Focus Area: Implementing Technology into the Elementary Music Classroom
Data Collection: Students turning in a Google Doc into their Google Classroom
Annotated Bibliography:
Waddell G and Williamon A (2019) Technology Use and Attitudes in Music Learning. Front.
ICT 6:11. doi: 10.3389/fict.2019.00011
Waddell and Williamon discuss ways in which technology is being included in the music
curriculum. Before technology was easily accessible by most people, a master-apprentice
relationship was the most efficient way to learn music. Everything that the student would learn,
would be from the teacher. Now, with the technological boom, students are able to use
technology as a tool to learn and create music.
Process: On the first day of using the chrome books in the classroom, I used only verbal
instructions to tell the students what we would be doing for the day. I answered the same
questions from almost every student and realized that I needed to have a visual of the instructions
for students to follow along with.
For the next day I had created a document with step-by-step instruction of what to do. I shared
these directions in Google Classroom for all of my classes. I wanted to make sure they had
something to reference as they had independent work time. I showed the same directions on the
board and walked everyone through them. I asked for thumbs up to check for understanding and
then let them get to work. Again, the same questions were asked. We had some technological
difficulties with slow WiFi which made it difficult for some to follow along, which I was
understanding about.
However, despite multiple reminders that each student has the directions, I was still being asked
the same questions.
I began creating daily directions that explained in bullet points what would need to be done for
that day. Again, I would use the start of the class to explain what they would be doing, using the
directions on the board as reference.
I began answering questions with “You just finished step one, now go on to step two,” while
pointing at the board. This still took up a lot of my time, but I was spending less time per student
explaining the same thing repeatedly.
Asking students to turn in the assignment was particularly difficult because I did not know what
their Google Classroom looked like. I had my first class help me figure it out, and by the
fifteenth class I was able to recite how to turn it in without looking at their screen. I made bullet
points for this process as well and went over it about three times in front of each class, checking
for understanding through thumbs up before moving on.
Students who were finished with all of the steps were able to have free time on Chrome Music
Lab. This was the incentive to get the work done. Without my knowledge, students would lie to
move onto the games and would make it look like their assignment was turned in.
Despite my best effort, many students either didn’t turn it in correctly, didn’t have anything
done, or didn’t follow the directions for the song itself.
Change seen in Data: Based on the quality of assignments turned in, or lack of assignments
turned in, it can be shown that many students took this as a free-time game rather than an actual
assignment. I do not believe that this was an effective assignment. I still believe that technology
can be used in the elementary music classroom, but the way in which I incorporate it would need
to be reevaluated.
Improvement Plan: Based on the amount of questions received about the same thing from every
class, I think I would need to have multiple ways to show the instructions. There were a handful
of students who understood what we were asking for, but those who did not may have needed
another way to see the directions.
Creating a video on how to save their song would save a lot of heartache from students not
saving it correctly and be easier than me having to run around re-teaching every student how to
save.
Another idea could be to create a step-by-step PowerPoint with screenshots of how to complete
the assignment. This way students can follow along with it if they have any questions on what
comes next.
I believe that having a rubric to show students what we are looking for is another way to explain
the directions. Many students lost points because they did not do what was asked of them. This
could be avoided if they knew how they would lose points and I regret not having one from the
beginning.