The Haydn Hideaway

For our final tech task, we are to create an Alternative CV. I decided to use Venngage to create an infographic. After using Venngage, I wish I used it to create my infographic about music careers  (click the link for my blog post). This infographic is actually legible, for free! Bonus. I wasn't too sure what to add to my CV. Since this CV is digital, I figured it was a prime time to add an embedded video of myself playing. Unfortunately, at this time I don't have any recent recordings (however, this is subject to change after my recital in March! Stay tuned...) and I feel like the recordings I do have are not representative of my playing today. This is something I plan on adding to my digital CV later on. I liked the creative aspect of the alternative CV. Building a resume is rather boring and done strategically - I didn't feel the same about preparing this infographic version. Thanks for reading!

This weeks Tech Task is to discuss infographics - what they are, why they could be useful in a classroom, and also to make our own! This will be an interesting task. I'm daunted by having to make my own, but I'll give it a go! An infographic is pretty straight-forward - it is a graphic, with information. The Wikipedia article for 'infographic' states that infographics are "graphic visual representations of information, data, or knowledge intended to present information quickly and clearly". Using images along with the information makes it more memorable and visually appealing, rather than just a long stretch of text. Infographics in the Classroom Very simplistic infographic for younger students I think infographics could be very useful in the classroom. I see simple ones as posters on the wall, like a rule reminder with a simple image. I could also see ones used to remind students of the goals of the class (ex. "I can feel the beat in my ...

For this Tech Task, we are asked to discuss our Twitter experience! (Click here for my educator account, in case you are not following me already...!) Personal Use I've had my personal twitter account since 2009 and now have a collection of 16,000 tweets from over the years. I couldn't tell you how I managed to tweet that much, other than the character count used to be much shorter than it is now. I liked Twitter for the simplicity - the short little thoughts that someone may be having. For example, here is a screenshot of the first tweet in my feed at the moment: This is the quality material I enjoy from Twitter I use Twitter as a platform to share the small thoughts I have that I don't think are "important" enough to constitute as a Facebook status (read more about that here  under the "My Digital Identity" heading). Facebook is for things I want to share with a wider circle of family and friends, and Twitter is for things I may want to j...

In this Tech Task, I am to share one of my favourite online resources, explain why it's great, how it can be used in the classroom, and some great (or not so great) features about it. The Tech Task also says this can be for classroom use, or professional use. Does that mean I can talk about both? Classroom Use For my favourite classroom use online resource, I must talk about Musication  and their series of boomwhacker videos, as I previously mentioned in this blog post. Musication has a collection of boomwhacker play-along videos - think karaoke, but for boomwhackers! First, I really like these videos because I feel they give boomwhackers a purpose in the classroom. Boomwhackers are one of those instruments that are typically left behind in the music class. Their pitch isn't super clear if they're not played properly, and when you have an instrument that is played  by 'whacking' it, you better have some good classroom management skills and practices alre...

In my third Tech Task, I am to find an edublogger I like, describe their background, why I follow them, and what I have learned from them. Thankfully, the task mentions that if there are other bloggers I follow and like, I can link them also. Wonderful, because there are so many great music education blogs out there! I will only describe one in depth, or else this task will take too long. Mrs. Miracle's Music Room by Aileen Miracle Aileen Miracle has taught for over 20 years in both Ohio and Michigan, anything music including general music, band, choir and strings. She currently teaches K-5 general music, but has taught K-7 general music as well. She is a past president of the Midwest Kodály Music Educators of America, and has taught Kodály levels at different universities. She also has her own Teachers Pay Teachers store with lesson plans, unit plans, sub plans, holiday activities and visuals, among other things.  I first followed Miracle when I decided to swit...

For my second Tech Task of the term, we are discussing the digital world our students do, and will, live in. First, we examine diagrams provided of a "typical teacher" and compare it to a "networked" teacher. Then we are to think about what a typical student's diagram would look like, and what the digital world means for their learning, and for us as educators. Let's get started! Typical versus Networked According to diagrams by Alex Couros , the typical teacher has few relationships that influence them. Curriculum documents, popular media, and print/digital resources are influences that act as a one way street. They inform the teacher, provide information, but the teacher does not interact with them anymore than that. The teacher does not  influence the documents, media, and resources. They are also influenced by their colleagues, family, and local community, and the teacher has influence on them. The teacher is able to interact with these relationsh...

Hello everyone! As previously mentioned, my Internet for Educators course includes Tech Tasks, small assignments that we need to do in blog posts separate from our weekly blog. I'm going to start with Tech Task #1 today, all about our own digital footprints! Our task is to discuss what online services we use, and what appears when we Google ourselves. Then we are to discuss the importance (or lack thereof) of our digital footprint and if it is important to address in schools. Google Searching I am an avid social media user. My main apps/websites (as included in a "Social Media" folder on my phone) include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Reddit, Pinterest, Snapchat, Linkedin and YouTube. I think I also have accounts on websites such as Soundcloud, but I haven't logged in in ages. If you Google search my name, this is what pops up. None of these links are me! I may pop up if you click the Facebook or Linkedin links, but that is not my Twitter account, my we...