Week 12 - Jazzing it up! SAMR Model

This week, Brad Fuller talked about jazzing up our lessons, especially through the use of technology.

We were introduced to the SAMR model, (Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition), and basically this model is about how can we as teachers enhance our lessons through the use of technology. It was very interesting because now as we are in a world that has constant advancements in technology, when our generation become teachers, there is no doubt that technology will be used daily in every lesson, thus it is vital that we know how to use technology and use it in a way that we’ll be beneficial for our students.

Another thing Brad showed us was the features of Canvas as a teacher and recommended us that we begin to get used to such websites like Canvas or Google Classroom so that we can organise our material and develop them over time so in the long future, all of our material is efficiently stored and easily accessible for both the teacher and student. This was really eye opening and motivating for me as this tool will be with me till the day I retire, I can even pass it on to other teachers.

Why doesn’t a school have a bunch of bass guitars? Or why don’t they have enough ukuleles for every student to play? A discussion begun based around how a school may not have the resources that you would need. What should we do about it? It was brought up that we can modify our material so that music can be played on other instruments. But why? Why not just get a bunch of guitars and enough ukuleles for every student? Ask! Demonstrate that you are passionate about your work!

This week’s class was very impactful on my view on the music classroom. Contradicting to my own experiences as a student, music class should be fun! Technology is rapidly advancing and the music class would benefit extremely from using such technology. Hence, music should be multimedia – activities that use different resources to give the opportunity for students to be as creative as they wish!!

Thanks Brad! :)