Bryan Van Pelt's bportfolio

Question: How can I design and evaluate creative learning experiences and assessments or 4th grade's composition unit?                        Composition in the music classroom is a wonderful opportunity to incorporate technology.   However,  a s elementary music classrooms focus on student centered music making, technology can slow things down, sometimes to a halt.   Issues arise, apps fail, and quite frankly most technology doesn’t allow for students to engage in authentic compositional experiences.                  When looking for resources and articles I stumbled across a music educator's blog listing many different apps for the music classroom, most focusing on composition.   I then thought about how I want my students to interact with these applications.   Most do not require much musical thought and are mere games ...

Week 1 question: "What avenues of technology (besides Powerpoint can our 8th graders use when presenting their ideas on their final projects in music?"             As described by Bernard R. Robin (2008) in the article “ Digital Storytelling- A Powerful Technology Tool for the 21st Century Classroom”, d igital storytelling “allows computer users to become creative storytellers through the traditional processes of selecting a topic, conducting some research, writing a script, and developing an interesting story” (p. 222).  In my 8 th grade curriculum I see this working well as both a method of instruction and an avenue for my students to use in their final projects.  My cur rent delivery is a lecture style, one that becomes dull after time.  Digital storytelling accomplishes the goal of ISTE 1, allowing a creative method of facilitating learning and providing creative interaction with material. Likewise when the students use digital st...

As I work in private school I chose to from the CEL 5D+ framework, as that seemed the most impactful and meaningful for a music teacher.   All five dimensions of this framework are represented in a music classroom, particularly student engagement, and purpose.   One of my strengths from the CEL 5D+ framework is “Curriculum and pedagogy”.   My Kod á ly training in the summer has provided a solid pedagogical foundation for me.   One area I want to improve upon is “Assessment and Student Learning”.    This dimension is difficult to display and engage with in a typical music class, as the pace of instruction doesn’t allow for long drawn out assessments.   I want to use more rapid but meaningful assessments to fuel my pedagogical decisions.             My Kod á ly background provides a solid base for learning to occur.   The Kod á ly method is highly detailed, methodical, and clear.   Each grade has a particular ...