Tool #4 Moving Up To the Clouds

Ok, I do find the Google Apps and Docs very useful.  This would be a much better way of communicating with my Music department colleagues as well as my elementary team members.  I created a document about the Choir's use of the auditorium for this semester and I think a general one for everyone who needs to use the auditorium, including all Performing Arts and those involved with assemblies, would be a great idea.  Everyone would have the same information at the same time.

Tool #3 Finding Online Video and Image Resources

The two videos above are great for demonstrating the function of your vocal folds while singing and basic singing technique.  I would actually use these in my choir class.

Regarding copyright and fair use, I am very familiar with these terms and their meanings being a music teacher and having them drilled into my head for many years.  Probably the most often heard advice for music teachers is to not copy music or to only copy until original music is in hand, after which a teacher must destroy and copies.  We also hear about not posting videos of our students performing to youtube.com or other such sites as this breaks Fair Use laws since the composers of performed works cannot profit from these performances on public sites.

I kept getting messages about Picasa being unsafe for my computer so I used Flickr.  I hope that is ok.  I have uploaded personal photos to Flickr before and have also used their free photos.  It's a fantastic resource for free photos.

Tool #2 Building Community In The Online Environment

Participating in online communities isn't new to me and I don't find it that difficult to do.  Granted, the ones in I'm most involved are purely for fun and not related to teaching.  However, I do occasionally participate in some.  I, like others, sometimes find it a bit disconcerting to comment publicly on professional sites.  I'm not sure I really know why but there it is.

Regarding sharing with a teammate, yes, I do find that different and more helpful.  I learn more from my colleagues as they are going through the same thing teaching the same content or at least teaching on the same schedule as myself. 

A site I plan on visiting more is www.choralnet.org.

Tool #1 Assignment: Set Up Your Blog

I set up my blog on August 7, 2010 and registered it the same day.  At the time, I had started the online course,  "23 Things".

Tool #1 Creating a blog and registering with the learning community

Well, I've already learned how to create a blog from doing the 23 Things course this past summer so here I am.  I guess I just need to register now.  Oh I've already done that too.

Thing #23 Summarize Your Thoughts About This Program

Well, I finally made it to the end.  I have to say, thanks to whoever put this course together for professional development credit.  It's always refreshing when I actually learn something useful and very interesting.  Unfortunately, this is not always the case.  Here are my answers.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?  I think learning how to use PhotoStory, RSS feeds, Cool Google tools, Image generators and LibraryThing were definitely my favorites.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?  It has helped me learn some very useful things that I can implement in both my Choir classroom and my elementary classroom.  I especially like the idea of using Facebook with my Choir students and their parents as well as posting videos clips of performances.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?  I finally have something to help me organize my home library (LibraryThing)!
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?  At this time, I really can't think of anything to improve it.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?  I absolute would.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?  Almost all of the activities were extremely relevant to what I do every day in the classroom.
7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs!  I already have.

Thing #22 Nings

I'm thinking that if a person has a lot of time and just can't get the look and features he wants on a Facebook site, Ning would be a very good thing. I liked the teacherlingo.com site and might actually check it out more in depth for things I can use this year.