Post-#I4Ed Post

We just finished up our last class of Internet for Educators at Brandon University. I guess it's time to update the 'About' page. I figured, with the time I should be in #I4Ed, I'll write a blog post to discuss my reflective thoughts on not only this course, but also my time in the Faculty of Education. I'll save the School of Music for another day.

Faculty of Education

Being an integrated B.Mus/B.Ed student was an interesting experience. Because there are always constantly scheduling conflicts between the School of Music and the Faculty of Education, I take my required education courses whenever I can, in whatever stream I can - doesn't matter if the course is for early, middle, or senior years. Just fit it in there!

Because of the mixture of courses, I don't really have a "cohort" in the Faculty of Education. There were some familiar faces in #I4Ed but many of them were new! And of course, no other music education students, so I stuck to my own path. I think this worked out okay, except for some instances where we had group work to do and I felt it was hard to relate my experiences to others. People can say "oh, but teaching is teaching!" and I would like them to try teaching music, or physical education - something they don't have experience in. My first general classroom experience, this past fall, was a rough one. I was expected to teach full time for 3 (or 4?) weeks, but had no experiences to draw activities or ideas from. Let's just say, I felt very overwhelmed.

From "Children's Literacy Initiative" website

Anyway! I think I could rant forever about my general classroom experience - thankfully my two cooperating teachers were very understanding and were willing to help me out with whatever it may be. I could sing their praises for months...years...etc. But now,  back to the main topic at hand.

The Faculty of Education has been a wild ride. I came to Brandon University with plans to go into music education, then I decided not to, then three years later I ended up back at the Faculty of Education. While yes, not knowing people has been a little frustrating, but it has also been a neat experience. I've gotten to know so many first and second year students all in one semester from different streams, but I've been able to grow relationships throughout the music education cohorts as well.

I would be lying if I said I've never asked "why am I doing this?", or "why does this class matter to me?". But now that my classes are done, I can see that you really never know where you will end up teaching. These Faculty of Education courses have been able to broaden my understandings and has made me more well-rounded. More than just any old music educator. So while I can complain about how my general classroom placement went, I now have the experience needed to say "I can be a music specialist AND I could teach general classroom!"

#I4Ed

Internet for Educators was a course I really enjoyed - likely one of my favourites that I have taken during my time at Brandon University. I enjoyed writing the blog posts (evidently) and I liked the antics that went on in that room.

It was also interesting to say to myself, "okay, how could I twist this into a music education perspective...". It was almost a game! But I think that is why I enjoyed this class so much - it is flexible enough to apply into a music context (something like math methods is a little more difficult...) and that made the learning experience so much more meaningful!

From "Make Moments Matter", aka blogger David Row!

For my upcoming student teaching placement, I wanted my Grade 6 students to experiment making podcasts. I have yet to work out the fine details (we only go out teaching next week...), but my plan was to have students either talk about their own favourite musician and things about their life, or to have them interview each other about their favourite musicians. I was going to have students use Audacity, because I used it last year to create my podcast for ICT. However, I knew I struggled with Audacity. How would twelve year olds do with that program? Thankfully for #I4Ed, I learned about Anchor! I have yet to explore it, but Bryce and Drew (classmates) talked about how easy it was to use. I have yet to explore Anchor, but I think this would be a great program for my students to use to make their podcasts. Plus, we can talk about digital citizenship and digital footprints with this activity since we'll be publishing these podcasts to the internet! I think they'll really like this project.

I had a project idea for upper elementary students based around Ada's Violin (as described in this blog post) before I took Internet for Educators. After this course, I think there are more ways to connect it to the wasteful habits humans have. I originally used it to connect culturally with another people group, but I now see the importance of talking about the waste we make, and how that waste affects other people around the world.

Anyway, I think that's all I have to say for now. I'm thankful for the time I spent in the Faculty of Education, though I admit I wasn't always thankful all the time. I know I am thankful for Internet for Educators - if you ask me, I wish this was the class I took instead of ICT! I think every educator should take this course!

Thanks for reading!