Engage in Professional Growth and Leadership

Professional Development is something that I feel is fairly important to me, especially since I am still a fairly new teacher and I am still striving to become the best teacher I can be. When it comes to utilizing technology in the classroom and with my students I have to admit that I have a lot of to learn about.



In doing some research about how to apply the NETS-T5 a. participate in local and global learning communities to explore creative applications of technology to improve student learning to my own career I came across a few different resources for Music Teachers to share ideas and thoughts in a community setting. Many of these I feel would be a great resource to use in my professional growth. Some of the learning communities that I came across are:

Teachernet for Music Teachers

National Association for Music Education

Choral Public Domain



Of course those are just a few of the many on-line resources available. There are also many resources that are not on-line. A few examples of the resources that I already use off-line are:

Triad - a Monthly professional publication for Music Educator supplied by the Ohio Music Education Association (OMEA).

OMEA - The professional organization for Music Teacher which sponsors an annual 3-day professional development conference.



NETS-T5c Is to evaluate and reflect on current research and professional practice on a regular basis to make effective use of existing and emerging digital tools and resources in support of student learning

One of the better aspects of the Triad magazine mentioned above is the fact that it if filled with research done by actual music teachers who are actively involved in the field. The research usually deals with new teaching techniques, repertoire tips, and sometimes even involves a write-up about the newest tech tool for our industry.

After doing a lot of research I would have to say that one of the leaders in the research is using technology in the music classroom has to be the Technology Institute for Music Educators (TI:ME). This website has a plethora of information including articles written by music professionals on topics ranging from Starting with Technology in School Music all the way to Starting an Online Fundraiser.

I'm really glad that I have been asked to do more research into this area of teaching, because I honestly would not have known that there are so many ways to use technology in music. I always just assumed that the extent of technology I would use would be sound systems with microphones and maybe some recording equipment. I am very excited to continue my research on ways that I can support my student's classroom learning with the technology tools that are out there.