Grants

Money, money, money (think Abba)! There never seems to be enough money and with budget cuts, even less. Grants are a great way to help fund various needs and wants for classrooms and schools. 

        Olathe School District has several grants that teachers and schools can apply for. The Olathe Public Schools Foundation is just one grant program. This foundation awards grants up to $1000 for innovative classroom projects and up to $5000 for bigger projects used by multiple classrooms, grades, or schools. I have been lucky enough to receive a Foundation grant for a project titled "Opera, You say?" I know when applying for grants the committees are looking for new and innovative projects. The project I did had not been done before and I collaborated with classroom teachers, which they like as well. It took quite a while to write the grant but it was well worth it. 

        Soundtree is a website that provides lots of information and ideas in regards to music education. They provide monthly updates on available and appropriate grants for funding music technology purchases. Fundsnet Services.com has a large fundraising and grants directory. This website can be quite overwhelming because of the number of sites that are listed. it is first broken down into categories and then a large list of websites are listed in alphabetical order. I find many grants are considered by invitation only. Some groups have you submit your grant idea first and then if you are accepted a full application is filled out. Edutopia website also has a great number of grant resources. SchoolGrants is a site that you can get to from Edutopia. Not only are their many more sites with grant information but also has sample proposals that received grants.

      We could spend hours upon hours seeking grants. I think this is why many teachers do not pursue grant information, it is overwhelming. However, I think if someone has an innovative idea that would be beneficial to many students, writing a grant is worth the time and effort.  

Collaborative Technology

Collaboration is an important part in teaching and a must in order for teachers to learn and grow. Being the only choir teacher in my school I take every opportunity I can to collaborate with other choir teachers in other schools. With the business of everyone’s schedule, it is hard to find a time for teachers to meet. Having the ability to collaborate with other teacher through collaborative technology is a dream come true.

As I was reading through the many technology resources available, I found a couple that I think could work for me. One of them is Promethean Planet. On this site I found lessons on basic music skills, to music quizzes and lessons using interactive whiteboards. This site also had lessons created by Publishers that can be purchased for $7.99. Otherwise all the other lessons are free. It would be a great place for me to share my lessons as well.

SmartExchange is another collaborative site I would find useful. This site has over a thousand activities that can be downloaded for free. I know they will not all pertain to the grade levels I teach but it is nice to see such a large number of lessons for music class. And the lessons on this site are also free.

For students I am very interested in having them Skype with other choir classes in other schools and other countries. Skype in the Classroom is a great resource to use when learning how to use Skype. Wiki in the Classroom is another site that I think would be fun to use with my students. It is a great tool to have for students to use while they are at home.

There are so many possibilities for collaboration both for teachers and for students. With all of the choices it is easy to get caught up in looking at all of them and not settling on one. My goal is to find one or two I think would be beneficial to me and my students and focus on those. Eventually I can continue to add other sites. And the best part of all of this is that it is free!

Serious Gaming

When I did my student teaching in elementary school, my cooperating teacher told me how important games are when teaching students. She always said it was a way to “trick” students into learning. While classroom games were something I did often with my students, Serious Gaming is something I have done as well and am excited to learn more ways to incorporate it into my lessons.

 In the past all the games I have used online have been free. These music games have come from sites such as DSO for kids (Dallas Symphony Orchestra), SKSKids (San Francisco Symphony), BSO Kids (Boston Symphony Orchestra), and PBS Jazz Kids. I make these sites and may others available through a link on my school web page (Mission Trail Choirs). I encourage my students to use these sites at home as well.

One thing Futrelab has found when researching serious gaming is “Games provide a platform for active learning, that is, they are learning by doing rather than listening or reading, they can be customized to the learner, they provide immediate feedback, allow active discovery and develop new kinds of comprehension. there is also evidence of a higher level of retention of material.” I think this statement says a lot about the benefits if serious gaming. I also like how gaming can be customized to the learner since not all kids learn at the same rate.

It isn't always feasible for me to have my students using gaming because of the nature of my class but it is something I try to use when possible. Some of the ways I have incorporated gaming is right after concerts are over or at the beginning of new lessons. I have used them for students who need extra practice on a concept they do not understand or did not learn due to an absence. It is much easier to give these games as assignments because they are engaging to the students.

Ulicsak, M. & wright, M. (2010). Games in education: Serious Games. Bristol, Futurelab.