Quick Tech Tips For The Elementary Music Educator Amy Burns Far Hills Country Day School aburns@fhcds.org
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hen I present a session on tech resources for the elementary music educator, I usually showcase items that are music-related. In the past, I have written and blogged about websites that promote note reading, music curriculum, orchestral sites, recording music, and much more. In this article, I highlight tech tips that are not centered on music, but you might be able to use daily in your classroom. This past summer, I spent two days attending the New Jersey Association for Independent Schools (NJAIS) Innovation Symposium. The two days included numerous sessions and keynote speakers that provided resources, support, and tools for any educator and administrator, no matter what subject or grade level they teach. It was an excellent conference, which provided many wonderful experiences. One of the most practical sessions I attended was titled, “Resource Round-up” with presenters, Stephanie Hammond, Instructional Technologist from Newark Academy and Kristine Scharaldi, Educational Technology Consultant. Tech Tips: Whenever I present a resource session at a music education conference, I begin by showing a dessert buffet. I remind those who are listening that even though there are many yummy treats to eat, do not eat them all or, as my youngest daughter would say, “you will get a very bad tummy ache!” Stephanie and Kristine showed us some amazing tech resources. I had to remind myself to not eat the entire dessert buffet. Here are some that I found would be helpful for elementary music educators: • OneTab (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/onetab/chphlpgkkbolifaimnlloiipkdnih all?hl=en) – Does your computer slow down when you have several tabs open in the “Google Chrome Browser?” This google chrome extension converts all open tabs into one tab so that Figure 1: http://bride.com.au/4-wedyou can save up to 95% memory. This will result in your computer not slowing down as much ding-cake-alternatives and will reduce clutter. • Google Keep (https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-keep-chrome-extens/lpcae dmchfhocbbapmcbpinfpgnhiddi) – This is like Evernote, as it syncs your notes across all devices, including “web,” “Android,” “iOS,” and “Wear.” However, it is a much simpler alternative. It shows everything on the front page. You can also easily take notes. With the extension, you can save web pages. In addition, you can use the search bar to filter your notes, you can add labels, and you can color code your notes. • Google Docs (Forcing a copy) – Has someone ever sent you a google doc and asked you to make a copy of it before you fill it out, but you open it to find out that someone else did not do that and it is already filled out? This ends that problem. Change the last word of the url from ‘edit’ to ‘copy’. When the person clicks on the link, google will ask them if You can also replace ‘edit’ with the following: they would like to make a copy. • ‘preview’ - presents the document without menu bars or buttons • ‘template/preview’ - allows the user to see the document before making a copy of it • For a downloadable PDF o ‘export?format=pdf ’ - for Google Figure 2: Force a Copy Docs and Sheets o ‘export/pdf ’ - Google Slides and Create a Tasks List in Gmail – There are many times when I am quickly reading an email Drawings that requires my attention or assigns me a task and I tell myself that I will check it again later. The next time I check my email, I have 20+ more emails and I end up forgetting the email I TEMPO
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