Bio
A super nice member!
I teach: Flute, Clarinet, Alto Sax, Trumpet, Trombone, Percussion and the occasional oboe or euphonium
To ages: 8 to 11
Reviews
I use this to edit photos to post to my social media account. If students don’t have partial media release, I can easily edit them out of a shot to include in my twiiter posts.
I have received compliments from colleagues in the intonation of my elementary band. I can credit warming up on this with long tones as to why my students are sesitive to their intonation. Easy to use, free as well! transposes to any key.
Could be used as well to discuss hertz in a physics class as there is a numerical readout on the bottom of the screen.
CONS
Ad based free app – be careful not to tap one!
PROS
Awesome!
Free!
Works!
My Elementary Band Students use this as a motivational reward for practice and a job well done.
Strengths – Large library of contemporary music, can share video performances, can show transposed music for any instrument.
Weaknesses – free to try, only 3 plays per day, high subscription fee, no video tutorials on how to actually play for new musicians, really geared for intermediate to advanced instrumentalists.
It is a good tool to introduce score reading to students and make playing technical skills relevant to new learners. I’d recommend it for that but not for any instruction. It really works well as a reward.
____Elementary Instrumental Music/Specialist Teacher (Health/Art/Music/Spanish) Review______
This tool is perfect for the elementary instrumental music class.
Set up behavioral expectations and routine for the class at the beginning of the year and communicate with parents in real time attendance as well as behavior.
I recommend for the educator who serves more than one building to set up a “class” for each school and create groups for your actual classes.
A con of Class Dojo is that is really tailored to classroom teachers, not specialized teachers who serve more than one school.
A pro is that not only can you communicate with parents, you can connect with colleagues in the school you register. Therefore a classroom teacher can also see how their students are performing in special or instrumental music instruction.
When students are working independently, I use the random student feature to reward points for specific behaviors I am monitoring.
I would recommend this to a colleague with caution. I have seen some use this tool to alienate students and judge them rather than engage. They peg early on poor behaved students and instead of using that assessment as a formative diagnostic tool, identifying areas that need to be taught and reinforced, they use it to further isolate and disengage the learner. Not cool.