wasn't going to happen. Not necessarily a bad thing because I knew when I began the week that my goal was lofty. The positive things that have happened as a result of all of the sharing and networking are what I have enjoyed the most. These discussions and sharing sessions have rejuvenated me and made me eager to return to school to implement some of the ideas that have been shared..

Towards the end of the day we all enjoyed a lively presentation by Jim Frankel, from MusicFirst, who shared information about solutions for every music classroom with cloud computing. His high energy and humor made for a great end of the day activity. This is the FUTURE of technology for sure....get ready, we are already on our way! Cloud computing is very appealing for a multitude of reasons, here are just a few:

• no updates
• accessibility for all students
• no IT support needed
• tablet ready
• price (average pricing $200/subscription for 150 students)

Here is a sampling of some of the cloud computing music subscriptions that Jim shared:

• Music Delta (music history curriculum) http://www.musicdelta.com/
• Charanga http://charanga.com/
• Focus On Sound (instruments and soundwords) http://www.focusonsound.com/
• Musition - coming soon
• Auralia - coming soon

More discussion about these cloud computing options on another day.

Music and Multimedia Summer Institute......Day 2

Day 2 is finished, and I'm feeling a sense of accomplishment with my project, and some other mini- projects that have popped up as a result of the networking that has been going on in my Independent Study classroom.

Here's what my workstation looked like today.....manuals, iPad, Macbook, PC, and LOTS of cords going everywhere! (Did I say that I'm thankful for the power strip near my table?)

I have made forward progress on my Finale project and although I'm not entirely familiar with EVERYTHING I certainly feel like I'm getting down the basics. I received some helpful hints from another colleague who has used the software...thank you, thank you! She was able to help me with some articulations and setting that were giving me problems.

I should probably mention that the piece I'm converting into a Finale file is a Brahm's piece, Waldesnacht, which is in Public Domain. Here's another bonus....score study!!! As a result of inputting all of the notes into the score I'm really getting to know the piece. The VT All-State Chorus audition piece has always been a madrigal which comes from a four year rotation list so this German lieder will be a much welcome change for me. Wunderbar!

In order to keeps things from getting a little bogged down I interspersed my Finale work with some work on my "Connie's notes" blog:

• added: "Blogs I Follow"
• tweaked the width of the the page so that I could embed some Noteflight scores (more about this later)
• adjusted settings for comments

Special thanks to our in-house blogging guru who took time away from her own independent study project to help me with my blog editing.

After lunch, we had an overview and sharing session on Inside Music, the online music composition curriculum for students. For the past two years my elementary students in Grades 5-6 have been a part of the Inside Music pilot study through Music-COMP (formerly VT MIDI). I was asked to share about my experiences as an educator using the curriculum and I also shared some student work.

The positives that resulted from my students using this curriculum:

• understanding of key music vocabulary that was introduced in the video lessons
• purposeful composing (as opposed to filling up the score with lots of notes)
• evidence of depth of knowledge in their reflective journaling
• ability to access their work anywhere due to the content being stored in the cloud

In the late afternoon I checked out a session on Garage Band app for iPad that was informative and fun.  We had time to create some of our own pieces and explore the app. .....and as a result, I bought the app.....more about this later too! 

Music and Multimedia Summer Institute officially begins...Institute Day 1

Today has been the first day (of four) of the Institute where I officially began working on my independent study project. I was rested and ready to plunge right into my project. Ready, set, here I GO!!

I initially came to the Institute with a goal to learn the basics of Finale software (I am a Sibelius user) which would help me create vocal and choral files that would work in the SmartMusic program that was recently purchased for my music classroom. As I began my work this morning, I realized that my overall goal would remain the same but I would begin with a project of inputting the upcoming All-State vocal audition piece into Finale. My original thoughts were to create melodic sightreading examples for my elementary students but after thinking this over I felt that I would get more of the basics down by copying something that was a little more complicated. This proved to be a good decision.

I had always heard from colleagues that Finale was not as user friendly as Sibelius software and I tried to keep a cautiously optimistic attitude while working throughout the day. I began with skimming the "Quick Reference Guide" and then continued with some tutorials. As I was reading and watching, I began to see that there were quite a few similarities between the two software programs.....and by the end of the day I was beginning to understand how some of the basic tools work in Finale. At this point in time, I still prefer the Sibelius software but, at the same time, I'm beginning to feel more comfortable with Finale. As a learner, I like to learn new things and I always benefit from getting out of a rut and looking at things from a different perspective. Success for day two!

Just one more thing....I can't say enough positive things about all of the networking that happened today in our classroom, at lunch, and at our large group meeting. These discussions with my colleagues "fill my bucket" in a very satisfying way. Someone in my class mentioned that this Institute was their therapy for the summer and I couldn't agree more. In my school, I often feel isolated because I don't have another music teacher to collaborate with. This week gives me the opportunity to hear about other teachers projects and music programs which in turn rejuvenates me.

Music and Multimedia Summer Institute.....Pre-Institute Session, Monday

Today is Day One of an exciting, fun-filled week of learning how to  integrate technology into the music classroom. I am enrolled in the Music and Multimedia Summer Institute at Champlain College in Burlington, VT and I've opted to do an independent study using Finale and SmartMusic tools that will begin tomorrow but..........for today I'm learning some of the basics of blogging and SmartMusic in two pre-institute sessions. Our instructor for the blogging session has given us some great tips on how to get started so I'm putting all of this info to good use and implementing my first ever blog.

I can see this blog spot as a great communication tool for students, parents and even my colleagues. I constantly struggle with lack of time to connect with my colleagues at the two elementary schools where I teach and now I will have a way of knowing what is going on in their classroom and they can see what is going on in the music room.

Pictures are a great way to share what's happening in the classroom and sometimes all it takes is a quick photo to let the world know what is happening in your "music world". Since it's summertime and I'm not at school I thought I'd share the beautiful view from my classroom window today.

Wouldn't you know....we've had a very rainy start of summer in Vermont but today is absolutely spectacular!!! A beautiful view of Lake Champlain in the distance....hazy, hot and humid....summer at it's finest.

Here's a photo of the Samuel de Champlain statue who is on the lookout in front of our "home" for the week, Joyce Learning Center...