Google Docs Group Presentation

The purpose of our group project was to explore the Google Docs presentation program. We utilized this program collaboratively via 'the cloud' and although the program itself is not quite as powerful as the desktop version, the trade-offs however are worth it for the ease of use in collaboration and making changes quickly and efficiently.

Click here for Google Presentation

Because the Google Docs tools are web based and thus can be accessed anywhere I have an internet signal I naturally reduce the need to save anything I am working on, on one computer. This allows me to be much more productive, in the sense that as long as I can find a computer terminal with internet access I can continue to reliable update any project I am working on. Additionally, if I imagine working in a collaborative setting then the web-based-ness of this service compounds its value to me and my team by allowing us as a group to effortlessly work and rework a document.

In an educational setting I can see myself using Google Docs Presentation to store and work on class notes, lesson plans, or lecture material. I may also assign a project in my class that requires a group of students to create a presentation that covers whatever subject we are currently learning. I would feel comfortable trusting Google Doc's applications in this way, thus allowing my students to confidently and easily create, edit, and eventually present a complete product that the entire group had an opportunity to work on.


My learning curve for this product is very slight as I have been a power Microsoft Office user for many years. If anything I found frustration not from trying to do something but from finding out that many functions I've come to expect from a product like this simply don't exist.


My contributions to the presentation group were in setting up the initial slide deck and managing the security and editing options. Also I helped write the third slide outlining how the product can be used.

Cloud Based Music Notation

Noteflight.com is a wonderful, free website that allows anyone to create written music. The tool is easy to navigate and very intuitive to use. Although it may not have the publishing power of desktop notation program like Finale or Sibelius, it can still be used with great effect. Some of the key features of this tool that make it valuable to me as a music educator are:

- With my personal free account I can create a database of music and exercises accessible anywhere in the world.
- I can share these files with anyone.
- I can allow anyone to make changes to it (cloud based collaboration).
- It creates various file types for printing a hard copy and sharing
- Supports play back in Midi
- Can be linked to, or embedded into another website, or blog (see below)

Technology in Band Class

 In teaching band I would like to be able to engage my students and motivate them to think beyond just the notes on the page. What is music? Why is it important? Where does music fit in society today? How is music relevant today and what made it relevant throughout various periods in history?

• Have students develop a personal blog where they write a sentence or two describing how they feel about the practice they do each day at home and in band class.

• I would build a class blog where I would be able to talk about the lessons of the day, the current rehearsal schedule, and be able to post links to related musical examples that we are learning about

• In teaching theory I would use a site like noteflight.com which would allow students to collaborate on a piece of written music.

A Few Words About Me

I am focused on becoming a leader in the teaching community of Oregon. My area of expertise is music, specifically band, low brass instruments, and classical guitar. I am a graduate of The Military School of Music (94'), where I studied music performance on the tuba and subsequently served 4 years as a tubist as well as a guitarist; both stateside and abroad. When my tour was up I decided to move back to San Jose, California in order to pursue a degree in Psychology. In the accomplishment of this goal I was once again drawn into the military, only this time through the ROTC program at Santa Clara University; where, in 2002 I graduated with a B.S. in Psychology, along with the gold bars of a 2nd Lieutenant. Soon after graduation I was shipped off to Ft. Rucker, Alabama to attend the Army's helicopter flight school. After a year and a half of the most demanding schooling I had ever experienced I exited flight school as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot bound for the first of what would end up being three separate tours to the Middle East and South West Asia.

College is also where I met my wife Michelle. We have been married for seven and a half years. She was also an Army officer and we were both deployed to Iraq for 15 months between 2006 and 2008. Soon after we came home we began making plans to leave the military, reinvent ourselves, begin new careers and start a family. Fast forward a few years and we now have our first child, a boy, named William, who is a little over a year old and perfect! My wife is in her second year of pre-med courses at Portland State U. and I have recently begun my Masters in the Art of Teaching at Willamette University.

 I am currently a Captain in the Army Reserves and plan on retiring from the military in about seven years. I could not be more excited about my decision to become a teacher, and I am eager with anticipation to begin.