Do YOU Have A Site For Your Classroom?

Join Us On Team Awesome

Some of you may be required to have a website for your classroom, and some of you may not.  If you do not have a website for your classroom, I highly recommend it.  It can be as in-depth as you like.  People shop around.  They like to know what to expect out of their school and the teachers within it.

My daughter is starting kindergarten in the upcoming school year.  I wanted to know what the school was about, got on their website, and I can tell you nothing.  Some teachers had information, and others had nothing.  Google has an extremely easy interface to create a website from scratch through Drive.  Teachers Tech always has great tutorials.  Watch this clip on how to get started.

My Wishlist for Google Sites

While I was discovering Google Sites myself, there were a few features that I wish it had.  However, keep in mind that it is extremely easy to use, and all of it's features fit together to look pleasing no matter what.  My wishlist for Google Sites:

•  There are only a couple of options for fonts within the theme that you choose, and you can't change the color.  This is a GOOD thing if you are someone like me and can spend ETERNITY choosing just the right one, but it is also torture for someone like me when you want to change it in the slightest way.
• You are limited on where you can embed videos and links.  I tried to insert and embed certain items within the same text box, however you can only add them at the bottom of the text box or along the side of it.  For continuity, I would like to add descriptive text, then embed; descriptive text, then embed; etc.  In this case, you have to add new text boxes for each text and embed insert.  *I do like that it shows grid lines for where you want to place an item.
• I wish you could embed photos and videos from your Google Photos.  It only allows links to your albums as far as a could tell.  *You CAN embed YouTube videos and other images, however.
• I also wish I could embed the Google Custom Search Engine I created for my 5th graders' genre project.  Again, it only let me insert a link.
• Another major item I would like to see Google add is the option to place password protection on some of your pages within your site.  Copyright is a major issue in music.  I would like to place music on the site for students to practice at home, but I cannot allow the public to access it.  Some student work I would like to have password protected as well.  I am sure there are plenty of reasons to block access to some of your pages to Joe Schmo!  This would be a nice option to see in the future.

 With That Said...

Don't let my wishlist hold you back!  I still created a super useful, and beautiful I might add, Google Site.  What can you have on your website as a MUSIC teacher?  So glad you asked!!  Show the world how amazing you and your students are.  Show them all you can learn through music while having a fun time.  Items you could include on your page:

• Simple contact information
• An "About Me" section 
• The community would like to get to know you.  Tell them about your background, what brought you to their school, family, hobbies, etc.  Include pictures!
• Important dates
• Include major performance dates so parents and family members can put them on their calendars.  
• You could even embed a calendar of rehearsals for your different performing groups (choir, drumming, etc.)
• Photo galleries
• I would put a Google Photo Album link on the site for each class or each grade level.  Continually add to it throughout the year so parents can see what you are up to.  
• Make sure to add photos of your performances.  Family members that were unable to attend will love it!
• Make sure to follow your district's policy on media releases.
• Current projects
• Create a resource page for students to retrieve information on projects.
• Place audio for practicing at home.
• Post recent projects that students have created for the community to see.
• Place links to resources your students are currently needing for your classroom. 
• Music Appreciation
• Students love to go to your website and discover the links you have added.  If you know of popular sites with informational games or interactive activities, add them to your site.
• Place links and videos for music advocacy on your site.
• Have fun resources for students to discover if they are done with work early or if you have a reward day.
• Add your Twitter link
• Embed a Calendar
• I talked about a calendar for performance dates and rehearsals, but adding a calendar for other items could be fun too.  How about a calendar of famous composer's birthdays and your students' birthdays?  It would be fun for them to see if they share a birthday with a famous composer/musician!
• Post Announcements
• Do you have a major performance coming up?  Place your parent information here...because you know they will not have received the previous 10 notifications sent home already, and will be asking for it hours before the big show.  If you're asking, "No this has never happened to me before,"-said no music teacher ever!

ACCESS MY GOOGLE SITE HERE!!!

For Your Meme Pleasure

I decided I did not include a sufficient amount of memes today.  Therefore, I will leave you with these.  Enjoy!!

