First of all, I would like to introduce myself, so that you can be familiar with what my music program is about. I am a 3rd year teacher at Lisbon Elementary School in Woodbine, MD. I am the general/vocal music teacher and I teacher 500 students with an additional 90 students in chorus and 11 students in an auditioned handbell ensemble. As an elementary music teacher, I believe that it is my job to make sure that students have an appreciation and understanding for music. They should understand that they may not like everything that they hear in music, but they should be able to describe it thoughtfully, using musical terminology, and also be able to respect it and appreciate it as an art form.
Students in my room play instruments on a very regular basis and also begin reading music notation in Kindergarten. I encourage creativity and expression in my room, but I also expect students to perform and play with proper technique, to be able to analyze music, self and peer evaluate, and also create and compose. Many of these peer review and evaluation processes are done with the use of instructional technology. As a related arts teacher, it is my goal to enhance student learning with technology and also teach life skills, discipline, respect, self-expression, and self-confidence while teaching across the cussiculum.
Wow! Terrific template. Did you have to modify it any?
ReplyDeleteI have a request.
Will you add an RSS feed to the class blog, too: http://edtc625fall.blogspot.com/
Sorry I didn't think of that earlier. This way, you'll also be updated when I post to the class blog.
Thanks!
Kristy it was great to read about your classes. It is a great way to start your blog.
ReplyDeleteDawn,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comments. I used the HTML code from the website called The Cutest Blog on the Block. They have some very fun free blog backgrounds to use, if you're not already familiar with them. My husband's family is military so we are big into blogging so we can keep up with each others lives. There is another site called shabby blogs, and also hot biggity blog. I enjoy finding music backgrounds and themes for holidays for my other blogs. I have set up my RSS feed. I think I did it correctly. This was something that was new for me.
Kristy,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great first blog post- and thank you for sharing about your class. I love the pictures that you posted- those always make a blog feel more personal! I can tell that you have a real love for what you do, and I'm sure that comes through in your teaching and makes your kids love it too! Thanks for sharing!
Heidi
Kristy,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the links to the blogging resources.
Do any of the blogs you use support threaded discussions? Several years ago, I paid for an upgraded Edublogs site that had a threaded commenting feature--more like our discussion board in WebTycho. I think I liked that better--although there's something to be said about a list of comments all connected to the one post.
Dawn,
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I have never come across blogs that support threaded discussion. I attempted to use edublogs (free version) and I didn't find it to be as user friendly blogging site. The free version did not have threaded discussions. I have found blogger the easiest blogging tool to personalize, change, and update. Are you familiar with Windows Live writer for blogs? I can post something in the blogging conference about Livewriter. It makes blogging much easier because it uploads larger files much faster and it is easier to format the blog and personalize it.
Kristy,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting about your class. It is great to see someone who loves their job! I checked out The Cutest Blog on the Block site. It really does have a lot of cool things to add to you blog. I like that-you can make it more personal instead of the generic that is available with this site.
I am not familiar with Windows Live writer for Blogs and would love to know more about it. Could you please blog or post something about it?