Google docs...how did I live without you?

While we've seen some pretty neat stuff so far in edci505, I'd have to say that the Google docs modules have been, by far, my favorite.  They make so much sense and are SO useful!  I'm always needing to collect and compile data.  I teach 7 classes a day and each class has no fewer than 30 kids in it.  One has 95 and another has 120.  With that many kids, I'm easily overwhelmed by paperwork.  It just floods in!  Not only is that much paperwork a pain to deal with, but it feels so wasteful as well.

I think Google forms has come to my rescue.  What better way to have students submit information?  It saves paper, it saves time, and it compiles all the data in one tidy place.  I'm in love.

The week previous to our Google forms unit I attended the OMEA professional conference.  While there, I saw a fantastic presentation given by Ed Zunic of Upper Arlington schools that covered students doing self-evaluation.  He showed us how they have recently converted their self-evaluation forms to Google forms.  I was amazed by how easy the process of collecting student data could be, but didn't know how to do it.  Thank goodness for this class!

Now that I know how to use Google forms, I have a lot of ideas that I'm excited to try.  I see myself using Google forms in the following ways:

• "Getting to know you" questionnaires at the beginning of the year
• Collecting parent info like phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
• Getting parent volunteers 
• Student self-evaluations
• Practice logs
• Quizzes over material covered in class (I was really excited to find that I can get the program to grade quizzes for me!)

Who know what else I may come up with?  I'm so happy to be learning about things that will make life in the classroom both easier for me and more interesting for the students.

Interesting Blog Ideas

When looking around www.supportblogging.com at the links to school bloggers I found a couple of interesting blogs relating to music education.  Both blogs are created by a woman named Brenda Muench, a rural school music teacher.

Tech Tempo seems to have a lot of neat ideas about how music teachers can incorporate technology into the music classroom.  At first glance I noticed a couple of entries about iPods in the classroom and composing online.  I also like that she has audio clips of herself discussing these ideas.  The first few are recaps from IMEC (Illinois Music Educator Conference) and were recaps of things she saw or presented there.  OMEA's conference is coming up soon and I'm hoping that I will be able to see someone with similar ideas.

Her second blog, Music with Mrs. Muench, is a blog that serves as a place for her students to share what they are learning.  She keeps their privacy by using only initials but posts audio clips of the students explaining new concepts as well as other examples of student work.

Lot's of good ideas here!  I've got a lot to ponder.