This article was originally published in The Woman Conductor Journal, October 2021 issue. If there was ever a time to go paperless in the band room, this is it! Between forms, flyers, and sheet music, the amount of paper in any band room is impressive. While eliminating all paper might not be possible or even necessary, moving…
October 2021 – this post has gotten an update! Check out these Jamboard updates and some new ideas for how to use it in music classes. I see the irony that my last post was about understanding your WHY in the classroom prior to determining your WHAT, and today I am starting another series on…
October 2021 – This post has gotten a much-deserved update! Seven add-ons and extensions isn’t enough anymore. Read on for my favorite nine! This post continues a back-to-school series about tech tools for the music classroom. One useful feature of Google Chrome is the ability to customize your browsing and creating experiences using add-ons and…
I’ve always been one to try new things in the classroom. I like to experiment and I’m not afraid to take a risk. However, student musicianship is always at the center of each of these experiments. I want students creating music and learning about music in a way that’s meaningful to them. Last year, because…
This article was originally published in The Woman Conductor Journal, June 2021 issue. For many, summer is a time for rest and rejuvenation. The schedule slows, the days are longer, and the commitments are less frequent. However, summer is also a great time to dig into new tech tools you may not have explored before. Or dive…
As a Google Trainer and Innovator, it’s no surprise that I work almost exclusively within the Google platform. My recent post, Three Tips to Organize Your Google Drive, received great feedback and has inspired this post about Google Chrome! Many people use Google Chrome for their web browsing, but are missing some features that make…
This article was originally published in The Woman Conductor Journal, March 2021 issue. While the focus is on band rehearsals, the strategies described will work in nearly any music class or rehearsal. Technology integration is something that many band directors are aware of but are still unsure how to achieve. Especially since the goal in…
The last twelve months have introduced music educators to a plethora of tech tools we may not have considered using before. Video conferencing became a necessity, unlike we had experienced before. Prior to 2020, we never would have considered holding a birthday party or attending a professional conference over zoom, let alone a music class!…
This is the time of year when many of us notice holes in our digital organizational methods. What started with good intentions has turned into nothing short of a mess! While feels like no small task to tackle the problem, the longer we wait, the worse it gets. The good news is, there are a…
Each December I like to look back at the blog to reflect on the year. Which posts were the most read? When was I most consistent in publishing? Were there any noticeable themes? Given the events of the year, it’s no surprise that a big focus was technology and almost all blog posts incorporated that…