Google Earth & Google Tour Builder

Google Earth

As I was exploring Google Earth, I just kept thinking about time travel. Yes, time travel-it's how my mind works, people.  Stick with me here...if time travel ever comes to fruition-for people other than Superman of course- what would people BI (before internet) think about this?  Witchcraft!  That's what they would think.

I know Mr. Chan!  You're not the only one with amazing talent on this earth.  There are people that made it possible to see things 1,000s of miles away right at your fingertips.

Imagine walking inside from tending to the farm animals all day and the girl who writes "The Way I No'te" blog is sitting at your non-Ikea, hand-crafted kitchen table with a magical contraption that looks like a book from the future.  Your conversation goes a little something like this...

She says, "Hello.  I've come from the future."

You say, "No way, man!"  The two of you are clearly distant relatives, judging by your vernacular.

She says, "Yeah, man.  I've come back in time to perform an experiment."  

You say, "Totally!"

She opens up a hard, plastic, black book called a 'laptop,' and says something you never thought you'd hear.  "Would you like to see Stonehenge?" 

It was like magic to your ears.  Stonehenge?  Sure, you've never heard of it- but this extremely cool and wildly intelligent young lady from the future brought it up.  It has to be worth it!  You jump on her offer as if she knew you were thinking that very second, I wish I could see Stonehenge before I die.  "YES!"  you exclaim, "I thought you'd never ask- clearly because I didn't even know you existed until only a moment ago."

The wildly intellectual blogger from the future moves her fingers as fast as lightning across the 'future book.'  Something she called, Google Earth magically appeared and you were transported to another place.  

***Soliloquy: Don't ask me how there was internet or satellites back in this time for this all to work- don't think, just go along for the ride.***  

"Sorcery!"  you exclaimed.

"No man, this is all common in the future; but yeah, it's kinda sorcery.  I don't ask, I just go with it." 

"Oh.  Sorry I lashed out on you like that, man.  Best friends for the next two minutes before you head back to the future?"

...but she was gone.  The blogger lady had performed her experiment and she was on her way.

That's how I expect someone would react to this from the not-so-distant past.  Check this out.  You might even react the same.

 How can you possibly use this in the music room?  Good question.  I struggled with this a little myself.  However, there are some uses that you could use this for.  If you think of some ideas, please share; because this is such an amazing tool!  How I would use this in my MUSIC classroom:

• Show famous performing arts buildings around the world.  I often talk about musicians that dream of performing at Carnegie Hall or on Broadway.  Sometimes students do not grasp what Broadway is.  You could show many different theaters of Broadway.  You could walk them up the steps of the Sydney Opera House in Australia.
• We often talk about composers.  You could show pictures of places of significance to these composers.  Such as homes growing up, places they worked, etc.

Here are some other videos that might be useful to you:

Streetview

I've been using the pegman a lot lately.  Pretty cool!

Placemarks and Tours

Searching for Places

Google Tour Builder

This tool I see more useful in the MUSIC classroom.  Google Tour Builder uses Google Earth, but you can create slides based on your tour stops.   Watch this video to see how it works:

The features of panning and tilting are a nice feature.  You do not have to view everything at a birds-eye view.  I immediately thought of composers when I was looking in to this tool Google has provided us with.  Students read and hear about the biographies of old composers, but putting a landscape and images with their struggles and triumphs can help to ingrain the memory.  I placed a tour together of some of J.S. Bach's significant life moments.  It helps paint a picture of his life.  Take a look!   BACH TOUR HERE!

As I was working on this tour, I thought it would be nice to be able to record this somehow for my younger students.  Well, turns out there is something for that too.  If you are interested in recording, check out this tutorial HERE.

I Wonder if YouTube And Google Are #besties

YouTube

I know, I know...

We've all been there.  BUT YouTube can be a huge asset to your classroom, and specifically your music classroom.  Click HERE for some great starting points.  I just got lost under the Arts tab.  Visual art and musical art are connected throughout history.  How great would it be to integrate with the art teacher in your school?  She could play this video relating Baroque and Renaissance periods while talking about her subject.  At the same time, you could discuss and do activities on the topic of music on these two eras.  The downfall to these databases, is that there are no music links, but integration is key for us music teachers and this amazing resource!

