Prélude n°1 aux tubes musicaux using boomwhackers

Okay. Wow.

The Best Free Way to do Playing Tests + Other Stuff

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, so if there is anyone out there who actually reads this thing, I apologize.  I've been a bit.... Busy.

That said, I wanted to follow up on our use this year of online tech that has so far proven to be the best and easiest way to do playing tests: schoology.com

Using their smartphones or tablets, students can record themselves taking a playing test and easily upload it to the assignment on schoology.  The best part about this is that the school doesn't even need to be 1 to 1 in order to implement this.  The other best part is how easy and fast it is to grade the playing tests.

Now on to other stuff:

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Check out:
https://www.speakpipe.com/
Get voice messages ON YOUR WEBSITE or BLOG!  Not free, but a very cool idea!

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Free PDF Conversion tools:
http://www.investintech.com/pdf-ocr.htm

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Also, PREZI is now available on Android Devices!

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Able2Extract has been known for its comprehensive PDF conversion options (to MS Office formats, AutoCAD, HTML, scanned PDF conversion, etc.), but, from now on users will also be able to:

- create professional and secure, password-protected PDFs
- print files to PDF without even opening them
- edit PDF pages (delete, resize, move, scale, rotate, adjust viewing preferences)
- even further customize their PDF to Excel conversion output
- and much more…

You can download the free trial version here: http://www.investintech.com/prod_a2e.htm

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eMedia is a music software company focused on providing curriculum and instructional software to consumer and schools. We offer products for voice, guitar, piano & keyboard, bass, ear-training and more. I invite you to take a look at our line and even request some trials:
http://www.emediamusic.com/music-education-software/licenses.html

Please feel free to contact me if you'd like to discuss. I hope you will consider including us in your links.

30 Student Response Systems

The list is growing!  It seems like there are new student response systems every month!  Now the trick is to find which one best suits YOUR teaching needs.  Feel free to add comments below sharing your personal experiences!

1. 81Dash
2. Answer Garden
3. Backchan.nl
4. Chatzy
5. Collaborize Classroom
6. EssayTagger (Grading Essays)
7. Exit Ticket
8. Geddit
9. Google Docs
1. Google Docs Video Tutorials
2. Flubaroo (Grading google forms!)
10. GoSoapBox
11. Hall.com
12. Heux
13. InfuseLearning (allows drawing!)
14. Kahoot!
15. Kwiq Poll
16. Mentimeter
17. Nearpod (iPad based)
18. Padlet
19. Peardeck (present AND get feedback!)
20. Plickers (Students don't need a device!)
21. Poll Everywhere
22. Pollmo
23. Quiz Socket
24. SimpleMeet.me
25. Socrative
26. Socrative 2.0
27. TodaysMeet
28. Understoodit
29. Urtak
30. Verso

Big Bro Google is Watching!

Many people are creeped out by this, but I think it's kinda cool:

https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Google has a map of everywhere you've been!  Just click the link above and log in to your google account.

Get College Textooks as PDF's for Free

College Textbooks in PDF format:

http://gen.lib.rus.ec http://textbooknova.com http://en.bookfi.org/ http://www.gutenberg.org http://ebookee.org http://www.manybooks.net http://www.giuciao.com http://www.feedurbrain.com http://oll.libertyfund.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=380 http://www.alleng.ru/ http://www.eknigu.com/ http://ishare.iask.sina.com.cn/ http://2020ok.com/ http://www.freebookspot.es/Default.aspx http://www.freeetextbooks.com/ http://onebigtorrent.org/ http://www.downeu.me/ebook/ http://forums.mvgroup.org http://theaudiobookbay.com/ Source and more: http://www.reddit.com/r/trackers/comments/hrgmv/tracker_with_pdfsebooks_of_college_textbooks/c1xrq44

Imjur: http://imgur.com/gallery/R1XDNLo

Tuning with Drones + the Shruthi Box

She makes some great points.  I've used drone tuning in the classroom to drone, but it has been a while.  Time to dust off the cobwebs and start using it again!

Shruthi Box - Online version of the Shruthi Box!

Tuning Drone 1 - Use these to help center pitches - great for ear tuning!

Tuning Drone 2

Google Classroom vs. Schoology

Google Classroom VS Schoology

	Google Classroom	Schoology
Grading Rubric (to make grading easier and faster)		X
Don’t have to create a new login	X
Class discussions in a Facebook style		X
Polling / Student response systems		X
Testing / Quizes	Yes, with floobaroo	X
Assignment comments and feedback between teacher and student	X	X
More than 1 way to do things	X
Teachers can SHARE a class as admin	?	X
Large folders with different file types can be shared with all students		X
Share assignments between classes	X	X
Can hide discussions/comments from rest of class		X
Teacher can delete comments	X	X
Unlimited file size upload	X	limited to 500mb
Skyward (gradebook) Sync		X

At the start of this year our music department has taken on the task of moving the 7th grade band/orchestra over from practice record collection once every 2 weeks, to a new video "check-in" system.  Students are assigned a music excerpt or etude from the method book to prepare.  They then record themselves so we can address the musical AND the visual, including posture, hand position, etc...

So we were left with having to make a comparison, then finding which system would work best for us.  Long story short, we went with Schoology this year.  The main reason behind this was the rubric.  When a student submits a video, we click a button while watching the video which pulls up a rubric for us to grade them by.  Grading for us teachers is quick and efficient, yet still gives students ample and specific feedback.

Google Classroom has such amazing potential, but is currently a means to organize students sharing of docs using google drive.  Once Google Classroom incorporates rubrics, I think we may just switch over.

What differences and similarities have you found between the 2?  Feel free to leave comments below!