Fitz's Grad School Adventure

  This week I worked with Rachel on the development of a smart goal for her middle school choir. In talking and working with Rachel she wanted to find a way to evaluate student singing that utilized technology and would also not take away valuable rehearsal time. In further conversation with Rachel we came up with this goal.  By the end of the trimester, 100% of students will have completed a digital singing portfolio with three recordings and one digital reflection. At least 80% will show measurable improvement of one rubric level or more from first to third recording. This goal will allow Rachel to evaluate students' vocal progress without taking valuable rehearsal time. Steps to accomplish the task would be as follows: Provide students with a piece of music and a recording of the accompaniment if not an acapella piece.  The teacher will share the rubric and explain the standards for the evaluation. Students will record themselves at different times throughout the trime...

When it comes to technology integration there are many frameworks that would work for my district. The one I feel best fits our needs is TPACK. It combines technological knowledge with pedagogical knowledge and content knowledge to help guide teachers in the use of technology. It relies on content and pedagogy knowledge of the teacher as well as the technology knowledge. In TPACK all three areas are treated as equally important. One is not more important than the other. Therefore teachers need to have a good understanding of what they teach, how they teach, and how technology can help them do both. The intersection of all three domains is when TPACK is most effective. TPACK was first introduced by Punya Mishra and Matthew J. Koehler in 2006. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, © 2012 by tpack.org My district's technology vision is that technology will enhance teaching and learning. TPACK in my view is the best to help us reach this goal. The focus of the technology is to hel...