Sunday, April 28, 2013

First Blogging Experiences!

I have always wanted to invest time into following, reading, and writing blogs but did not know where to really begin. I would find topics that interest me but never follow through or get tired of the subject. During this class I have discovered how easy and fun it is to follow and write blogs! The Google Reader site has really helped me with this in putting on my blogs in one place so I can follow updates easier. I know once it is discontinued this summer I will definitely moving my blogs over to a new aggregator and continuing my blogs.

In addition to Cool Cat Teacher BlogWill Richardson's BlogLarry Ferlazzo Websites of the DayFree Technology for Teachers, and A Media Specialist's Guide to the Internet blogs, I followed Music Matters Blog, and A Principal's Reflection. I decided to follow the two additional blogs because I am currently teaching band and I am aspiring to be an administrator. These two subjects are very important to me because they have and will continue to shape my career as an educator.

A Principal's Reflection has been great to read as I am working on my Master's Degree in Instructional Leadership. Mr. Sheninger discuses topics on education reform in his state and across the country, technology for leaders and teachers, and daily management of being a principal. I have never believed in using twitter as a tool or following others but after reading his blog I have plans to sign up for my own professional twitter account to integrate next year! Mr. Sheninger's professional web site, Eric Sheninger, has a plethora of information on using social media and technology in the schools. Here is an interview of Eric Sheninger about his change into utilizing social media and technology in his school!



Music Matters Blog has been my favorite to follow and read! It has been a wealth of information from music technology, compositions, recordings, games, instructional ideas, and much more. I have been able to find instructional ideas for my classroom to apply to teaching certain lessons in music. There is a section on Ideas for Parents that has great information for parents who want to help their child develop into a great musician. The section provides a view from the parents so music educators can get a better understanding of what non-musical parents are thinking. The Technology Tips section is great for discovering new music technologies for teaching or how to creatively use old ones. The Music Matters Blog is definitely one I will continue to follow and reference in the future when I continue my own blog!

My favorite blog post so far has been from Week 5 - Instructional Software. There are so many great programs out for teaching music that I love to share it with everyone, even those not so musically inclined. It's amazing what can be done with the use of technology and the internet. I was presenting the technology software SmartMusic that I discussed during my Week 5 blog posts to my principal and she loves it! She is a music major herself and never knew this kind of technology was available. She wants to come up with the funding to pilot the software with one grade level to see how effective it will be for all grade levels. I even used my blog post in part of my presentation to her so she could see my enthusiasm for SmartMusic!

Reading, following, and writing these blogs have given me some awesome ideas for school year next year. One of the areas I need to work on as an educator is communication with parents. I often do not have time to send an e-mail or make a phone call to inform parents of what is going on in the classroom rather it be assignments, behavior, or progress of the student. I want to utilize social media, blogs, school web site, and a new podcast series next year to keep parents better informed! It has gotten me very excited to get started on my new ideas this summer to implement in the fall!

Jordan


2 comments:

  1. Hi Jordan. Great post! I think we've all benefitted from being in this class. I always considered myself a technically savvy lady but this class really proved me wrong. I didn't know that it was possible to learn as much as I have in such a short period of time. As far as you wanting to improve your communication with parents, I'm sure one of the platforms we've learned about will make that task a little bit easier.

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  2. I too was never a big blogger Jordan. However I agree that Google reader is a great way to keep up with current educational topics and trends. Its organized format will definitely compel me to read more blogs and implement the great resources that are provided in future lessons.

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