Riverside music class gets boost from technology - Billings Gazette

Erin Small knows that music teachers are hesitant to integrate technology into their classrooms.

"I am very much not a techy person," the Riverside Middle School choir teacher said shortly after her students finished a Chromebook-based lesson. "I had a flip phone for much longer than I should have."

But a few years ago, technology training for School District 2 teachers revamped the way she teaches, and Small believes it keeps her students more engaged.

On Wednesday, eighth-graders practiced identifying music notes — "a boring music theory lesson," in Small's words.

"If you keep just handing them a worksheet, they're going to hate theory forever," she said.

Instead, Small used the Chromebooks to run a program, Nearpod, that gives her real-time feedback as students drew music notes or identified notes on their screens.

Students answered multiple-choice questions using Plicker cards, which have unique icons that a phone app reads similar to QR codes, corresponding to answers. Small scanned the class with her phone, getting real-time answers, and the icons' design made it nearly impossible for students to copy answers. 

Simply adding the technology has transformed students' participation, she said, especially in a subject not known for screen-based lessons.

"I would've done the lesson, probably three years ago, by drawing notes on the board, calling on one single student's hand," she said. The real time feedback helps her better assess students' learning on the fly, and she can review records later if needed.

Students competed to have Small share their notes as examples of correct or incorrect answers. One note included blue and red accents.

"That's so Adrian's," a student said, referring to Adrian Mungia. Another note was drawn extravagantly large.

"That's probably the scariest quarter note I've seen, but still correct," Small said during the lesson.

Later, she said students "don't even realize that they're just memorizing facts about note structure."

Small has become something of a poster child for integrating technology into teaching music. She's presented at conferences across Montana and in Seattle. She's slated to present at a national conference in Minneapolis later this school year.

"You mostly hear about (technology in) math and science and STEM," she said. "You don't hear about teachers integrating it in the arts."

Small said that she has her reservations about students being glued to screens.

"It doesn't change the fact that that's what it is," she said. "We're getting to a point where we are only teaching kids who have ever known the internet and screens."

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