ETC_Final Project-Video Link

ETC_Final Project Video

ETC_Final Project Wordle

Relevant and Innovative Learning Scenarios

Target Audience  

Students enrolled in Choir at a High School; Grades 9-12; Ages: 14-18                                 

Materials 

Laptop, screen, LCD Projector, Speakers,  Individual computers (Media Center)

Objectives: 
The students will:

• Be introduced to a new Web 2.0 tool – WORDLE  - a colorful word collage
• View a slideshow of wordle projects produced by others on the Internet
• View the URL in class with teacher
• Assist the teacher in creating a wordle project using slang words that they use
•  Locate research on their favorite vocalist, musician or musical group
• Prepare an “information visualization” on an artist of their choice using Wordle.net.
• Deliver their wordle projects to the teachers email address (fjackson@richmond.k12.va.us) for a mid-term exam grade

Procedure:  

• 1.     Teacher explains how wordle can be used to produce an information visualization product.
• 2.     Inform students that the images they create with Wordle are theirs to use however they like. They can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with their friends.
• 3.     Ask students to think about slang words they use everyday
• 4.     Have students provide the teacher with words from their slang vocabulary
• 5.     Show slideshow of wordle projects produced online by the creator and others
• 6.     Go to the Wordle website
• 7.     Create a wordle project while students are watching
• 8.     Show students how to make the words really huge (by typing text more than once) 
• 9.     Let students practice inputting text into the Wordle “create” portal

                    

Web 2.0 Tool: Wordle – Colorful word collage tool for information visualization that is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. (Wordle. net website, 2011) URL – http:// wordle.net /

Social Participation/Social Learning:  Students will choose a partner to work with in the Media Center, and they will help one another find pertinent information via the Internet on the artist(s) they have chosen to create the wordle project on. 

Making Connections – Media Center - Through research and collaboration with a partner, students will make connections by dividing the research found online (prior knowledge of researching via Internet) and synthesizing their findings  (new knowledge) while deciding which facts will be recorded into their Wordle projects.

Create/Produce – Students will create a wordle collage by typing appropriate text that conveys the facts about the artist(s) they have researched.  Students will produce this document my saving it to desktop and then emailing final Wordle project to the teachers email address.

  

Student Reflection

Question: What did you think about using Wordle - Web 2.O tool to complete your project? Student responses were positive and inclusive of the following:  It was effective, fun, easy to use,  and cool.  There were about 10 - 15 students who created Wordle Collages for their projects. 

Teacher Reflection

Since students delivered their projects to my inbox, learners will not get a chance to see what other learners  have created.  In order to facilitate the students in reflecting on the projects they’ve created and those of their peers, I will create an iMovie of wordle projects for all of the classes to view.

Students appeared interested in using Wordle.net.

PE5_Wordle

PE4_ Wordle

Hi Again,  my fellow Bloggers!

For my "RILS" plan I really wanted to use Tagxedo because students could have created awesome word clouds and I had planned to showcase their artwork in my room or in the hallway outside of my room.  Unfortunately, I needed to download and install silverlight, which I assumed I needed to produce those wonderful word photos.  I installed silverlight about 4 times, but each time I tried to create a cloud at the website, the URL would request that I download silverlight again.  Quite frustrating!!!!

Since we were asked to keep it simple, I decided to use Wordle instead.  I have more than 50 students in my classes that have IEP"s,  that I was afraid to use a Web 2.0 tool that required more than inputting text into a document.

Students in Choir were asked to research their favorite singer/musician/group from the genre of their choice. Many of the students still seemed confused about doing research. The one question that got me was, "where do we get the information from to put into Wordle?"  Of course I said my favorite phrase (JKMNTC).

I have students with Down's Syndrome, and other physical challenges, so I wanted everyone to be able to produce something using a relatively easy application (NCLB).  Since finding the research is the most difficult part of my RILS plan, students will be able to create a project with a tool that they can go back to over and over again for fun or for future projects in other classes.

To use what I have created in Wordle into another application, I  would take a screenshot and then crop it, copy and paste it where I want.  The word clouds that you see below were created using the "advanced" button in Wordle.net. When you add weights ( i.e., 50 - 400)  to the text, wordle uses that to create specific sized text which then makes it custom designed to your specifications. See screenshots on the left and below. 

Same text, but I used the randomize button and it changed the color, placement and font on the next two screenshots.

Motivation + Engagement = Success!!!

BP7_ Commercial/Audacity

BP6_ Comments

Follow this  LINK  to view my comments on Cheryl's blog!!!

BP5- Link to Cindy's Blog

Follow this Link to my comments on Cindy's blog.

