Can you keep a secret?

That's okay, neither can I right now!

I'm so excited about tomorrow! I'm going to be presenting during the Genius Hour portion of our professional development at our school. I'm so honored to be presenting to my peers and to ensure a good "review" of sorts, I'm totally bribing them with door prizes! Ha!!! :) Just kidding!! Well, not really....I do have door prizes and that's the secret!

My presentation is about BYOD classrooms, which I've never actually had myself. But I'm going to be attempting it this year. I say attempting because there will be some obstacles to navigate, but that's a whole different story. Either way, that doesn't mean the classroom teachers of my school can't learn about it! I'm using Nearpod to give my presentation (with a little bit of Lino thrown in too). If you've never tried Nearpod, check it out now. It's a really amazing program!! Anyway, since a major part of BYOD is teaching and modeling digital citizenship, I was inspired by a pin that I found on Pinterest and I made this:

I changed the word speak to comment mostly because I wanted it to apply to digital citizenship and in-person interactions. (I have also seen this sign with, "before you Facebook - Twitter - Instagram - etc.....") After all, a major part of music education is commenting on what we hear. Let's face it, kids don't always think before speaking their mind on someone else's performance. That is something we have to work on a lot throughout elementary school.

My little sign turned out so well that I decided to make two more (in slightly different colors)....one for each session that I'll have in the morning. I found an online name randomizer ready to choose my winner. 

(In case you're wondering how the sign was made, it's a canvas that I painted with black paint. The colored letters were cut out out of cardstock using my Silhouette Cameo and the white letters are made with adhesive vinyl, also cut with the Cameo. I mod-podged the cardstock letters onto the canvas.)

By the way, are you a BYOD music classroom? If so, leave me a comment! I will definitely be posting more on that later!

Time flies....

Summer is officially over. Usually I'm really sad about this, but this year is fairly different. As I've mentioned before, I'm energized, focused and ready to get started! Well, not completely ready....my room is a mess and bulletin boards are half-done.....but I'm getting there. :) I do have one bulletin board done, waiting for my students' contributions:

Since taking this picture, I've asked some of my Twitter followers to tweet some examples to have ready for the kids. I got some inspirational responses such as, "What can lift your spirits when you are feeling down?" from @trudy_fern and "What brings life to my soul?" from @MusicHeather. I will be sending home squares of paper so that they can write down their questions for the board. I won't be able to fit all 500+ on this small board though, so I'll have to pick out a few a week to display and rotate them out for the first few weeks of school. I can't wait to read some of their thoughts!

Other than that, I've been busy working on my window that greets the children as they enter my room. For the past few years, it has always said the same thing. It has always had my signature quote, "If you cannot teach me to fly, teach me to sing." Before leaving for the summer, we had to remove everything from the walls so the school could be painted. Unfortunately, I had to just about destroy my old window display. It wasn't in the best shape anyway due to its age so I'm remaking it and updating it a bit. I was worried that it would seem a bit stale to go back to the same old quote and display, but several coworkers walked by and said, "NO! Why are you taking it down?! Are you going to put it back up?!" So if they liked it as much as I did, I think it's safe to say the kids maybe did too. :)

So here I am on a Saturday, hoping my new best friend Oscillating Fan will help me finish my room a little more. I'm really hoping to share some more pictures soon. I have really enjoyed searching through some of my favorite blogs seeing everyone else's rooms.

Here's to a welcoming space to make some great music during this new year!!

"Genie, you're free."

I have been seeing this quote on Twitter in the last several days since the news of Robin Williams' death was announced. Like most, I was stunned....shocked....upset. I grew up watching his movies and especially loved his embodiment of the Genie in Disney's Aladdin. He didn't just provide a voice to an animated character....he became the character. The film's title character may have been a boy looking for his princess, but the Genie stole the show.

Even before seeing the movie, I can remember getting the soundtrack and trying so hard to learn each and every song....his songs and parts were the most difficult. I tried to copy his inflections, his nuances....nope, couldn't do it. Not even close. He was one-of-a-kind. His funny, endearing vocal performance in this movie is what began my long love and deep appreciation for Disney movies and music.

RIP Robin Williams.

Scared to jump in?

My son is 9 years old and just got his first actual iPhone. I didn't buy it for him, but in this day and age, I'll admit that he's perfectly "old" enough for it. He is thoroughly proud and protective of it...and has made sure to point out that it's better than mine. Nice one, kid. :)

This started a fun conversation in the car though. I told him that I was pretty excited about this upcoming year in school. Our school principal is really onboard with integrating devices (appropriately!) in class and I'm really thinking ahead about how to do that even in music. Not only am I thrilled that he'll be prepared with his device, but I've already laid claim to his old iPod touch to use as another device in my music room. Hooray!

That's not the interesting conversation though. We talked about technology and people and teachers who are likely to embrace it. I told him that I just knew his teachers on his upcoming grade level team would be excited about using technology (um, sorry....no pressure!) but not everyone in every school feels like this. Some are hesitant because they just didn't grow up with technology like his generation obviously has. We talked about typewriters, early computers and I even described the fascinating machine my grandparents used to communicate with my hearing-impaired aunt over the phone in the 1980's. Technology has changed so quickly that it's impossible to keep up even for those who have an interest. For those who don't have a particular interest?....I can't even imagine!!

I am lucky that I grew up in a "plugged-in" home. In fact, I have never known a home without a computer. (And I grew up through the 80's before PC's were really popular in middle-class homes.) My dad is a techie. We had a Radio Shack TRS-80 (I think?) as early as I can remember.  

Radio Shack TRS-80

Funny story....my dad subscribed to some sort of programmer's magazine and I can remember one that arrived in the mail. He asked if I wanted to program the computer. He sounded really excited about it and convinced me to type in a couple lines. I was pretty young and barely knew my letters (much less the arrangement of the QWERTY keyboard!) so it took awhile....I thought for sure something magical would happen when I was done! When I was finally finished, he ran the program and I thought it would talk to me or play a game of Pong with me.....ha ha, nope. It went "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP." Now, the nostalgic techie nerd in me would like to say that I was filled with wonder and awe, but.....but.....I felt a bit ripped off. But hey, our memories can't all be winners.

I've gotten off track. Needless to say, I was inspired by my dad....and later my mom.....and my brothers (all tech nerds in some way or another).....to pursue my interests in the tech world somehow. Not because I have to, but because I want to! 

I realize not everyone likes or understands this stuff, and that's okay. But the greatest thing about modern technology is that you don't have to be an expert. In fact, there is no such thing. I love the blog entry linked in that last statement....read it and be assured by Angela Watson's words! Stamp "life-long tech learner" on your forehead and dip your toes in. It's okay to try and fail. In fact, that's how I learn about 80-85% of my tech skills....no joke! User manuals and help menus are my last resorts. (Should I admit that?) I click buttons and I explore menus....if I don't find what I need, I Google my exact question and usually come up with the answers I need. 

If you're having trouble integrating technology into your lessons, set some small goals. Practice your lesson with a teammate or with a family member at home. It doesn't have to be complicated to be great!! Ask around and have an open mind. You're not alone and there's someone (like me!) in your school or community willing to share resources or skills to get you started.

Please share your personal fears and/or victories about integrating technology in the classroom by leaving me a comment!