 

Are you ready for some more tips and tricks on incorporating YouTube into your classroom?

Thank you for your enthusiasm, Captain!  Here goes:

• If you want to show part of a YouTube video use TubeChop. It is free! Narrow to the part of the video that you want to view. This is great for when you want to take make it straight and to the point.
• I use YouTube for music all. the. time. So, if you wantt o create an mp3 of the audio of a video use this: ListenToYouTube.com.
• Playlists are awesome! I use the same videos throughout the week's lessons. So, I can save my videos in a playlist to quickly go to. I could also save videos to a certain playlist so that I could view them later. You can even share your playlists with your coworkers with a shareable link! Don't underestimate the power of creating playlists. You can search for others' playlists as well. I found some great videos on lessons in the music classroom from others' playlists-it's like finding a sunken treasure! "X" marks the spot people!

• If you are a little more advanced with your technology, and you are embedding a video onto your website, blog, etc, then be sure to uncheck the option “Show suggested videos when the video finishes." This option shows up when you copy the embed code. This stops the videos at the end of of your intended video from popping up. You never know what you're going to get there.
• I have not used http://www.educanon.com/, but you can upload a YouTube video and embed formative assessments right into the video. Apparently, you can also track whether your students have watched it or not.
• Webcam Capture. Um hello?!?!?! This is perfect for the performing arts! Students need to be logged in to their Google account with a webcam. When they click Upload and choose "Webcam Capture" they can record their performance for you. So cool! Grading at your convenience and not taking up precious class time, anyone? Yes, puh-lease! Again, I have not used this yet in the classroom, so in theory it sounds amazing. I'll let you know if it all works out!
• This one rocked my world! How many times do you wish you could skip the huge introduction to a video and start right at 1:02? Well, this is a thing! When you get to the point of the video you want to start at, pause,  click the share button and check the box that says “Start at.”  Voila!  It will start at 1:02 if you so choose.  Want to cut it short?  Add #t=xmys to the end of video.  X=minutes and Y=seconds.
• Turn Off the Lights.  Try it.  Now.

I know this is a lot to soak in, but these were my favorites of the features I looked into, with the exception of the two I have not personally tried, but WILL try out soon!

Google Storybuilder

This is a fun way for students to be creative.  Storybuilder tells a story with text.  There are no voice overs or recordings to add to the story.  The story also needs to be short and sweet.  I found you can only add 10 text entries.  Now you can get pretty creative with this by deleting previous text entries in of of the entry boxes to free up space, but I foresee this getting complicated for the elementary age students.  Although there are definitely some kiddos that you could have them do this as an extension activity.  Take a look at the sample stories here to see what I am talking about:

http://docsstorybuilder.appspot.com/.  See how the deleting of past text can be somewhat complicated for the littles?  Here is one I did about my relationship with my coffee machine:   https://goo.gl/uHrTgW.

Here is how you could use Google Storybuilder in your MUSIC classroom:

• Explain new music terms

• Interview musicians or composers 

•  Explain music concepts

Tips for Google Storybuilder

1. Get started here:  https://goo.gl/uHrTgW.

2. Once you get to the website click "GET STARTED." It will take you right to the text entry boxes.

3. I would have the script typed out before hand. I did this, and it saved my backside. I didn't know that there was a limit of 10 entries. So, instead of starting over from the beginning, I edited my script and then copy and pasted into the boxes after my edits.

4. You have the option to add music, however I have not been able to hear the music on my laptop. I'm not sure what I am doing wrong there. If you can help me out with that, let me know!

5. You can preview your story as you go, so make sure to take a loot at it before you publish it.

6. Copy your link when you are satisfied and paste away!

Other Fun Stuff From Google

Google Translate

Google Translate is a pretty remarkable tool, if you ask me.  It is pretty self-explanatory to use.  You choose your starting and ending languages, and type what you want translated.  As you are typing the phrase that you want translated, it immediately populates the translation.  So how in the world would you use this in your MUSIC classroom?  Definitely not every day, but it would be really fun for the students to use as an exploratory tool. 

