Week 6

This week's Module was centered around Instructional Design and Technology. 

Technological advances permit educators to design and deliver instruction in ways that are far superior to the past.  The wealth of resources are vast, and other web-based music materials allow for instant access to so many possibilities at the click of the mouse.  Many teachers are using social media to interact with their students - I in particular use an app called "Remind 101", which is a free SMS program that permits me to text information to my students using my mobile phone, but it does not use my phone number, and the students/parents cannot text back.  Programs such as these are giving teachers more freedom to connect with students without the "unethical" problems to haunt them. 

The reading discussed several concepts about instruction, and how to use technology legally in these parameters.  My top five list was as follows:

5. Logistics
We focused on this heavily in the summer training sessions for our district this year. We have all been provided with a copy of "The Fundamental 5" by Sean Cain and Mike Laird - we studied this book, and had multiple discussions regarding its contents. One of these fundamentals is called "The Power Zone" - it encourages that we instruct in the power zone, which involves us actually being all over our classroom, instead of in a stationary place. Talk about difficulty when you are trying to run a wind rehearsal! However, this is a part of how I set up my ensemble, so that I can be off the podium and to any player or section in the band in a heartbeat. Proximity of players to other players, where the projector is located, how the stereo system is set up; the logistics of your classroom play a highly pertinent role in the success of your instruction, and the absorption of the material.

4. Learning in Context

One of the most important statements ever made to me in undergraduate was spoken by a professor for a class that really did not hold a lot of value for music education majors: “You have to make whatever it is that you are doing relevant for you, and the people around you.”  Students today DO NOT CARE about what they are learning if it does not CONNECT with them.  Period.  Now, consider that music students at the secondary level are generally do not require additional motivation other than they WANT to be there – there is always a small percentage of them that stay in band purely for social reasons, so making connections with them between what they like and what they can learn is essential.  Our district and campus strongly promotes building relationships with all of our students, particularly those that are considered to be “at risk”.  The more we can know about who we are teaching, the more we can relate our subject to their interests and what makes them tick.

3. Correcting Misconceptions

I purchased a book in undergrad called “Lies My Music Teacher Told Me”.  In this book, several examples were provided of misconceptions and/or misinformation – things like “There are only 12 major scales”, and “Practice Makes Perfect”.  We need to take a step back and try to understand what is realistic, and ensure that our students understand that as well.  Truth be told, there are15 major scales, and only perfect practice makes perfect (practice makes permanent).  To quote one of my mentors: “Even the doctor who graduates last in his class is still called doctor.”  Think about that for a second – we try so hard to teach our students that less than 100% is unacceptable, (see video on YouTube by Dr. Jack Stamp http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mw4vqll9cAM – Why Music Matters) who wants to be under the knife of the surgeon who is only correct 96% of the time?  Who wants to drive over the bridge engineered by a fellow who is 99% on his calculations?  We always have to be thoughtful of what the students believe they know, what they really don’t know, and be ABSOLUTELY certain that whatever we deliver to them is correct.

2. Differentiated Learning

Ultimately, this concept does not even warrant a discussion because it’s something we must do all the time in high school band.  The topic as listed is only one half of the battle – not only do we need to recognize differentiated learning, we have to actually differentiate instruction.  This goes back to the learning styles everyone talked about for ages: Audio, Visual, and Tactile/Kinesthetic.  Beyond that, I refer back to Learning in Context.  As teachers, it is part of our responsibility to know our students well enough to make our delivery methods effective for EVERY one of them.  Yes, this is a pain.  Yes, this is time consuming. But…so what?  We need to reach “Every Child, Every Classroom, Every Day”.

1. Backwards Design

I decided to mention this point because it is such a hot topic in education today.  This is another educational practice that was adopted by our district this year, so when I took the Instructional Design course, I was excited to know much of what was being discussed.  Our campus has also used some of the same materials as the course (Teacher’s Toolkit), which was also encouraging.  Secondary instrumental music classes are designed in this manner without even applying the moniker.  Everything we do for the entire school year is based on the end result.  Marching band shows are planned months in advance, using information about the students we currently have, and the ones we will be acquiring from the middle schools.  Concert repertoire is studied and selected months in advance to produce a fantastic performance.  Contest pieces are selected months in advance to ensure the best possible rating at contest.  Solo and Ensemble, District/Region/All-State Band etudes, audition materials – all selected and provided long before they are going to be performed to ensure the success of the students.  Some of these things are governed by the state; others are well within our control, but everything we do, ALL YEAR LONG, centers around the end result.  We continuously ponder: where do we want to be when this is over, and will our students be stronger musicians at the end of the year because of the choices we have made?

One of the other topics discussed in the reading was Copyright, which I would have included if it was a Top 6 list.  Copyright laws are stringent, and more often than not, we violate those laws.  While "Fair Use" and "Fair Dealing" are terms that are thrown around by educators like it protects them, more often than not, they are still breaking the copyright law.  We consider educational use - but there are correct ways to do this, and incorrect ways to do this.  Just because we own a copy of something does not give us the right to make additional copies and distribute them.  This is something that is very important for all educators to understand, IN PARTICULAR, music educators.  Admit it, everyone has "made copies" of literature as to "not destroy" the originals. 

I found it fun to revisit the concept of WebQuests again.  As a student at Ball State University, we completed WebQuests as part of our MusEd courses.  This is an effective means to have the students complete tasks while being in their comfort zone (behind a screen).  We didn't have YouTube when I was an undergraduate, so now the extents of web-based lessons reach even further; not to mention the VAST number of other webpages that are music-centered.