Day 2: Let's Learn Everybody!
After sleeping like a rock, we quickly headed out for breakfast. First the dining halls are all gorgeous! Made me feel like I was at Hogwarts everywhere I went I swear! Second, yum! Loves me some breakfast and this one was good! The first session was at the School of Music and their auditorium puts Hurley to shame. Soooooo pretty. We are gonna post the pictures on facebook later so check em out.
This session was on visiting artists in the music classroom. The speakers were Mark Churchill dean of the New England Conservatory and director of El Sistema an amazing Venezuelan music program and Scott Shuler the President of MENC. They were so knowledgeable and really gave us all some insight into bringing outside artists into our programs the proper way and making the most of those opportunities. I am really excited to come back to Shreveport and discuss the possibilities with those artists. We broke into small groups and I got to work with Dr. Shuler. Soooooo cool! I love being a member of MENC and he is working so hard to update and improve the group. I highly suggest joining if you are interested in Music Ed at all.
Intermission for lunch. Yum of course.
And we're back for session two. This was about distance learning. They use a cisco based program called Movi to link classrooms together. There was a live demo using students from New Haven and in Rhode Island. It was so exciting to see the students interacting and performing for and with each other in real time. And all you need is a computer with a camera, mic, and the software. It's kind of like Skype except better quality sound. Then it was back into small group to brainstorm what we could do with it. Personally being so involved in professional development, I would love to workshop over it. Also inviting guest artists to share with students and of course allowing my students to work with students at another school. Dr. Retelle is going to be super interested in this tech I think.
After that we had to get ready for the awards banquet. I even wore a dress but I did slide my capris under it and I'm glad I did! Remember the last post when I said no air conditioning? It was gross in there. But it looked almost exactly like the Grand Dining Hall at Hogwarts. We luckily got to sit in the back by the door and feel a breeze. Perks of the last name Wright! The dinner was lovely and I received the award I've been waiting on since March. It felt good but boy am I drained. I think sometimes that I won't be an important person because I don't like to do those flashy rub elbows events. Can't I just boss people around without wearing dresses and eating with fancy place settings and turn down copious amounts of free booze? Hey I'm just keeping it real folks. So I'm back in my comfy clothes bloggiting about tonight and getting ready for another good night of sleep. Tomorrow's the day you've been waiting for: I meet Mr. Yo Yo Ma. And get and outside concert from the Silk Road Ensemble. IF the weather holds up! Tune in tomorrow for another installation of the Yale Bloggity Blog!
No comments:
Post a Comment