The #5 tech tool to assist an elementary music educator in the classroom is the camera on your mobile device. I know that this sounds obvious, but the camera can be a valuable tool in your classroom.
Assessment
You can video the students as they are preparing for the concert. Afterward, have you or them watch the video and use a rubric to assess their preparation. The rubric can include a scale that has you or them assessing if they see everyone singing, everyone performing the movements, is the sound balanced, and if the harmony be heard.
Sharing 30 Seconds with Parents to Promote the Concert
When the students and I are preparing for the concert, I like to video 30-second snippets to place on the students’ Seesaw journals. The parents have access to their children’s journals. When I place a video snippet with a tag line of, “Looking forward to seeing you at the upcoming concert!” or, “To hear more of this song, join us at our upcoming concert!”, it reminds the parents of the upcoming concert and gives them a little sneak preview. If you are not using Seesaw, you can send the snippet in an email, or place it on Google Classroom, or send it in the format that you would normally communicate with parents.
1:1 Devices
If your students are using a device in your music classroom, you can have them use it to video themselves singing one of the concert songs. This can be done in a station or in the corners of the classroom. The students can choose the song that they want to sing and video themselves singing it. They can then assess themselves or send it to you (via Seesaw, email, Google Classroom, etc) for you to assess, comment, etc.
Stay Tuned!
#4, #3, #2, and #1 (and a bonus) are approaching quickly. This will be followed by a webinar showcasing all of the ten items.
