Creating Music Clips Using Audacity

Fair Use guidelines state you can only use up to 30 seconds of a song before copyright infringement occurs. How can you digitally take a full-length song and extract a portion for your project? How can students insert music clips into their PowerPoint slides while respecting the rights of the artists? This lesson shows you how! The 3 day lesson has students downloading TV theme songs, using Audacity (free) to create 30 second clips, and creating a "Name That Tune" PowerPoint.    Very, very cool lesson! More please! Audacity can be overwhelming, but this looks like fun!

Voice Recording Using Audacity

Do the glazed looks on your students’ faces tell you it’s time to upgrade those tired PowerPoint presentations? Do you know how to make your slides talk? Do you know how to digitally record your voice & save your messages as sound files? With free software? This lesson shows you how! Learn how to download & install the free recording software Audacity, record your voice, make corrections, save your work as MP3 files, and import these messages into PowerPoint slides to make them talk.   We librarians are often the "techies" in the building. I have recorded in Smart Notebook and in Powerpoint, but not yet in Audacity. Like the idea of adding sound effects! Looks great - can't wait to use it!

Ban All Bad PowerPoints

The building principal was proud of the work the eighth graders had done on their Immigration PowerPoints and asked me to sit in on a presentation session. A majority of the slides had unreadable text, overlapping pictures, annoying backgrounds, grammatical errors, and distracting transitions. “Ban All Bad PowerPoints” is a two day lesson where students view a PowerPoint presentation, record the errors they found on a worksheet, and then make changes to the presentation before saving.   Just showed this lesson today and my students were glued to the screen. They enjoyed pointing out the errors and in fact, found one or two I hadn't thought of! This is so cool! Great job! It's so hard to explain to students that Less is More! and not everything should be in neon! Thank you! Love it! Students can learn so much from what "not" rather than a list of do's. I also like the suggestion of doing it in small groups. Can't wait to use it when I begin a presentation unit with my seventh and eighth graders.

Dance Mat Typing  (Online Activity)

Welcome to Dance Mat Typing, a fun way to learn touch typing. There are four levels to play, each divided into three stages. You start by learning the home row keys. Each stage builds on previous lessons, introducing new letters as you progress. You’ll soon be touch typing like an expert! At the end of each level you can test your typing speed and get a fun reward.

You Never Know! (Online Video)

Can you really know who that "friend" is?

Technology Across The Curriculum Blog Hop!

This week is all about TECHNOLOGY! Check out these great ideas of how to use technology in the classroom- in all sorts of settings!

Therapeutic use of an iPad for
 Occupational Therapy

By Thia Triggs

Technology + Special Education = Student Success and Independence

By Nikki Heiman

Technology Across The Curriculum 

By Deann Marin

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Technology Across the Curriculum

Deann Marin at The Best of Teacher Entrepreneurs II


                                                 

        

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Technology has come a long way since I began my teaching career. I can remember  the first computer that I used in my classroom, it was the original Apple. We had no internet access, or power-point programs. You could play simple games like Pacman and make worksheets for the kids. I thought the computer was so cool, just to be able to type and erase, without the hassle of whiteout, was a huge improvement. No CDs or DVDs only rectangular floppy discs. No cell phones, smart phones, laptops, tablets, or iWatches, just the good old Apple computer.

With time, technology improved rapidly. The old Apple was obsolete, my room was then equipped with 3 computers for students, I had my own own laptop, and a computer lab was created. However, each class visited the technology teacher only 3 times a week for a semester, sadly, not enough time for in depth learning.

Cliparts.co

For  technology to be effective it needs to be integrated into the curriculum, so I created power-point programs to reinforce  ELA and History skills. In addition, computer learning games, such as Where in the World is Carmen San Diego and Oregon Trail were purchased. Here again, the major draw back was there were not enough computers for all the kids, I set up a schedule and grouped them 2 at a time per computer. This was one way for them to practice working together and sharing, while giving them more exposure to the computer at the same time.

When the school library was finally equipped with enough computers for an entire classroom to use, I was ecstatic. So were other teachers, there was a sign up sheet for library use and everyone clamored to get some time for their projects. 

I truly believe that technology based project learning is one of the best strategies for getting the class interested in the lesson. It brings it to life and makes it real. *According to research, “It supports four key components of learning: keeping the children actively engaged  by collaborating in groups, frequent interaction, feedback, and connection to real-life experts.” 

I use web quests quite often. The class works in groups of 3 or 4 and utilizes the web for research.  There is so much information out there and web-quests are abundant. One project is called, “Who Killed King Tut?” They are given a worksheet with possible suspects and they are to decide if the individual is innocent or guilty. We then have a trial with lawyers, a judge, jury, and defendants. This particular project helped the class problem solve, analyze their findings and communicate with each other. My experience in doing these types of activities has always been positive. The students have so much fun working on them, and so do I.

 We have truly come a long in way our use use of technology across the curriculum. I look forward to seeing more of it integrated into all classrooms in every school.

                                                          Resources

*http://www.edutopia.org/technology-integration-introduction

 http://www.margietyner.net/king-tut-webquest.html

http://my.ilstu.edu/~jabraun/students/decker/

http://king-tut-webquest.wikispaces.com/Process

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Technology across the Curriculum

An InLinkz Link-up