Technology and My Job

I have started to incorporate technology into my weekly lesson plans with my kindergarten. To do so is a challenge since I am in a situation where I have no funding and no resources to draw from. Since I can only do cultural enrichment with my students, I have been bringing in my laptop into work and showing video clips of various cultures performing in the style that we are studying. The lack of the security in my work environment makes this a particularly challenging task, since I than have to carry my laptop with me all day. One of the kindergarten teachers was telling me that her digital camera was stolen from her classroom, and she thinks it may have been someone on the custodial faculty because the room had been locked for the weekend, but the custodians have the key. The story scared me enough to make me carry my laptop bag with me all day…which became a giant issue when it came to physically daunting carrying metalophones down staircase. Still, I see the benefit in showing the kids a visual of other students in other cultures. The kids were more than fascinated with watching the short movie. These are students who do not have the resources to watch movies in the classroom, so they never have before. Many of the students who live in local homeless shelters either have to share a community television, or do not have a television at all. My bringing in a video was a real treat to them. They were surprisingly calm and cooperative when it came to taking care of my laptop. I always forget that these kids, as wild as they are behaviorally, are used to taking care of what they have.

I am trying to think of a new way to incorporate technology in the classroom. We have done basic listening...but I feel as if the kids could use some visual tie in to some of the songs we are singing...

Technology: a Love/Hate Relationship

As I have mentioned previously, I am currently enrolled in Technological Trends for the Music Educator, a course offered at New York University. This blog was intended to allow us to explore our personal relationship with technology and how it relates to our goals in music and education. Upon analyzing my relationship with technology, I have come to the conclusion that I was not really meant to be a "techie."
This is not to say that I am approaching the course with a defeatest attitude. In fact, I have been approaching this class with a conquering attitude. I am determined to figure out what is going on in class, even if 95% of it flies over my head. My website is relatively behind the rest of the class but I am still very proud of what I have been able to accomplish so far.
My brother, who holds a degree in Computer Science and works for a networking company, has labled me a "Technological Disaster." In reality I'm not really a disaster, but I don't believe that I have enough patience for electronics to utilize them to my full potential. When my laptop stops working I have a very strict "call Jim" kind of mentality. If my brother is unavailable, I can try for a grand total of fifteen minutes before giving up and sending him an email. With my students I have a lot of patience, when I'm stuck in bumper to bumper traffic I have a lot of patience, in my social life I have a lot of patience, but computers get the short end of the stick. It is an area of my personality I am trying desperately to work on.
So for example, I am probably the only student in my class who cannot seem to get their website on the new server successfully. The old me would give up in about a half an hour. Now, however, I have tried for a whopping three hours to figure this out. For me it is not an issue of transferring the files from the old to the new, but having it physically appear on the webpage. Maybe in class today we will discuss it more.

My Job

Today was a cold, rainy and miserable day in New York City! I absolutely love the cold weather, but I definitely under dressed for the icy wind and freezing rain. It feels nice to get back to my room and wrap myself in a blanket. My roommate and I are going to make hot cocoa soon.

So I guess I should start by talking about the unique position I'm in at work right now. I am currently a Teachers Assistant on the Upper East Side in New York City. I was hired because I am actually certified in Music Education, and the school is interested in starting a preliminary music program. Currently, there is no music program at the school (a k-8 school) or in any of the schools surrounding the district. Upon my being hired, the principal asked me if I would teach music to the Kindergarten classes for twenty minutes (which I was able to get extended to thirty minutes) once a week. Since there are only two kindergarten classes, I spend the rest of my time being a teacher's assistant wherever I am needed. I am the substitute aide on Tuesdays for a fifth grader with a learning disability in reading, and the substitute aide on Wednesday for a kindergartner with a behavioral disorder. For the rest of the week I am a normal teacher's assistant in a third grade classroom. Because I am scattered all over the place, I find it really hard to describe my job title to anyone. If some I know asks me if I am currently teaching...the answer is "well...yes..." but I am in the unique position of being a teacher's assistant at the same time.

The positive here is that I love my job. I love the kids. I love teaching my kindergarten music classes. I am a Kodaly trained music teacher, so I love being able to start with this bright group of kids from scratch. Because my school is very diverse in population and the majority are Spanish speaking, I plan to incorporate the music of other cultures into my curriculum. I would love to start an African drumming ensemble...or maybe do a unit on Mariachi music (I put together a Mariachi curriculum in my undergraduate years). Honestly, I know the school has a long way to go and the program is being built from the ground up, but I believe in baby steps. I am a rather ambitious person.

On the other hand, being half a teacher has some definite draw backs. I have absolutely no power within my school at all. I am treated like a teacher's assistant, mostly because I am a teacher's assistant. I propose ideas and they are shot down almost immediately. My kindergarten teachers that I see are enthusiastic, but the higher ups treat me like I am a student instead of a professional in the field. I was told the first day, after introducing myself as Ms. ***** that I could not use my last name because I am not a classroom teacher. The students were told to call me Ms. Margaret...which doesn't in itself bother me, but I know it was done to put me in my place. I am reminded every day that music is a "special" and I am lucky to have the thirty minutes that I have.

I cannot complain to much because, on the other hand, I had not been looking for a full time music teaching position. I am currently pursuing a Masters Degree full time, and definitely am not in the position to attack my first year of full time teaching. What is ideal about this job is that, while I am teaching, I virtually have no responsibility. As long as I physically show up and follow my K curriculum (which I'm almost positive they didn't even read) I am in the clear. I am nice and happy with the faculty and students, and make a point to get along with everyone. I stay out of the politics, and make sure that I give diplomatic answers when presented with road blocks. I know that if I can hang on to this job for two years (until I graduate with my masters degree) then I can look for a more ideal position, or maybe the district will make one for me. Until then, I am simply taking in all of the connections that I can and trying to act as professionally as possible.

Welcome!

Hi all!

I am starting this blog for a class...but I may grow to like it. I have started a few of these before but have never kept them up.

My name is Margie. I am a graduate student studying music education at New York University. I am currently a Kindergarten Music Teacher and Teachers Assistant at PS 50 on the Upper East Side. I also teach private voice, piano and violin lessons.

I will try to keep up nightly entries talking about my day and life...but I am not too optimistic about my chances of keeping this up. We'll see...