GRAPEVINE, Texas — There's a lot of talk among educators about ways to incorporate technology in the classroom, and for good reason: It can increase student engagement. That was the case with Melissa Clark, a grade school New Jersey music teacher, and her students.
Clark presented Thursday at the fourth-annual National Association for Music Education (NAfME) conference at the Gaylord Texan Resort and Convention Center, and she shared some of the tech tools she uses with her middle school and elementary students.
Video chat
Back in 2011, when Clark and her students were working through an orchestra piece by American composer Elliot del Borgo, she wondered how nice it would be if the composer himself could coach the students on the interpretation of his original music.
After a simple internet search, she found del Borgo's contact information. Del Borgo, who was thrilled with the idea, agreed to teach her class through a Skype session and went on to teach a few more sessions.
Now Clark hosts regular video chats, switching between instruction-based and lecture-style chats. Recently, she reached out to two Opera Philadelphia performers from "La traviata" on Twitter who were happy to video chat with her students.
Aside from Skype, Clark also uses another video conference option called appear.in, which doesn't require an install or login. All you need is a link you can share with up to eight people, and you can start conferencing right away.
Software
SmartMusic is an almost necessary tool for any ensemble class. Through it, students can record themselves playing instruments and send their submissions to their teachers to receive feedback on their playing. It holds a variety of method books, exercises, etudes, sight-reading assignments, band/ orchestra sheet music and choral selections — Clark especially likes the method books she uses with her elementary kids.
SmartMusic, which was originally an expensive download to purchase, became web-based in September and lowered its student subscription prices. Clark's district supports SmartMusic because it helps with student engagement and allows students to have a more focused practice routine.
An easy way to find tips on incorporating technology into the classroom is by simply looking at what your peers are doing. For Clark, she does that through Twitter.
"It's a great way to publicize what we do in our classroom and share what others are doing," she said.
When Clark wrote a blog entry for NAfME recently, it was tweeted and retweeted to music teachers that follow NAfME.
Websites
Clark shared a variety of websites that can help music teachers:
musictheory.net (free): This can be used during general music lessons or when students' have a few minutes to complete a few of the note reading assignments on a Smartboard.
Noteflight (subscription): Students can play along published or user-created scores or create their own. "Some students found that they enjoyed composing music almost as much as playing their instrument," Clark said.
Kahoot (free): This site transforms your old standard quiz into an interactive game. However, in order to work, students require a device (phone, tablet or laptop). Instead of having students submit their answers in Google Forms, Kahoot allows teachers to present each question on the site, and students select from the answers shown on their device.
Music Tech Teacher (free): Clark calls them quizzes, but her students call them games. This site has a plethora of "games" on a variety of music subjects ranging from musician biographies to identifying scores. This site is especially useful for teachers who are away from class. Clark has her students choose three games and screenshot them, which they send to Google Classroom.
Digital Tuners: Clark used to have her students come up one by one to tune their instruments. But with Digital Tuners, she was not only able to cut down on time, but students were also able to learn how to tune their own instruments.
Recap (free): This is a handy tool for when parent-teacher conferences come around. Recap, a video response and reflection app, can be used to record students' individual performances, which can then be replayed for parents. One downside to Recap is that it only allows students one week to send in their submissions — Clark wishes it was more like two weeks.
All of these tools can be used in any classroom, no matter how high or low tech it is. Clark works on both spectrums in the two classrooms she teaches in — one with a smartboard and projector; the other with a projector on a cart.
"Technology is here and is only going to get bigger," Clark said, "so embrace it."
