TN Musician Vol. 69 No. 1 (proof 4)

ENHANCING NOTIFICATIONS
Gone are the days of typing, printing,
copying, and sending home a paper note.
The frequency with which our students
turn their eyes to their smartphones or
tablets overshadows any thought they
would give to a note you send home with
them. Social media not only replaces those
traditional ways of communication, but it
can serve to improve the consistency, effectiveness,
and scope of what you share.
It is important to stress that all social
media communication should be through
accounts or pages created specifically for
your organization and not personal accounts.
Organization-specific accounts
protect you and your students and allow for
administrative oversight, if set up correctly.
The most obvious use of social media is
the replication of a traditional announcement
or note. “Don’t forget to bring $5
for lunch tomorrow,” “Concert is 1 week
away—do you know where your uniform
is?” “Full orchestra rehearsals are Tuesday
and Thursday this week.” Notifications like
these can be shared and viewed instantly
on services such as Remind, Twitter and
Facebook. The message is immediately
available, visible to anyone following your
account (parent, student, administrator,
etc.), and is persistent, remaining in that
space for reference at any time.
Since many of the widely used platforms
work best with frequent but shorter messages,
they are also effective for conveying
notes of affirmation to an ensemble or
group. “Great rehearsal today!” “Excited
about your progress!” “Congrats solo and
ensemble participants!” Through traditional
means, these short notes might not
seem worth the effort. With social media, a
few seconds can translate into a wealth of
positive rapport.
The instant nature of social media (especially
in conjunction with mobile devices)
allows for spontaneous sharing with
your students. Great quotes, beautiful performances,
and inspiring images are all
around us. Facebook and Twitter are great
for broadcasting quick messages through
text, but they can also be used to share a
photo, video, or audio clip that you find
or create yourself. Likewise, services like
Flickr and Instagram can be used to curate
and share photos you take of your organization,
inspirational images, concert posters,
or fun Internet images related to your area.
Lengthy articles or media are not necessarily
the forte of many of these services.
However, they can still be used to redirect
followers to that information. Alongside
a school or organization website, social
media can be used to alert users to information
they need. Share a link to the trip
itinerary on your website, a poll or form to
complete, or a video on YouTube of your
group performing.
ENGAGING STUDENTS
Communication is a two-way street,
and social media can offer a friction-free
conversation between multiple parties. By
requiring students to submit a reply, you
have instant assurance that your message
has been received. If there is confusion,
most platforms offer ways for people to
comment or respond to a post. A student
or parent can ask a follow-up question
immediately, thus reducing the potential
of the message or question getting lost in
translation or time by waiting to address it
in class the next day.
Educators are often searching for ways
to empower their students and help them
take ownership in a program. Posting discussion
questions can go a long way toward
students having input into your organization.
“What would you like to see happen at
the choir retreat?” “How can we get more
people involved in our Spring Concert?”
The nature of these commenting systems
can lead to positive discussion among your
students about a given topic as well.
Social media is also a great way to collect
student responses. “Share your favorite
memory from orchestra this year.” “Who
is available to play holiday music at the
senior center next Saturday?” Some services
like Twitter employ hashtags (#) to
curate and track these posts. By creating a
unique hashtag, members can post using
that hashtag or search for it to see what
others are posting on the same subject.
Create a tag to use for class discussion or a
tag to use on a group trip. Not only are you
creating a means of gathering perspective
and information, you are also empowering
all of your students.
Public Twitter profiles or Facebook Fan
Pages allow for community and parent involvement
as well. Not only can you promote
upcoming events, but you can receive
feedback from the community or interact
with other local organizations. There are
also other professional organizations and
people on social media with whom to interact.
By opening up dialogue with them, you
open the door to networking, promoting,
and enhancing your organization.
EXTENDING THE CLASSROOM
One of the major advantages of our
connectivity is the ability to extend the
classroom. You may be familiar with Khan
Academy, an online resource of math and
science instructional videos. These videos
are short and simple lessons that allow the
viewer to take in the information at their
own pace. In class, you might have to cover
a topic three times as you begin feeling
pressured to move on. If for any reason a
student misses what you said, they don’t
have the chance to receive that instruction.
The idea of a flipped classroom can
address that limitation.
In a flipped classroom, you assign the
instruction as homework and then do the
application in class. This allows the student
to spend as much time taking in the
instruction as they need and gives the
student access to the teacher during the
application portion of the instruction. Social
media has made it easy to share these
lessons and provide a medium where students
can network with each other and
with the instructor outside the classroom.
A simple implementation could be sharing
a link to a website where they can learn
the treble and bass clef notes. Assign it as
homework and the next day in class, dive
straight into application. If there is any
confusion, students can comment on the
post the instructor has made on the social
media network.
More complex lessons might need to be
created by the instructor, and while this
can be time consuming, the benefit is a library
of lessons ready for years to come.
By sharing them through your organization
website, lessons of all kinds that are
delivered via YouTube and other educational
sites like ShowMe can be viewed by
students outside of class as many times as
is necessary.
Instead of burning part CDs for every
student, host them on the school website
and share the links via social media. Create
a pronunciation and translation guide
for a piece and share the image on Facebook,
Twitter, or Instagram. Students can
practice it on their own and go back to it if
needed at a later time.
A YouTube or ShowMe video describing
the phrase and dynamic structure of
a piece and how to notate it in the score
could save 20–30 minutes of valuable rehearsal
time. Assigning it as homework, inclass
discussion of these elements can be
more meaningful and less tedious, saving
time for more in-depth discussion.
16 | TENNESSEE MUSICIAN | 2016 | Volume 69, No. 1