• Let's say you give them a piece of sheet music that has all of these foreign terms throughout.  Tell them the language of the music terms, and have them translate it to English.  This would be a fun way for them to learn, instead of you telling them, it goes in one ear, then right out the other.  (ex. allegro, presto, moderato, etc.)
• Do your students compose?  Of course they do!  How often do they compose lyrics in another language.  Probably not often.  This would be a fun learning experience in how syllables work with rhythms/notation, or rhyming changes with the language.   

Google Hangouts

Let's say you have music pen pals from Spain.  Maybe they composed a song in English, used Google Translator to create a Spanish version, then shared their lyrics with their pen pal.  Cool, right?  What's better is that they could actually see each other through live video with this!  Students could share performance ensembles, music likes/dislikes, cultural music, and so much more with a pen pal.  Google Hangouts is available with video, phone, or text options.  It took me a little more than exploring to figure out how this works.  I watched this video, and then I was all set.  So take a look to get started. 

 We teachers can of course use this professionally as well.  How often do you get to observe other music teachers in their own classroom and in their own environment- not just teaching sample lessons to other music teachers?  Rarely.  If ever!  The only time I was able to do this was during my student teaching experience.  What if we set up Hangouts to video as a cohort is teaching?  Set your webcam up in the back of the classroom and invite others to watch you.  I would foresee doing this during my lunch or plan time.  I could team up with another teacher I so desperately want to watch, he/she would have to agree to set up the webcam for me to watch, and then let the learning begin.  Now I have not taken personal time to watch, it is not during a PD time without students, and travel time is not needed either.  I could really see using this a lot.

I hope you enjoyed your stop today!  Have you used any of these tools?  Do other ideas spark when you read this?  Please share your stories with me and others below!

I Bet You Didn't Know I Use Google

I have a secret...I use Google.  A lot.  It feels like all I have posted about lately is, "Google this," and "Google That."  Well there is a reason for that.  Not only because it is part of my assignment for my masters course, but it truly does have some more amazing features that I need to tell you about!

I'm so glad you think so, Ron!  We have a lot to cover today.  Fasten your seat belts, friends. Here goes...

Today we are going to cover the basics on:

• Google Classroom
• Google Calendar
• Google Keep
• Google Photos

                              ...and how you can use them in your MUSIC classroom.

Google Classroom

Here is a quick list of the features that stuck out to me when looking into Google Classroom.  

Want to see what all of this actually looks like?  Watch this:

Now check this out!  These are very quick tutorials (all in one place) for you to see the basics of Google Classroom.  It shows you how to:

• Create a class
• Add students
• Create an assignment
• Ask a question
• Post an announcement
• Grade student work
• Share student resources
• Reuse posts
• Schedule posts
• Add co-teachers

I created a Google Classroom for the beginning of the school year with my older students.  I am on a mission to rid my older students of being self conscious while singing.  I have created some beginning of the year activities and placed them in Google Classroom.

Here Is How I Would Start To Use Google Classroom In My Music Classroom

1. The first thing I posted was a "Get to Know Mrs. Bowden" presentation.  This is there for them to look at if they would like.  I also have it in the ABOUT section, for easy access for parents to look at if they would like.

2.  Then, I posted a question, "What would the perfect music classroom learning environment look like to you?  This could include topics that you would like to learn more about, personality of your teacher and classmates, activities, routines, expectations, instruments, units, seating arrangements, reward days. and so much more!

Reply to 1 other classmate's response in a positive, constructive way.  If you disagree, explain why you disagree."

3.  I asked them to rate themselves with a poll.  This is the view where you and the students can quickly see how everyone else rated themselves in the class.

4.  Next, I will have them watch some videos on teamwork and answer the following questions.

• How can the support of your classmates (your team) boost your confidence while singing alone?
• How can you support a classmate that did not rate themselves with the highest confidence level?
• What can you do for yourself to boost your own confidence?

