TPCK Chapter 8

TPCK
Chapter 8
Kim Fuller
2/23/08

This chapter was interesting and engaging to read. I have observed my students in their arts classes and see how motivated and engaged they are when learning through the arts. Students gain unique perspectives and learn skills that can be easily incorporated into all the content areas. It was exciting to read about technology and it seems that given the appropriate tools, the ways to use technology in the arts is limitless.
As a classroom teacher, I like many of the ideas presented in this chapter. It presented the use of technology as a way for teachers who are not as versed in the arts to learn and utilize the software available to help their students. I can see using some of the suggested ideas in all the content areas.
I found the ideas for visual arts helpful, particularly the idea of teaching my students about different cultures through the use of visual arts. I have worked on curriculum to help students learn about Maine Native Americans and their rich culture. This book suggested that by using web sites from state and national museums students will get information that is less biased and more historically accurate and from the perspective of the Native Americans. This is so important for teachers and students because otherwise we tend to perpetuate stereotypes and don’t even realize we are doing so. I definitely intend to utilize the web sites from The National Museum of the American Indian and The Smithsonian. I have utilized the web sites from the Abbe Museum and the Hudson Museum in Maine and in doing so have learned a tremendous amount of information I can share with my students and teaching lessons and unit ideas to use in the classroom.
The section on music education and technology was enlightening. This is the class my unit partner teaches. I can see how technology can allow students to explore many facets of music from research to composition. Again, through the use of technology, as a classroom teacher, I can access so much from the Internet in regards to music. I can access free downloads, musical performances, artists blogs/web sites, and archives of cultural music. My students can utilize software such as Garage Band to explore composition, create music to accompany a piece of writing, etc. I like the statement made at the end of this section about music being a universal language. Through technology, students can hear music from around the world as well as share their music with the world.
Dance and drama have always been a huge motivation for students but some teachers can be intimidated by the thought of using in their classroom. However, with the use of technology, students and teachers can be creative and incorporate these arts into the content areas. The Internet has endless ideas on performance ideas, production, research, playwriting, oral histories, monologues and role-playing. Power Point offers a great way for students to share their learning.
Media production offers such a global opportunity for sharing. I liked the ideas presented in this section about using iMovie as a way to communicate with Pen Pals,
the recording of field trips and creating a school news cast. I can see this as very engaging and motivating for students to share their work and learning via iMovie. My class had a wonderful experience creating a move based on a problem solving tool kit that was created for our school. Each student took on the role of a tool and wrote a script about how the tool could help a child solve a conflict. The “Tool Box” also took on a personality. The video was shared with our entire student body and my students felt great pride in their work.
The use of technology in the arts allows accessibility for students with needs to participate and learn through the use of a variety of software. These allow the students to participate and produce products they may not otherwise be able to do. Technology is certain opening up the door for more students and teachers to be creative and learn an interesting way.