21st Century Music Teacher

Where do you hear the music?

Evan (August Rush) hears the music in everything he experiences. Where do your music experiences come from?

Copyright: Who has all the answers?

One of my final projects of my ELT7007 - Ethical and Legal Issues in an Online Course inspired me to design an addition to my website called Copyright 101. Here you can find links to all the things you didn't know about copyright but were afraid to ask.

I also wanted to bring to your attention a new text by Dr. James Frankel called The Teacher's Guide to Music, Media, and Copyright Law  which has been an invaluable resource in my classroom and doctorate studies. 

Are we raising a society of "Cut & Paste" thinkers?

How do we teach research skills?  How do we explain research assignments? More importantly, how do we assess our student's work?  Are we raising a society of "cut & paste" thinkers.  We need to be careful about what we assign and what we accept from our students.  We need to ask ourselves, "What are our goals for our students in each assignment?"  My answer is to break down the assignment into manageable/accessible bits.  Students need to learn to attack an assignment of this type like they would a pizza, one slice at at a time.   My research project is to simulate a radio show from a period in history.

Students need to produce:

1. An interview with a musician, contemporary to a period in history.
2. An interview with a political or public figure, contemporary to the same period in history.
3. A brief current events spotlight of the day - in sports, entertainment, and weather.

Come visit my website at www.theradiohour.net and give your students something to think about.

I am not a Blue Whale!

I recently finished a book by Ted McCain and Ian Jukes called Windows on the Future(Corwin Press) which supported my philosophy for the future of education.  In chapter 11, A Need for Vision,  they present an analogy which describes my frustration with technology.  To paraphrase the story, the blue whale is like the current school model that takes 5-7 minutes to change its direction.  A school of thousands of sardines only needs a small percentage(20%) to initiate massive change in seconds.  While we are waiting for education to catch up to the business model of technology, what are we doing for the students of today?  They don't have 5-7 minutes to wait for us as educators to turn our blue whale around.  We need to embrace technology in our classrooms and model lifelong learning to our students.  I know that the more I learn about technology the less I can predict what the future of education holds.

I would like to think that I am one of the 20% who initiates change today.  I have received grants to purchase influential technology for my students.  I try to encourage composition, recording, podcasting, research, and performance through technology.  I invite you to visit  my website at www.theradiohour.net where you can share my vision with your students. 
I look forward to your feedback!

How can we get it all done?

    The purpose of this blog is to provide a forum for all educators with an emphasis on the integration of technology in the classroom.   I don't think that this blog is just for music teachers.  I think that there are many valuable resources for your history, language arts, physical education, math, and foreign language teachers as well.  I look forward to sharing lesson ideas and materials I have used in the classroom and hearing about yours!  So stop by often!
    I invite you to explore my website at www.theradiohour.net where you will find many different music history curricula as well as interactive lessons on harmonica, Fife & Drum,  and guitar.   I have developed a method for visual musical analysis that helps students to "listen with their eyes".   I have analyzed over 200 songs representing genres from Classical to Blues to Jazz to Rock.
    Interested in purchasing any of my materials?  Go to my Online Store.