MUE 6696- Module 1: Incredibox, Twitter, Beginning of Technology Usage!

MUE 6696: Module 1

This week as been a huge week of firsts for me in this class.  Everything from creating a twitter account and “tweeting” for the first time to posting on Padlet and getting a chance to experience the “dudes” on Incredibox.  The things that I have worked on and read in this week’s assignments have already made me think about how to better use and get the most of technology in my classroom.  Bauer (2014) stated, “Music and technology are intertwined in many ways, and technology is enabling individuals to be musical in a variety of ways, even without a formal musical background” (p. 7).  This statement has already been proven true by the assignments for this week alone.

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The Incredibox assignment really caught my attention in how fascinating and user friendly it was to control.  Being a middle school band director, anything that I can find to encourage my students to be creative is a plus.  Incredibox is a great way for students, young and older, to be creative in composing and recording a beat or song without having to use the standard notation.  Another thing that catches my attention about Incredibox is its availability online without having anything to download onto a device.  A lot of times it is almost impossible to get anything downloaded on a school device without the help of the Tech Department, but many times if it is safe and available online it is easier to use.  Bauer (2014) goes on to say, “It would seem logical, then, that schools would utilize technology for student learning and that music educators would incorporate appropriate technologies into music pedagogy” (p. 7).  This is something that I look forward to being able to better achieve throughout this course so that my students can get as much out of their music experience as possible.  While I use some technology in my classroom I do feel that my students are not getting the optimal music education without the full use of technology in my class.    
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Bauer (2014) also states, “Music educators must be open to new ideas and ways of doing things while also demonstrating a willingness to invest the time and effort necessary to utilize novel pedagogical and technological approaches if they are to initially develop and continually evolve and refine their TPACK” (p. 17).  The biggest thing to me is being willing to expand on the knowledge that I already know, while also being open and willing to learn new things that will benefit my students.  This first week has really shown me that I know very little about how to incorporate technology into my classroom on a daily basis and I look forward to growing in that aspect of my teaching.  Bauer (2014) says, “…using technology to facilitate music learning does not require excessive amounts of money” (p. 22).  At the middle school that I work at we have a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) clause in the student handbook basically meaning that it is at the discretion of the teacher whether or not the students can have their devices, such as cell phones, out in class.  This has been a huge help in incorporating technology into the music classroom at a cheap cost.  I hope to find many technological ideas that I can incorporate into my class with the use of cell phones since that is what many of my students have available.  We do not have other individual devices for the students to use in the band room so this is the only option available at this time.  I look forward to learning many more uses of technology throughout the semester.
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Bauer, W.I. (2014). Music learning today; Digital pedagogy for creating, performing, and responding to music. New York: Oxford University Press.