Module Four Thoughts

Module Four Thoughts

It's hard to believe that my third course at UF is already halfway over!  MUE 6696 has been a busy, but very interesting and information course to date!  I am excited to see what the second half of this course has to offer.  

I found this week’s reading to be very interesting.  The topic was centered on music performance and technology.  As I completed the readings, I noticed a common theme throughout each scenario: technology was a natural extension of each musical experience.  Technology allowed for the lesson to run more smoothly or was a natural extension of the learning experience.  Unfortunately, I think there are times were technology could be potentially dangerous.  I think it’s possible to become overly excited about the possibilities of technology and plan FOR the technology rather than WITH the technology.  Technology should be a natural extension to one’s learning and should be implemented as a tool or resource. 

The passage on intrinsic motivation and self-efficacy also resonated with me.  I found it interesting that Bauer commented that teachers should use extrinsic motivations (stickers, comments, etc) as a means to develop intrinsic motivation.  Bauer (2014) states, “musical practice needs to be presented to students in a way that helps them to develop a high degree of self-efficacy (pg. 82).  Last year, I implemented Recorder Karate with my 4^th grade general music students.  Recorder Karate was a great extrinsic motivator that worked to instill intrinsic motivators of good practice skills and habits.  I also added Band Karate this year for my 5^th graders and have seen an improvement in many of the students.  While they are all highly motivated by earning their belts, they are developing strong practice habits and skills, which have transferred over as we shift away from the method book and move towards band music for the year-end concert. 

I also enjoyed being able to listen to the Soundtrap compositions created by other people in the class.  There were so many creative compositions and great ideas that were presented.  Through the discussion board, there were some great conversations between many of us.  I love being able to collaborate and discuss various topics with other music teachers.  Being the only music teacher in my K-8 building, I really value the discussion board opportunities that are provided as well as the PLN on Twitter.  Both have allowed for me to have some great conversations with other professionals.  I did not see Twitter as something that could be used for networking in a professional aspect, but after taking this course, I stand corrected.  I am glad that one of the requirements was to create a Twitter account; I have found many valuable resources either from people or organizations I follow or the posts that classmates have made via Twitter. 

I did find working with Audacity this week to be challenging.  Being the perfectionist that I am, I found the first Audacity assignment frustrating.  The first few steps were really simple to complete; then I got to the part where I needed to take out the word “makeup”.  I found it very difficult to remove the word.  I would either take out too much of the phrase, or not enough.  Finally, I just went with it and decided that my final version was close enough to get the word out.  Working on the remix was also challenging at times.  After working with Soundcloud last week, I wish there was a program that meshed the features of Audacity and Soundcloud together.   While working on the remix, there were many times that I had a vision in my head, but struggled to execute it with Audacity.  In the end, I created a remix that I was happy with, but found many bumps in the road along the way.

Bauer, W. I. (2014). Music learning today: digital pedagogy for creating, performing and responding to music.  New York, NY: Oxford University Press.