An idea that I have been considering with this or any blog is to create a virtual music classroom where my K-5th graders could come and post comments about music or musical ideas that we are discussing. Over summer break I would record videos of myself, via a webcam, of questions for that weeks listing example. Then students would be given a place to respond to the music and questions. The perk for this is that my students could login at any time, or anywhere. Another really interesting factor is that honestly the students never have to stop going to my class. They could be 18 years or even older and still participate in the discussions.
However, there are a few things that must be thought through. One is how I will handle the issue of content from student posts. Should I choose a blog that lets me read all the posts first and then make them visible to the public? That definitely sounds like the way to go except that I have about 900 students and with the possibility of students being a part of the class until they decide to stop, there is no way that I could monitor that many posts. Another solution is to have a very intense filter that flags suspicious posts.
The issues are definitely formidable, but I think that its benefits are worth attempting
900 students? dude!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea though. have you considered maybe putting something together where your more advanced students can post weblogs of themselves playing things? Scales or whatever? Then your other students could check them out and practice on their own. For some reason kids seem to LOVE learning from other kids.
Just a thought.