Music&Tech-Ashley

=**Music, Education and Technology**=

I set out to learn through this project the ways that these three topics can interact. Can a classroom teacher use music and technology to further the education of her students? Will children respond more or less to music in the classroom? Are certain groups of children more or less aided by the usage of music as an educational means?

Why is this important?
Under Gardener’s theory of intelligence, music is one of the first to develop. Knowing this, it only makes sense that an elementary school teacher should seek to use music whenever possible in his/her classroom. media type="youtube" key="EH5CVkK5vps" height="364" width="445"

Music is changing, and the technology associated with it is changing even more quickly. The [|Georgia Institute of Technology] is making strides in their music lab to alter the way that people learn and experience music. Children’s’ toys are including more technology than ever before, and it seems that there never is a time that is too early for exposure to music or technology. The earlier they start using and understanding technology, the better; yet another reason podcasting in the classroom is a terrific idea for young and old students alike. The creativity that can be unlocked while studying music and learning through song fosters an open and happy environment that many children will enjoy, especially those who speak another language. If the classroom seems like a happy fun place where risks are acceptable and mistakes are meant to be made, you can count on ELL students being more outspoken, taking more risks, and attempting to communicate more than they would otherwise.

What is my personal connection?
I’ve always had a very strong musical leaning. I plan on using a great deal of music as an elementary school teacher in my classroom to teach a variety of subjects. While learning Japanese as a young child living overseas, I remember singing many songs in our culture and language classes. Years later, it’s very difficult for me to recall most of the grammar and language lessons that I’m sure I was taught, but the songs have stuck with me. I can still sing a few, and hum along with the rest. Searching youtube I came across something I didn't expect to find; Mary Had a Little Lamb in Japanese. Even more exciting is the fact that I haven't even thought about singing this in probably 12 years or so, but I still remember every word. There's got to be something to using music to learn new languages, because otherwise, that information would have been long gone. media type="youtube" key="dNHitUDJ1zo" height="364" width="445"

I was curious as to this occurrence; was it rare to learn a new language through music, or is that an appropriate method in educational literature? Paquette and Rieg (2008) wrote about just this phenomenon, and stated that music can help an ELL child learn English in a non-threatening environment. A big part of this project was investigating how educational technology is changing the face of music. This is particularly interesting to me, since I also taught myself to read music and play piano when I was 7. I can’t imagine how helpful it would have been when starting out to have a glove to wear that would help me with form and proper technique, which were usually my downfall as a beginner.

Best Practices
At first glance, it may seem that most of my research is disconnected and doesn’t speak towards a singular theme. When all of the pieces are considered together, however you realize that this is the basis of quite a picture of education, technology, and music all working cooperatively to create more informed children of the future. The technology being used and created at Ga. Tech will eventually become commonplace; futuristic piano gloves will be a commonality and children who learn to play will consider the glove just another part of the piano playing community. The neurons will fire more effectively as a result of the musical learning in a piano student, an ELL student, or just a typically developing child in an elementary school classroom. Children are never too young for exposure and inquiry in the realm of music; actually, the earlier they start the more advanced with technology and music they will become. These are important things to know and realize as elementary school teachers, because our students will probably be more familiar with technology than we are. It’s our job to stay at the forefront of technology in order to keep up with the students who are more accustomed to computers and computer programs than we are.

Related Literature
The article describes the ways that music and technology are being used together at the lab in Atlanta, at the Georgia Institute of Technology. Specifically, programs are being designed currently to engineer a glove that helps students learn to play various instruments, cell phone technology that can make anybody into a composer, and programs that turn sighted experiences into auditory ones. Many people are unsure of how these innovations will be used in the world outside of the lab, but I feel that they could work to open new doors in a multitude of new directions.
 * Kelderman, Eric. (2009). Composers and Computers Work in Harmony at Georgia Tech's Music Center. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(21).**

This article applies to my topic in the realm of musical education. I think that students who are more musically attuned are more educationally minded overall. If a student can understand the fractional nature of a measure, then the knowledge will transfer over and assist them while learning fractions in a classroom setting.

This article was a very convincing and informative piece of writing detailing many uses of podcasts in a music classroom across various grade levels. She offers uses for the teacher of a classroom to integrate the podcasts with classroom aims. Discussions of how podcasts can be used to enhance time spent out of class are also employed, and I found these to be particularly interesting and possibly useful for my future. 
 * Kerstetter, Kathleen. (2009). Educational applications of podcasting in the music classroom. Music Educators Journal, 95(4).**

This was written to be specifically used by music teachers across the spectrum of grade levels, but I feel that many of the same uses would apply in a standard classroom. It works to convince me that using technology and music together in a classroom can reap educational benefits for students, as well as parents and teachers who are involved in the process. Aside from learning how to utilize the technology, the students will be improving their creativity. This was a great article to read, and would be very useful for all students to read while in this course, in my opinion.

This article seeks to convince parents and others of the merits of using musical technology with extremely young children, especially those who are pre-school aged. It says that while technology programs were difficult to understand in the past, these days they are more intuitive and lend themselves rather well to usage by children who can learn while they play. Many common toys are musical, and most of those include a technological component; in this way, many children are being exposed to educational technology in an earlier form than previously considered acceptable. The young age of the student doesn’t mean that he/she cannot learn from using these tools, with the proper parental or other adult support. The article does impress upon the reader the importance of an adult around to help support the child and help them to make connections.  This article was enlightening for my topic, because it reminds the reader that children are rarely too young to learn with technology. Many of the musically oriented toys that young children have a tendency to play with are technologically advanced, in some way. By teaching young children to use these technology-laced items, you prepare them for their future of ipods, cell phones, and digital camcorders.
 * Nardo, Rachel. (2008). Music Technology in the Preschool? Absolutely! General Music Today, 22(1).**

This article is written to describe ways that ELL students can benefit from the use of music in their early academic careers. By using music, the teacher will foster creative thought and expression that many ELL students respond positively to, which will in turn enable them to learn more English more readily. A creative, non-judgmental environment will lead to more risk taking behavior in the ELL student’s actions in all classes, including English acquisition. 
 * Paquette, Kelli, Rieg, Sue. (2008). Using Music to Support the Literacy Development of Young English Language Learners. Early Childhood Education Journal 36(3).**

This article was informative on my basic theme in many ways. I learned a great deal about how different early elementary teachers can use music in their standard classrooms to encourage creativity, thought, reading, writing, listening and speaking skills; this article just confirmed my beliefs that these skills can be heightened through song for speakers of other languages. If a student can learn a simple song or hum a tune to help remember a word or phrase, then valuable knowledge has been gained in a multitude of academic pursuits.  At first glance, it may seem that most of my research is disconnected and doesn’t speak towards a singular theme. When all of the pieces are considered together, however you realize that this is the basis of quite a picture of education, technology, and music all working cooperatively to create more informed children of the future. The technology being used and created at Ga. Tech will eventually become commonplace; futuristic piano gloves will be a commonality and children who learn to play will consider the glove just another part of the piano playing community. The neurons will fire more effectively as a result of the musical learning in a piano student, an ELL student, or just a typically developing child in an elementary school classroom. Children are never too young for exposure and inquiry in the realm of music; actually, the earlier they start the more advanced with technology and music they will become.