3/27 Perceptions

• Teachers plan, communicate, guide, and evaluate. Information technology can be adapted to allow the teacher to do these better and, thus, impact positively the efficiency of the teaching-learning process.

I believe that this is the primary role in what I do. As a director of music and a band it seems I am more of a manager and coach than a teacher. Constantly choosing material and putting students into the roles that best suite them and the band. Technology has helped to ease that process. Something as simple as a crude cassette tape recording can validate what I discuss with them. Software programs allow me to continue to put music in front of the student without the expense of having to purchase new music when only a few pages are missing.

• In great part, the effectiveness of the communication phase of the teaching-learning process determines the outcome.

Absolutely. It only takes the slightest bit of miscommunication or misunderstanding to undermine an entire rehearsal. Jeopardizing future performances and the fun the student could have. Making it clear up front what is expected from behavior to performances of the music itself will only make the education process easier on me and the students. This also helps to put me in a position of not defending what I choose to do with them but rather guide them through it since they will already understand the "why".

• Information technology skillfully integrated into the curriculum will allow teachers to improve the fidelity, relevancy, and accessibility of the information they make available to learners. It is proposed that this empowers teachers so that they might do what they do- better.

Again I have discussed my intentions here in the past. Even in the journal article recently submitted I have already began planning my integrations into the classroom a new approach to teaching music. To older and more seasoned students this technology integration will allow for more precise individual practicing and faster understanding of music concepts and expectations in the classroom/ band setting as a whole. With my younger students this will be invaluable. The ability to show a student instead of writing on a board or verbally describing music concepts is invaluable. I have hopes that this can increase the music education at my school by 50% over the course of a year. By the time a 6th grader had entered 8th grade, instead of being an 8th grade level student, it is possible to have them at a 9th or 10th grade performance level and understanding of music theory. Exciting!

• A verbal description alone of anything that can be seen must be considered a compromise; a compromise made every day in classrooms in an age when technology makes it unnecessary.

I do relate to this. The ability to use software and projection hardware to visibly show what is taking place in a piece is extremely helpful. For our visual students that is often times the thing that helps make it "click" for them. But I take this perception one step further to also being able to hear things as well. Frequently, I make comparisons to help them benchmark themselves. Being able to have colleagues from around the area to provide recordings of their students/ bands for mine to hear by email or other media means is very helpful. Also, to send our recordings out for feedback is very useful. My students can hear what another director has to say about us. It puts another audience before them in a unique way.

• All human activity is driven by information; the more demanding the activity-the greater the need for information. Thus, information can be termed the fuel that powers the teaching-learning process.

Without information, we don't have much to teach. However, I am going to take this and consider information more in terms of feedback. It is the feedback that my students will thrive on the most. Not so much how to do it, but rather, how well did I do it and where can I improve. Just like in football. The game on Sunday is important, but the game film review on Monday morning is what truly helps a player to improve before his next game. Technology gives our students this ability to provide feedback in various forms. This is something I have taken to doing with my students. Get them feedback in visual and verbal forms rather than just marking the grade book and a paper with a letter grade.

• How teachers manage information has a major impact on the outcome of the teaching-learning process. Technology facilitates and amplifies the teacher's capacity to provide learners with information of higher fidelity in an individualized, interactive mode.

Specifically in my case, I could have students get materials and have it on hand. Without me managing that use of material with them then it is useless. Just because a student has access to a computer does not mean they will suddenly use it the best way they can. I can help engage students to use technology to further improve themselves and to help facilitate their understanding of difficult concepts. Holding a student responsible to certain expectations will cause the student to eventually use this resource to its greatest potential. In turn, a better student and a happier teacher.