5.  Throughout this process of team-building and boosting levels of singing confidence, we will do some activities to aide all of this.  Students will begin this process by answering interview questions.  Then, throughout the year, they will monitor their progress by taking a survey and view the results of each survey.  We talk about the statements they wrote on their survey and place them in categories.  Since students will frequently be accessing these documents, I created a folder for the class which holds these files for them to access at any time.  If you would like to view the documents I have created, the links are below.

• Beginning of year/End of year interview questions
• Singing Confidence Survey
• Survey responses

I hope this gives you some ideas on how you can start your own Google Classroom in your music room.  

Google Calendar

Ways that you can use Google Calendar in your music classroom: 

      ·        post class events

·         post rehearsals

·         post performances

·         create new calendars for different performing groups to organize them

·         share the calendars with participants and parents

·         add attachments to calendar events

·         embed into blog if you use one for your classroom

Here is how to create and share your Google Calendar.  If I had a choir schedule and a strings schedule with different groups of students, I could create a calendar for each of them so that I can share the individual calendars with the participants and parents.  However, I can see both schedules in my calendar at once if I choose.  Color coding the calendars makes it easier to visually organize. 

Watch this to add an attachment to an event in my Google Calendar.  

You can also explore the Google Labs.  My favorite is the countdown timer to my next appointment.

Google Keep

Google Keep is an app that lets you take notes in a variety of ways. 

Here is a quick looksie:

 Some features that grabbed my attention of how to use Google Keep are:

• create shared sticky notes with students
• use for task management
• note-taking
• screenshot something and paste into Keep- it can turn into a checklist (ex. recipe)
• search for items in your Keep in the search bar 
• it can read words from a picture/screenshot
• to-do list transfers to all devices. Ex. someone caught you in the hall and you need to follow up some how-add the item on the go!
• edit at the same time
• transfer notes to a Google Doc
• transfer multiple notes into 1 Google Doc
• location reminder gives you a reminder when you have reached the location destination.  Ex. remind yourself to put the camera battery charger in your teacher bag when you get home.
• color code notes based on activity/topic
• give audio feedback to students by sending to their Keep
• can label notes with search terms
• create drawings and send to Google Docs if needed

So many features!  I think the one that will change my life the most is the location reminder.  I'm always needing to bring stuff to school from home, but often forget.  I remember while at school, but when I am at home it all goes out the window.  If only you could be a fly on the wall!

I thought this PODCAST was really useful in getting ideas for use in the classroom.

If you need a visual on how this works, check out this video as well.

This was a really cool idea for ways to leave comments.  I often find that when I leave feedback for students, it tends to be the same a lot of the time.  So, I write the same feedback over and over.  This is a creative way of keeping your comments in one place, finding them, then copying and pasting into your comment feature of the document you are grading.  You can even use them year after year if you use the same projects.

Google Photos

The last thing we are going to touch on today is Google Photos.  I think I would use this the most for sharing what is going on in the music room with the community/parents.  One of the most amazing things about technology, is that it can bring parents into your classroom, without actually being in your classroom.  Do parents think all you do is sing all day?  

       "Oh my goodness!  You teach guitar?"  

                                "Wow, you can describe what a sound wave is?"

 "Cool!  You know what Irish folk music sounds like?  That is where your great grandparents were from!"

...Things you may hear as an elementary music teacher.

How can you get over it?  By changing their schema, of course!  Give them new experiences to pull from.  How?  I thought you'd never ask!  This is how I would do it.

Step 1: Set your photos to sync to Google Photos from your school devices.  I usually have my iPad handy and will take short video clips and pictures of students in action.

Step 2: Decide when  to share these photos with the parents.  At the end of a month-long unit?  After a "teachable moment?"  A fun activity they could do at home with family?  A performance?  Rehearsals of a performance as a promo?  The ideas are endless!

Step 3:  Create an album and share with the community/parents through the avenue that is best for community.  Please be aware of your district's policies on media releases.

I warned you it was going to be a wild ride today!  We covered a lot of goodies!  I hope that you found some of this useful.  I could have made a different post on each one of these Google features, but this is a good overview for you to get acquainted with them, and then dig in deeper if you choose.  Happy Googling!