Ham Radio

One of my favorite things to do when I'm not teaching is ham radio.  Amateur Radio, or ham radio, as it is referred to, is a radio service set up by the government.  Originally, it was to have a pool of radio communications specialists who could be used in emergency situations.  Believe it or not, that still is a need these days, however, usually the need is much more localized in scale.  However, there is much more that we do than emergencies.  Lots of times, I like to build and tinker with antennas, and talk to different countries, meet new people over the air, and try new things.  My favorite mode, or means of communication, is CW, which stands for continuous wave.  Using one RF wave, the operator keys the wave in old Morse Code.  Morse is still alive and well after nearly 170 years, but these days, mostly used by just hams.  I enjoy it as it's very unique.  And, we can and do talk back and forth with mircrophones, and even computer keyboards.  We can even send each other pictures over the air, which is fun.  I can also control my radio with a computer remotely, and have done so.  What was fun last year was running my radio remotely from South Dakota over the Internet, transmitting on it, and talking to a guy in California.  What's even more fun is transmitting on my radio, and hearing my own signal while being logged onto someone else's receiver thousands of miles away.  So, after a long day of working in the fine arts, and all of the human ups and downs in performing and being artistic, it's fun to come home and do some things that are logical, sequential, and non-artistic.   It balances me out, and feeds the other side of my brain. All good stuff.    I'll explain more about ham radio in future entries, but today's post was just to get that topic started.

Technology in Education Part 2

Technology that I'm using at work in music education

April 2011

Eric Stover

 

 

Facebook        Band site to communicate, collaborate, and network

Twitter            Networking and research. Also, to communicate with parents, etc.

iPod Touch        Portability of metronome, mp3 files, email, web, Edmodo, and my                     dropbox. An iPod + band-room sound-system = infinite music library!

Dropbox        Great storage for mp3 or other files that I want to access or share.             Absolutely GREAT for the iPod/iPad!

Edmodo        for PLCs. Will also by my pro-dev project; I will use it for "lecture" stuff                 with kids to have them listen music. This will let them evaluate, infer,                 predict, etc. and other higher order thinking skills

Microsoft Office    Word/Spreadsheet/Web publishing, etc.

Google Docs        Starting to replace Word and Excel. Easier, more portable, and GREAT                  for collaboration.

Google Calendar    A Godsend. It organizes all of my calendars, usable with any Internet                 device, free, and imports easily with Outlook, Thunderbird, iPad/iPod, etc.             You can edit it in real time, and import any number if different calendars.             GREAT organizer!

Finale            Music notation software

Smartmusic        Virtual accompanist program for solos, lessons, jazz improvisation

Pyware 3D        Animated marching drill software

Email            Communication with parents, staff, etc.

Audacity        Editing sound files, and also as a tone analyzer in lessons.

Zoom Recorder    Instant high quality digital recorder device

Audio Equipment    Playing audio for band students.

Fingering        Fingering chart app for iPod touch. Very handy in lessons to look up             uncommon instrumental fingerings and trill fingerings.

Subdivide         Metronome app for iPod touch. Free

YouTube        Great research tool for finding live and recorded performances. Also,             showing our performances to audiences that cannot attend concerts.

Pandora        Great for introducing students to musical styles. Just type in a few                     keywords and they have instant listening references; all free!

 

Where I'm going:

 

More Edmodo; expanded use to include solos, concert band rehearsals, possible weekly assignments, and expanded use to include jazz band. I feel this could really bring up some meaningful dialogue between my students and me. What's cool is that I can upload media, and the kids and I can have some discussion on what we're listening to. This is my next thrust as an educator, and will be the topic of my professional development plan. I think it will be really neat!

 

Skype More use of Skype to collaborate and research. I already use it at home to operate my ham radio remotely, so using it for work should be fun!

 

Google Calendar. Make a band Calendar file that parents can download and use in their personal planners. This would be available for anyone to import into their own personal calendar software, or using their own Google Calendar.

 

Start making recordings of my ensembles, either digital or CD, and editing them for band members to have. I will either use this with Audacity, or Garage Band.

 

 

