As a music education major and soon to be classroom teacher, I can only assume what sort of responsibilities I will have when I get into the working world. I can infer from my current work load that I will have to find a balance between my personal musicianship as well as my teaching career.As a musician and a teacher, I think I offer an interesting perspective when it comes to balancing personal and professional lives; mostly because both my personal and professional skills cross over.
What I fear most going into teaching is allowing my music to become trivial. By this, I don't want there to ever be a day where I tell myself I don't want to practice or play because I do too much of it in my job. As it stands now, I don't see that happening, but I hear horror stories where fabulous musicians in the height of their skill and careers burn out because they have no time away from their craft. While I can only hope this never happens to me, knowing it does happen is an added bit of stress in my day to day efforts to be a better musician and teacher.
To prevent burning out, I think it is incredibly important for musicians and teachers to find some other sort of personal entertainment outside of music. For me, I like to play video games and make crafts. It surprises a lot of my friends when they see the jewelry that I throw together half-assed when I am not feeling very musical. A lot of great teachers I know also have an incredibly wide array of other things in there lives that pull them out of the music world. One very influential teacher quilts and sews in her free time as well as struggles with an addiction to candy crush. In short. I think it is extremely important for a music educator to explore their other interests.
Wednesday, October 29, 2014
Thursday, October 16, 2014
Tech Tools For Teaching: 3 Teaching Peripherals and How to Use Them.
At a recent conference, I passed by a room where the presenter was offering a crash course on educational peripherals and tools that teachers may use in the music field. Unfortunately, since I was working the event, I was unable to stop in to do some research. That got me thinking: what sort of peripherals might I have access to when I enter the schools? If I am to assume that when I enter a classroom I will have decently updated equipment, I have chosen three interactive tools and highlighted to some of their best uses in the classroom.
1 - Smart Boards
Makers - Smart-Technologies, Promethean, etc.
Most college students have most likely used a smart board type of interactive whiteboard. While in our classroom it serves more as a traditional whiteboard, the number of uses is really limitless. The main draw of these boards is their easy interactive nature; in a perfect world, a smart board is the type of tool that can be walked right up to and used. Here are a few other advertised uses for smart boards:
- Slide Shows
- Drawing and Editing Photographs (I.E. circling locations on maps, showing key points of a picture, etc).
- Videos/Photo Presentations
- Music video/other musical media viewing.
- Notation study/composition.
2 - Ipad/Tablets
Makers - Almost all major technology providers.
In the modern age, many students have access to handheld technological peripherals like Ipads and Tablet PCs. These tools are multi-faceted and allow access to all sorts of different tools, both internal and through the use of apps. Here are just a few facets and uses of a handheld touch device.
- Personal, 1 to 1 ownership and responsibility.
- Technology that students can bring home.
- Decent camera and photo tools.
- Access to educational apps.
- Mobile access to internet tools.
- Quick sharing from tablet to tablet.
- Composition tools (garageband, fruity loops, etc)
- Playing tools (e-guitars, pianos, etc).
3 - Personal Devices
Makers - Samsung, Apple, LG, etc.
If there was any tool that most students have access to, it is their personal electronic devices. While it may take some careful coordination in order to get students using their phones appropriately, it can be used as a tool to further student's learning on the go. With similar uses to tablet computers, it is easy to see how useful personal devices my be.
Monday, September 8, 2014
Ed Technology and YOU
In my school, we did not use a lot of educational technology. But from what I can remember was most useful to me was my experience in a songwriting class. In this class, students focused on creating music with some of the basic tools that came packed in a mac book. This meant the students got very savvy with garage band. Using garage band, I learned quite a few tricks for the future. I learned how to edit MIDI files to my desire and record, edit, and create voice overs as well as recorded music. This has drawn me to experiment with other audio programs in a meaningful and fun way.
Other than the typical Microsoft word-style technology, I can't remember much used in my classroom. I remember using computer programs when I was younger that helped teach me foreign language and keyboarding skills, but nothing else specifically designed for education. What I do remember was my teachers' avid use of the internet in creating activities for us. Most of my high school teachers (mostly the younger ones) would search online for teaching peripherals that were free and accessible for students. We would use websites with activities in class and as homework. While some of these were cheesy, I appreciated my teachers putting in the effort to embrace technology in the classroom.
Other than the typical Microsoft word-style technology, I can't remember much used in my classroom. I remember using computer programs when I was younger that helped teach me foreign language and keyboarding skills, but nothing else specifically designed for education. What I do remember was my teachers' avid use of the internet in creating activities for us. Most of my high school teachers (mostly the younger ones) would search online for teaching peripherals that were free and accessible for students. We would use websites with activities in class and as homework. While some of these were cheesy, I appreciated my teachers putting in the effort to embrace technology in the classroom.
Sunday, September 7, 2014
My Journey - My Journey From High School To Now
My name is Nathan Lamy and just about three and a half years ago, I made a very important choice in regards to my future. The second half of my senior year was when I decided that I wanted to follow a career in music education. After researching some schools, I received an email from Rick Cook, director of music at SNHU. This email described the new and budding music education major blossoming at SNHU. I became very interested and decided to pursue this offer, preparing audition materials for entrance to the program.
Once the formalities of auditioning and going through the acceptance process were over, I finally was ready to attend SNHU as a music major. I was so ready that I was late to my first class in fact; being a commuter at the time, I had no idea how brutal parking was going to be. Luckily the teacher I had, who has become my teacher for the majority of my methods courses, was very happy and willing to accept me into the class late. From that point on, I continued to take courses in music education. These courses entailed developing skills and technique in multiple instrument families and observing classrooms, writing lesson plans, and working through those lesson plans in real classrooms. For the past two years, I have had some of the most fulfilling moments of my life.
I am enrolled in this course for two reasons, one of which being purely superficial; it is required by my education major to complete this course. But my other interest in this course is developing technological tools to be used in a music education classroom. Music education has a tendency to not require technology to be effective. But as we become more engrossed in the digital age, I want to provide stimuli for my students that appeals to their love of technology. Whatever these tools entail, I would like to immerse myself in them.
My name is Nathan Lamy and just about three and a half years ago, I made a very important choice in regards to my future. The second half of my senior year was when I decided that I wanted to follow a career in music education. After researching some schools, I received an email from Rick Cook, director of music at SNHU. This email described the new and budding music education major blossoming at SNHU. I became very interested and decided to pursue this offer, preparing audition materials for entrance to the program.
Once the formalities of auditioning and going through the acceptance process were over, I finally was ready to attend SNHU as a music major. I was so ready that I was late to my first class in fact; being a commuter at the time, I had no idea how brutal parking was going to be. Luckily the teacher I had, who has become my teacher for the majority of my methods courses, was very happy and willing to accept me into the class late. From that point on, I continued to take courses in music education. These courses entailed developing skills and technique in multiple instrument families and observing classrooms, writing lesson plans, and working through those lesson plans in real classrooms. For the past two years, I have had some of the most fulfilling moments of my life.
I am enrolled in this course for two reasons, one of which being purely superficial; it is required by my education major to complete this course. But my other interest in this course is developing technological tools to be used in a music education classroom. Music education has a tendency to not require technology to be effective. But as we become more engrossed in the digital age, I want to provide stimuli for my students that appeals to their love of technology. Whatever these tools entail, I would like to immerse myself in them.
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