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I am enjoying writing this series of posts of the ten tech tools to assist an elementary music teacher for a concert. I am also loving Dr. Christopher J. Russell’s series of the ten iOS tech tools to assist a secondary school music teacher for a concert. You can see his blog posts here.
Tomorrow is the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. For some music educators, a new year signifies a change in their teaching style, their methodology, or their philosophy. If your change involves technology, I hope that Chris and my blog posts are helpful in your process.
Social Media
The tech tool coming in at #3 is social media. Many elementary music educators are isolated as they are the only music teacher in their building or they travel to numerous buildings that they feel like they are never fully grounded in one school. Or the elementary music educator is not given the time to collaborate with other music educators in the district. Finally, some never get the funding to attend conferences. This is where social media can be a beneficial tool.
Choosing Concert Literature
There are a few social media avenues that can assist with music educators with choosing concert literature. Here are a few that have helped me greatly with choosing concert literature:
- Facebook Groups. There are numerous FB groups for elementary music
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educators. In these groups, one can post about their concert literature or ask others what were the greatest hits from their previous concerts. Once one posts, the responses come in fast. Some of my favorite elementary music educator FB groups are: Music Teachers, Elementary Music Teachers, I’m a General Music Teacher, Feierabend Fundamentals, American Orff-Schulwerk Association Discussion Group, and Kodály Educators to name a few. These discussion groups are also beneficial to discuss concert techniques, decorations, setup, and more!
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Pinterest. Following elementary music educators on pinterest is a great way to see their music interests, which can include their concert literature. For example, here is my pinterest page for this year’s concert music.
- Blogs and Podcasts. Many elementary music educators have blogs and podcasts. They post regularly and give advice and success stories about activities that they perform in their classrooms. Here is a short list from my website of excellent blogs and podcasts.
- NAfME Social Media. The National Association for Music Education now has a social media forum through Amplify called Music Educator Central. If you are a member, you can access and participate in the daily discussions.
My pinterest list of concert music 17-18.
YouTube
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YouTube came in at #4 on this list. Read here about what YouTube can do to assist am elementary music educator in preparing for a concert. The alternative to YouTube is SchoolTube.
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Twitter can be a great tech tool. If you cannot attend a conference, many conferences will have a # to follow. There are also numerous music educators on Twitter who continuously tweet throughout conference sessions. They will tweet links to resources from the sessions, like handouts, which assist those who cannot attend. These resources could contain lists and videos to concert selections and choral reading sessions. There are also consistent hashtags to follow, such as #mused #musedchat #elmus #elmused and #edtech.
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Skype
One year, my classroom skyped with another elementary music classroom in Chicago and in Spain. We sang songs from our concert and they sang songs from their concert. The students loved performing for another audience and loved asking them questions about the weather there and their school day. To Skype, you need to set up a free account, a device with a camera, and a decent pair of speakers. You also need to check the connection before class.
Stay Tuned!
There are two more items (plus one bonus item) coming up to bring us into 2018! This will also bring about a new webinar that features each tech tool in this series.