Technology in Education

One of my favorite areas is the area of technology.  I think it's really exciting to be alive right now, and how our entire world is being connected and transformed so quickly.  I'm only 45 years old.  When I started teaching in 1989, computers were these big things with green screens, and good for word processing and a few games.  Typing was the way official business was done.  You took photo film to the store to have it developed, and it was expensive.  Long distance calling was a luxury, and cell phones came in these big bags with an antenna on the top; it looked like an electric purse.  And, even having a cell phone was very expensive.  I still waited for my local paper to arrive in the afternoon to read the news, and I got almost all of my news from Dan Rather on CBS, or Tom Brokaw on NBC, or the like.  Going to a library was necessary to research anything.  We had card catalogs, the Dewey Decimal System, and those green periodical index books.  I remember staying up all night at UNI researching the latest issues of Time and Newsweek in a very painstakingly, sometimes tedious, manner just to write a paper.  All of my work, I typed out, and if I made a mistake, I had to use either White-Out, or this eraser thing that looked like a pencil with a brush on top.  My music was in the forms of cassette tapes, and records, and if I really wanted to splurge, in the form of CDs.  VHS was how we got all of our movies, and if we wanted to watch something, we programmed our VCRs.  I had to go to my mailbox at school at least 4 times a day to get messages, and notices.  I'd go in the morning when I arrived, mid-morning on my break, after lunch, and check again when I left. The medium of choice between my boss and myself was the post it note or a memo sheet.  I still used chalk to write, calculators and a paper grade book, a paper lesson planning book that I used carbon paper to make a copy of my lesson plans, which I turned into my administrator every Monday morning.

As you can see, the world has changed.

Now, I have a desktop computer at home, a laptop computer that goes everywhere with me at work, and my iPod.  From any of these devices, I can push a button and get my news, listen to my music, communicate with my boss, research something, prepare a lesson, get the sports scores and play a movie, and if I really wanted to do so, do it all at the same time.  Incredible, and my, how CHEAP it has become.  It's no secret that schools can pretend to teach using the same methodology, the same medium, and the same materials in today's world. These kids today grew up in this digital age.  They are expert at multitasking, and can be very self directed, and are largely unafraid to try anything new.  They communicate more often than my generation, and are probably the most tolerant and open minded generation in history.  The sky is the limit with these kids.  If we want to reach them, that means we need to speak their language.  Yes, at times, they will teach us.  Fine.  Let's place our egos in the drawer, and start asking them questions.  They can teach us some things.  In turn, we can take their technology, pair it with the things we know (and they don't) and educate these kids; giving them the tools to educate themselves.  Let's teach them to be critical, open minded, curious, and to communicate.  Let's make them hungry for more.  And, who really cares if it shows up on some test score?  The last time I looked, test scores didn't matter in real life.  What did?  Performance, work ethic, creativity, communication, and curiosity.

So, how have I adjusted in my world of teaching music?  Here are a few of the things I've used in my classroom in the past few years.  Most of which I still use now.

Ubuntu 11.04

It looks like Canonical has released the Beta1 version of Ubuntu 11.04  I'm going to install it, and give it a shot. As a matter of fact, it's fetching and installing even as I type so this post will probably be in 2 parts.  In addition, I've got some really neat technology things happening at work right now.  I'm going to start the process of interacting with my students over the  educational social-networking site, Edmodo.   Edmodo is in use in our district now by some teachers and students, and our high school staff.  I created my own group and will be posting music in Edmodo, and having my students do some critical listening and critical thinking, and some responses as well.  I think it will be handy for me, and educational for them.  Anyway, between that, Dropbox, and Google Calendar, there are some really neat things I'm using, all with my iPod touch, just to make life easier for me and my students and to broaden the conversation.  We'll see if it works.  I'll be back later for an update on my Ubuntu 11.04.  If all does NOT go well, I may be back via my Windows OS.  Wish me luck!

Starting Out

Well, I decided to publish my own blog.  I've read so many, and have commented on so many that I thought I'd jump in and do my own.  It's about time, really.  Anyway, what shall be the first item of discussion?  Technology.

I'm a teacher in a medium-small school district in Iowa.  I'm a music teacher by trade (hence the blog title!) yet I really enjoy my fair share of technology.   At home, I'm pretty much a Linux geek, however, I'll also run Windows.  In addition, I'm a ham radio operator, and I enjoy building antennas, and building electronics projects, and also integrating computer technology to my radios via radio control software, and digital modes (forms of teletype.)

Anyway, I digress.  I also like to find new and different ways to use technology at school.  I went to a meeting today and studied the use of technology in a different district, and I must say, I was impressed!  They use a 1:1 laptop initiative, meaning that each student has their own laptop computer to use at school.  My district is doing this next year with the Apple iPad.  As an iPod touch user (more like addict!) I really think this can and will be a great tool for teachers and students.  It's definitely a paradigm shift from the more traditional computer based labs.  This excites me as both a teacher, and as a parent (I have 2 kids going to the Middle School next year; where our 1:1 initiative is being launched.)

So, the question everyone wants to know is how will this technology affect learning?  What will be easier?  What will be made more difficult?  To me, with students sharing information, collaborating, communicating together and doing so with a tool that is theirs 24/7; this blows the walls of the school down, and blurs those boundaries between school and home.  For us adults teaching them, I think this will connect us in ways that we could only dream as kids. Never will there have been more opportunity for children to learn, and the sources of information at their disposal will be unprecedented.  Still the question remains.  Will this affect learning?  What unintended consequences will we see?  

It's a very exciting time to be an educator!