The Summative Blog Post

Well, the term is over, and it's time for the final blog...

To make it interesting, I decided to do another Pixton comic to do most of the talking for me:
http://www.pixton.com/comic/u0jooqdz

As the comic says, I was very much a stick in the mud about technology in the classroom, especially in band, because I thought of it as a distraction. That and I became really irritated with how kids would use it at school. Plus, with  cyber-bullying and the dangers of finding pornography becoming more risky, I felt filtering the internet was the only solution.

However, it is great that I was exposed to many different technological programs for a music classroom's benefit. It's not every day you get a class where you get to tweak and explore things to find resources. While technology within band should not be a focus, there definitely should be more opportunities to use it, within not only classroom lessons, but even repertoire itself, as it would definitely do wonders for recruitment, and less of a drop-out rate for the subject.

I also realize the importance of technology in terms of music making as well. Exposing children to composition software and other ideas aside from instrumental proficiency will make the class much more enjoyable, and make them feel much less strained upon classical music. And the introduction to many different websites for music that I have found can certainly keep my students entertained. (Hellooo Community Band). Technology's opportunities for collaboration is also a key portion of music, and with the ability to collaborate with other musicans around the world, we certainly can teach many new things to students.

As for the cellphone thing... I've began to understand that I will not only have to conform school-wise, but lifestyle wise as well. I've acknowledged that contacting people has become more difficult as years have gone by without a cellphone, and that the frustration will only continue and progress if I do not get one. So I think it's safe to say that I'll need to talk to my family about possible options when I get home. Staying in contact with people and being able to take care of things instantly is an important job skill that I might lose at this rate.

All in all, technology is becoming more prominent in everyday life, and if we harness its powers to do good, rather than evil, it's not so bad. I guess I'll just have to embrace it.

Thanks for opening me up, Mr. Nantais!

That's it from me. A happy Christmas to all of my readers. Since I have a lot of repertoire to work on next term, maybe I should make a clarinet practice blog? Hmmm... It would be an interesting idea.

Playing with Pixton!

This week we were told to look at some applications and websites for digital storytelling, which was something I was actually quite excited to do... I am a huge fan of all the "create your own *blank*" websites, and all others that offer a ton of creative options.  And suddenly, I stumbled upon Pixton. Never have I ran into a website as flexible as this for creating your own comics! It may be hard to incorporate into a music classroom, however, which is the one downfall of using it. Unless you decide to maybe assign them a composer or piece to research if you want to include music history in your classroom... But it definitely supports school and business use, as it even has categories for both of them, if you don't want to do it for fun.


Pros of this website:

- Multiple backgrounds to choose from
-Characters are posable
-Unlimited amount of comics to make
-various characters to use and incorporate.
-multiple comic forms to use as well.


Cons:

Time consuming if you don't know what you're doing.
Free version only gives you limited character customization options.
Limits to only a few comic styles.


If students find this site too difficult to use when working on an assignment, I think it would be important to incorporate other sites and options for the assignment to be completed. But all in all, it's great to use even for fun, and people have even started their own series on this site as well.

Just to see how things worked, I created a little comic about a little mishap I had in my clarinet lesson last week... Enjoy:

http://www.pixton.com/ca/comic/chc31anj

P.S. I HIGHLY recommend any of my non-music readers to listen to all three pieces listed within the comic. They're all fantastic orchestral works with some absolutely delicious clarinet solos!

Happy studying.... If that's even possible.. .>.>