My Seventh Blog Post

I'm going to use my high school band's website for this blog post. They don't have a "class page" per say, however there is some very important stuff on here. On the main page they have pictures of the band, as well as what the band's purpose/mission is. There are links on the side to things like the band handbook, which outlines all the rules and expectations of each member (like a syllabus). There is even a calendar on the side showing upcoming rehearsals. There are pages dedicated to the different band programs at the school, such as the concert bands and jazz bands, however it's more information for parents to know what they do and see some videos of it, rather than super specific information or communication with the students. There is a whole page on the website dedicated to the calendar, which is pretty important. There is also a link to the BAND app, which is what they use to communicate with each other. The last two big tabs are for parent volunteers, and for how to contact them. I think overall the website is put together pretty well. There are important things that are bolded, and there are different sections for each topic so it doesn't get all jumbled up and hard to read. This is a part of the repetition part of the CRAP principles.

https://www.oakleafbands.com/info 

I envision myself using some sort of website like canvas a lot, if I have to grade anything. I suppose I could use paper, but then I would have to go in manually and type everything in anyways. My piano teacher grades off a rubric she makes and can check everything off as she sees it, and I get my grade instantly. 

I also found this teacher productivity tool online called Flat for Education. The blog talks about how you can reuse and edit assignments (so you don't have to use time creating new ones), and you can use the sample resources feature so you don't have to start lesson planning from scratch. There is also a way to provide comments on assignments, even put it on specific parts of the music so students can see exactly where you are referring to. AND, the students can comment back and ask questions about the comment. This platform also apparently connects to other platforms like canvas, which would make things really easy to be able to combine everything into one instead of having all these different platforms students have to check.

https://blog.flat.io/stay-on-top-of-efficiency-and-productivity/  

I like that on canvas I was able to make pages and link different pages together through text. I didn't like that when I was typing out a page, if I didn't copy my work somewhere or post it then, it wouldn't get saved, as things do on google drive for example. However I think canvas is great for posting assignments, the to do part of the app is really helpful for me to know what is due when. I like that you have your grades on there, assignments, modules, syllabus, etc., everything is so easy to find and so easy to break up into sections. I don't think high schools use canvas, at least in my experience, but it's a great way to not only post assignments and materials, but also communicate with students in a professional way.