My Newest Gadgets! (And a cry for help…)

I have a problem.

I’m an office supply addict. Every year as I’m getting ready for piano lessons, I look at the office supply stores and online for some of the newest, most unusual and interested office gadgets. I’ve admitted to this problem before, but I keep coming back to the same justification:

Cool Office Supplies Help My Students, Right?

Eggspert croppedThe erasable gel pens and erasable highlighters that I discovered years ago have done nothing but helped my students and motivated them in their own practice at home!

And the Eggspert Quizzing system that I introduced to the piano teaching community several years ago has only been a fantastically fun gadget for groups.

So what’s the problem?

The problem is that when I don’t find an interesting office gadget, I get a little bored. For some people, it would be a little like not getting a pair of fancy, new shoes every season [You know who you are!].

So this year, I was really having a hard time because I just couldn’t find anything that was really extraordinary.

Hand post itsThen I found these Handy Notes.

My husband would also say that I have a post-it problem, but that’s an issue for me and him to sort. Regardless, I do love cool post-its, so these new Handy Notes that you can find on Amazon or even in some Wal-marts (they are cheaper there if you can find them) just gave me the little zing of excitement I needed for the school year!

They aren’t post-it brand, but that’s okay. I can make all kinds of sign language symbols with them (like “I love you,” numbers, letters) fold back all of the fingers but the pointer and have it point to something in the music, or even just put it at the top of the page to remind a student that they need to pay attention to fingering. The possibilities are fantastic!

By the way, I showed them to my students and they  loved them!

Frixion pensErasable Gel Pens in ALL Colors

My students were thrilled that at 20 pieces in their 30 piece challenge, they get to pick from a selection of 8 different colors of the Frixion Erasable Gel Pens! And I told them that whoever gets to piece 20 first, gets first choice. So brown, orange, green, red, pink, blue, black, and green are all on the table! Of course, I had to order my own set of these because I use them Every. Single. Week! I can’t teach without them now. And if you’ve heard anyone complain that they don’t erase, it’s not true. It erases because of heat, so you have to apply enough friction (with their special rubber end). If it doesn’t erase, you just apply more friction and it’s like magic.

Here are other ways to use the erasable pens. They make the best incentives!

Sticko eyesSticko Eyes

I also like to draw eyes in my students music a lot, looking at the areas they are supposed to fix for the next week. So, when I saw these 3 dimensional Sticko Eye stickers, I had to have them (plus as an Amazon prime member, I got free shipping when I added them on to my order and they were cheap)! My students thought these were fantastic as there are everything from eyeballs that move to girly and zany eyes too.

If you don’t know the amazing results you can get by using stickers to TEACH rather than just reward, then check out Diane Hidy’s blog!

Practice RevolutionThe Practice Revolution

I’m also working on ways to help my students practice smarter, not longer and I’ll be blogging about some of these ideas. But, I thought it would be wise to look at the amazing Philip Johnston’s book The Practice Revolution so that as students forget about my ideas mid-year, I have something else to tell them! 😉

So what are YOUR favorite office supplies and gadgets this year? Please share in the comments below! I’m all ears!

And one last attempt at justifying my problem: I could have a much more expensive addiction, right? Like shoes, or cars, or pianos, or techy things [hmmmm…those last two might be a bit of an issue too]!

So, my “Cry for help” is not a plea to help me get rid of this addiction, but a plea to those of you who are also addicted to share in the comments what YOUR favorite gadget is!

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6 thoughts on “My Newest Gadgets! (And a cry for help…)”

  1. I use the Frixion pens and highlighters all the time! And, you’re right, students love them! Funny story: My daughter’s harp teacher asked me recently why I had given her a blank check. Seriously, nothing written could be seen. So I told her to stick in it her freezer and see if anything shows up (because, really, I don’t make it a habit to hand out blank unsigned checks!). Sure enough, an hour later, you could make out my handwriting! Apparently the air conditioner had gone out of her studio for a few days and it got so hot that it made my writing invisible. It sure did make for a good laugh, though!

  2. I’m so glad that we got the Frixion gel pens this year here in Germany. They are so much more fun than regular gel pens because of the erasable feature!

    Post its are a staple in my arsenal as well.

    But my favorite teaching tool comes from the decoration aisle: glass nuggets. Those “gems” that are flat on one side and bulgy on the other. I use them in different colors for 7 stages of misery. Then I also bought clear ones and wrote note names on the back. Each student builts a new pentascale when I introduce them to get a visual cue, and to teach regular scales and triads.

  3. My husband found some magnetic music bookmarks in a local bookstore for me. They fold over the page and then the magnets on each end hold them secure enough to use along the side of the page. Additionally, they are relatively small and have a pointed end. Those two features make them great for use in the Bach chorale book from which I’m sight reading right now, because each page has between 3 and 7 chorales on it. No more, “Which one did I do yesterday?” as the bookmark slides down the page each day to point to the next chorale. Admittedly, I haven’t decide if or how I’ll use them with my students yet. They’re also available at Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Music-i-clips-Magnetic-Markers-Bookmarks/dp/144131251X/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1410981623&sr=8-3&keywords=music+bookmarks

  4. Janna,

    7 Stages of Misery – I think I read about it in the book “The Practice Revolution”. I also learned a smaller version during college. 7 Stages of Misery is a drill method – play a section for 7 times in a row and each time you do it successfully you get to move a gem stone from on side of the piano to the other. If you play a mistake, one of the already “secure” gems gets moved back to the original side of the piano. It’s a back and forth method. It can quickly become rather frustrating. But when you work through a passage this way it also becomes very secure.

    Philipp Johnston really describes it better than I do. Hope this helps anyway 🙂

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