Chris Barbee blog:
Enoch's blog:
Monday, January 31, 2011
Assignment - PLN
Read blog post describing "personal learning network" below, then:
1. Create an RSS reader using Google Reader (or some other RSS reader)
2. Subscribe to the blogs of your classmates.
3. Find ten other blogs related to your future profession and subscribe to them.
4. Find ten non-related websites to choral music and subscribe to them (blogs and websites that reveal your own interests and hobbies).
Due: Friday (February 4, 2011)
1. Create an RSS reader using Google Reader (or some other RSS reader)
2. Subscribe to the blogs of your classmates.
3. Find ten other blogs related to your future profession and subscribe to them.
4. Find ten non-related websites to choral music and subscribe to them (blogs and websites that reveal your own interests and hobbies).
Due: Friday (February 4, 2011)
Building your personal learning network
What is a personal learning network?
One of the common problems among high school choral director is professional isolation. Many directors serve as the only choral music teacher in a high school with few peers; the situation is amplified if the teacher is geographically located far away from cultural centers. The internet can help keep an isolated teacher networked to the latest developments from experts in a wide variety of fields.
For years, professionals have turned to books and journals as well as traveled to conferences to learn about the latest developments in their profession. In recent years, this activity has been supplemented or replaced by an Internet model where blogs, twitter, wiki’s and podcasts contribute significantly to professional learning.
Recently, educators have become more intentional about the creation of this professional support system and the term “Personal Learning Network” (PLN’s) has evolved to fully describe this activity. PLN’s are defined as “deliberately formed networks of people and resources capable of guiding our independent learning goals and professional development needs.”[vii]
One of the most highly valued aspects of a PLN is “crowdsourcing,” an activity where one person asks questions to the broader community about an issue. Fortunately, choral directors have enjoyed that luxury for years with ChoralNet. Recent developments in ChoralNet have provided additional networking opportunities. In July 2010, ChoralNet released a new tool called “Communities” with the intent of allowing “users to communicate regarding particular sub-topics of choral music and self-identify as a member of a subset of choral musicians.” With the recent merger of ChoralNet and ACDA, these communities and the message boards will continue to fulfill many of the professional needs of choral musicians for years to come.
High school choral directors can emulate the practices of other education professionals for further customization of their personal learning network by experimenting with a variety of online tools, including:
All of these tools fulfill the basic functions of a PLN: connecting with like-minded professionals, collaborating on projects and questions, and a vehicle for providing our own contributions to the profession.
One of the common problems among high school choral director is professional isolation. Many directors serve as the only choral music teacher in a high school with few peers; the situation is amplified if the teacher is geographically located far away from cultural centers. The internet can help keep an isolated teacher networked to the latest developments from experts in a wide variety of fields.
For years, professionals have turned to books and journals as well as traveled to conferences to learn about the latest developments in their profession. In recent years, this activity has been supplemented or replaced by an Internet model where blogs, twitter, wiki’s and podcasts contribute significantly to professional learning.
Recently, educators have become more intentional about the creation of this professional support system and the term “Personal Learning Network” (PLN’s) has evolved to fully describe this activity. PLN’s are defined as “deliberately formed networks of people and resources capable of guiding our independent learning goals and professional development needs.”[vii]
One of the most highly valued aspects of a PLN is “crowdsourcing,” an activity where one person asks questions to the broader community about an issue. Fortunately, choral directors have enjoyed that luxury for years with ChoralNet. Recent developments in ChoralNet have provided additional networking opportunities. In July 2010, ChoralNet released a new tool called “Communities” with the intent of allowing “users to communicate regarding particular sub-topics of choral music and self-identify as a member of a subset of choral musicians.” With the recent merger of ChoralNet and ACDA, these communities and the message boards will continue to fulfill many of the professional needs of choral musicians for years to come.
High school choral directors can emulate the practices of other education professionals for further customization of their personal learning network by experimenting with a variety of online tools, including:
- video (YouTube, TedTalks)
- microblogging (Twitter, Plurk),
- social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn),
- social bookmarking (del.icio.us, Diigo),
- RSS readers (bloglines, Google Reader)
- wiki’s (pbworks, wikispaces), and
- online presentation sharing (slideshare, sliderocket).
All of these tools fulfill the basic functions of a PLN: connecting with like-minded professionals, collaborating on projects and questions, and a vehicle for providing our own contributions to the profession.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Working fast: students who have already created a blog
Way to go, young bloggers. Love the colors and ideas.
Lydia's Blog
Lindsay's Blog
John Keyton's blog:
Mandy Liu's:
Whitney's:
Lydia's Blog
Sunday, January 23, 2011
email to class 1/23/2011
Class,
Looking forward to our first class together.
A reminder: we will be discussing the first few chapters of the Stephen Covey book - the overview and the first three habits.
I plan on taking a grade in every class this semester, so do your best to be up on the reading.
A reminder: I posted about the reading here:
http://samfordconducting.blogspot.com/2010/12/seven-habits-for-second-semester.html
It is possible to download the "kindle app" for your computer and purchase the book electronically. You could have the book in five minutes - so - no excuses.
Love and peace,
Looking forward to our first class together.
A reminder: we will be discussing the first few chapters of the Stephen Covey book - the overview and the first three habits.
I plan on taking a grade in every class this semester, so do your best to be up on the reading.
A reminder: I posted about the reading here:
http://samfordconducting.blogspot.com/2010/12/seven-habits-for-second-semester.html
It is possible to download the "kindle app" for your computer and purchase the book electronically. You could have the book in five minutes - so - no excuses.
Love and peace,
Monday, January 17, 2011
Poster session
Dr. Nordlund and I are presenting a poster session based on the little conducting study we did last semester:
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