I had a blast putting together my audio piece. My students are working on autobiographies focusing on musicians and poets. So to put together an example of one of my favorite singers was awesome. Audacity was very user friendly, I just need to work on getting familiar with some of its advanced features. As a read from parts of Ella Fitzgerald biography, I played one of her songs in the background. Now mind you that I just read first and when I played it back I thought it was boring. So I pulled out one of her CD's and recorded it into the program and 'joined' them together. I felt as if I was back in the recording studio, only this time engineering instead of singing. My students got a kick out of the recording and couldn't wait to use their creativity to spice up their research. Some of them used poems or lyrics as their intro or outro to their audio pieces, while others turned poems into hip hop masterpieces to orginal music that they created. They were so excited about their work they e-mailed them to the principal, who in turn played them over the PA system during morning announcements for black history month.
This project has taken on a whole new meaning for my students. They want to put together audio pieces for Women History Month for the month of March. They have already began with the first 10 women they want to acknowledge and are researching 10 more. I am grateful that it has been so well received by the campus that each department has asked if they could use this technology to give facts of the day for their related subject matter. I look forward to this spilling over into animation in the classroom for all subjects as well.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Scream!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Video is not my friend
I have been playing around with this whole video thing and I am coming to realize that this may be my downfall as an educator. I am having so many issues that I truly want to give up. I see the grand potential of how video is a viable part of teaching and how students gain from it, but if I have to put it together my kiddo's are going to miss out. Gathering the data on video is relatively simple as well as downloading it to my computer after that is where I completely loose it. I know exactly how I want the scenes in the video to connect and play out, but slicing and editing this stuff is not for those who lacks patience.
Reading through the textbooks and watching the youtube videos that illustrate how to edit video seems easy enough until you have to do it. For example, I have been trying to put text to introduce the examples of certain types of video shots and movements. . .they all seem to come after the shot itself and not before it. Then when I retried to order them they all ended up at the end of the project. I was so tired of walking away from the computer that I almost called my professor to see if I could just drop the class and start over with another cohort. I love what technology can do for a classroom, especially for those students with learning disabilities, so putting this at the forefront of my mind I stepped back up to the computer and pounded out my edits and film over a total of two days.
As I looked over the finished work I realized that I could do better. . .so as I plan on going on my honeymoon I plan on taking some great footage of my vacation spot to do a geography lesson and then put the pieces together for my upcoming assignment. I haven't given up hope yet. . .let's hope technology won't give up on me.
Reading through the textbooks and watching the youtube videos that illustrate how to edit video seems easy enough until you have to do it. For example, I have been trying to put text to introduce the examples of certain types of video shots and movements. . .they all seem to come after the shot itself and not before it. Then when I retried to order them they all ended up at the end of the project. I was so tired of walking away from the computer that I almost called my professor to see if I could just drop the class and start over with another cohort. I love what technology can do for a classroom, especially for those students with learning disabilities, so putting this at the forefront of my mind I stepped back up to the computer and pounded out my edits and film over a total of two days.
As I looked over the finished work I realized that I could do better. . .so as I plan on going on my honeymoon I plan on taking some great footage of my vacation spot to do a geography lesson and then put the pieces together for my upcoming assignment. I haven't given up hope yet. . .let's hope technology won't give up on me.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Lesson Accelerators
Once I finally got into Atomic Learning the Lesson Accelerators that I chose to check out were for Audacity and Internet Safety: Be Aware! I wish that my district would make Atomic Learning available for faculty. It would be a great aid to classroom teachers, when we are going online, as well as when you need to instruct students on how to use certain components of software when they are creating projects. Teaching in a Low SES area many of my students don’t have access to a computer, therefore their knowledge of software is quite limited. I have brought this to the attention of our MTT on campus and she is proposing it to downtown. I would be ecstatic to see what happens with this.
The first Lesson Accelerator I looked at was for Audacity. This was a great find for me due to the fact that I am a reading teacher and quite a few of my students read below grade level. The textbooks that our district currently uses do not have CD recordings of the stories, which make it difficult for those students to follow along. My plan is to have my advanced students record the stories for me and have them available in the listening center for those students who need the listening practice. This software is great for me as an educator to put together podcast that I could post on my website for further explanation on homework assignments for my students.
The Internet Safety: Be Aware! lesson is a one that many teachers need to view as well as students. Many of my students do not know their way around Word or other software for that matter. In this lesson not only do they get basic information on Word they also how to avoid the pitfalls of the internet. There are teachers on my campus who have a difficult time with keeping up with the advances of technology I think this lesson would actually set their anxieties at ease.
The first Lesson Accelerator I looked at was for Audacity. This was a great find for me due to the fact that I am a reading teacher and quite a few of my students read below grade level. The textbooks that our district currently uses do not have CD recordings of the stories, which make it difficult for those students to follow along. My plan is to have my advanced students record the stories for me and have them available in the listening center for those students who need the listening practice. This software is great for me as an educator to put together podcast that I could post on my website for further explanation on homework assignments for my students.
The Internet Safety: Be Aware! lesson is a one that many teachers need to view as well as students. Many of my students do not know their way around Word or other software for that matter. In this lesson not only do they get basic information on Word they also how to avoid the pitfalls of the internet. There are teachers on my campus who have a difficult time with keeping up with the advances of technology I think this lesson would actually set their anxieties at ease.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Geeked about Jing
Okay I was so insecure about this whole Jing thing, but playing around with it (foolishly) I am so excited about it's capabilities. Although I am having an issue with getting the video from Jing to post in my blog, I am sure it will all work out in the next few hours. I will post my finished screencast (something educational) by tomorrow.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
The Necessity of AT in the Classroom
It took me a moment to realize that on my campus we have a student that utilizes a piece of equipment to assist her in class. This student has dysgraphia and she carries around with her a small machine that allows her to type or speak her thoughts into it as a modification to her learning. It is quite neat and she is able to complete assignments in a timely manner without feeling akward or left out. Another student of mine has a small FM transmitter that looks like a small mp3 player that helps his hearing. Before looking at the buffalo.edu site I never looked at these items as AT. By doing so I have realized that my student that has dysgraphia may find it helpful to use MS Word in class as well as her other piece of equipment.
Looking thoughout the internet I found that there are several online sources that help with students, parents and schools with finding assistive technology for students.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/assistive_tech.htm a great resource for any child that might need AT, not just those children that struggle with learning or physical disabilities.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/ this is part of Microsoft website that gives information on AT products specifically for Microsoft products
http://www.assistivetech.net/ is a wonderful site for students who need assistive technology in their everyday lives. It gives information on products that make life at home more accessible.
http://www.nockonline.org this site helps provide communication devices to disabled kids
http://www.atstar.org is an online curriculum that helps educators design lesson to benefit any student with disabiities.
Looking thoughout the internet I found that there are several online sources that help with students, parents and schools with finding assistive technology for students.
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/assistive_tech.htm a great resource for any child that might need AT, not just those children that struggle with learning or physical disabilities.
http://www.microsoft.com/enable/at/ this is part of Microsoft website that gives information on AT products specifically for Microsoft products
http://www.assistivetech.net/ is a wonderful site for students who need assistive technology in their everyday lives. It gives information on products that make life at home more accessible.
http://www.nockonline.org this site helps provide communication devices to disabled kids
http://www.atstar.org is an online curriculum that helps educators design lesson to benefit any student with disabiities.
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