BP4_ AUDACITY

I found the ultimate Web 2.0 tool that can make the lives of choral music teachers instructional time more effective, engaging and much easier, particularly during rehearsals.  This Wiki tool is called AUDACITY.

AUDACITY is a free software download that can play existing audio files as well as record the voice, an LP or a tape.   Recording can be done with a USB turntable, tape deck or USB soundcard.  Sounds can be edited and exported to an MP3 or other audio file.  You can  edit Ogg, Vorbis, MP3, WAV or AIFF sound files as well as cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together and change the speed or pitch of a recording. A screenshot of some of the features is on the left. 

You can also burn a music file that you have recorded to a CD.  This last option would be a great way to convert all of those old LP’s and tapes that we have laying around in the attic or garage into digital recordings. If you do not have an internal microphone, then you will need to purchase an external microphone (USB preferably) in order to record anything using this wiki  tool to your laptop or computer.  The screen shots of the tutorials are available and user friendly.

I am so excited to be using this Wiki tool!  I heard about AUDACITY from a colleague from another school district who uses it to provide individualized vocal instruction for his choral learners.  He loves it!!

      Since our MacBook Pro laptops come with an internal microphone, I was able to fire this tool up immediately.   There is a “help manual,”that comes with the download. There are also tutorials; see screenshots above and to the right!  

I viewed the FAQs so that I could get answers to the questions I had. There are numerous FAQ's. This is just an excerpt of the FAQ below:

As soon as I clicked the record button I was able to record my voice.   So totally awesome!!!!  I can export recorded tracks as a separate file to my desktop and then attach the file to an email and send it to my learners email accounts.  How awesome is that?  I tried it out and sent the file to a colleague.  It works and it sounds crystal clear once delivered!  It is better than a digital recorder and it takes less time to navigate as well, in my opinion!

There is a license agreement that states that you can distribute, copy, modify and resell to others as long as you follow the guidelines of the GNU General Public License . You may use it for any personal, commercial or educational purpose, including installing it on as many different computers as you wish.

Students can listen to their vocal parts, sing with the tracks and/or my personalized instructions in the privacy of their homes as well as learn their vocal parts prior to coming to school.  This can also be use as an assessment tool to review choral literature learned as well as for testing purposes.  I can also record the full accompaniment so that learners can practice their vocal with piano or other instrumentation.  Students will no longer have an excuse for not being able to learn the music for my class. 

On the right is a screen shot of the email I sent to my colleague to test out Audacity. I have highlighted the file with a square in the bottom left hand corner of the email that shows that the audio file is attached.  Below I have captured the various components of this program by showing you the windows that were included in the download.

            In addition, I plan to use this tool in conjunction with my CBR. For the CBR I plan to survey my target audience using survey monkey from the web, however, with this tool, I can record additional open-ended questions that would allow my audiences to be able to provide more in-depth answers to my inquiries.  I can send an email to the teachers and admin and they can answer the questions within a certain proposed timeframe and email their responses back to me.   

This would also be an excellent to for teachers of foreign language.  They could record the pronunciation of vocabulary words for students to practice at home.  Also stories can be narrated and music can be recorded in the background.  There are so many ways AUDACITY can be use to motivate and engage today's learners.

PE3_iMovie

Since I am a musician and a Choral Music Teacher, I was excited to find that iMovie had a tool that you could add photos to the beat of the music.  This is so cool!  So I know that you know that is what I submitted as my Movie for my blog!    Watching my photos "pop" up to the beat of the music awesome!  Hope I get this right.  ENJOY!!!!

If I couldn’t resolve an issue that I was having with iMovie, I would go and search Lynda.com for a tutorial.  But I would have never gone through the entire tutorial on my own.  Thanks Rena for requiring us to watch this tutorial in its entirety

PE2_iMovie

While taping my CBR forecast project in our last class,  I had trouble with fixing the volume of my voice with the music track that I had attached to it, because the music was overpowering my voice.  Of course I did all wrong,  but,  YAY!  I recently learned the correct place is to put the musical track at the top of the clips not at the bottom.  The screenshot on the right is a view of the "voice over" tutorial where I learned how to make sure that my voice is heard!

 Below you will find a screenshot of my Certificate of Completion!  If I couldn’t resolve an issue that I was having with iMovie, I would go and search Lynda.com for a tutorial.  But I would have never gone through the entire tutorial on my own! Thanks Rena for requiring us to watch this tutorial in its entirety and get a certificate!  AWESOME!!!

PE1_iMovie

iMovie 

My first thoughts were,  this is TMI!  Too Much Information for me to absorb at one time!  After about the 7th or 8th video, I decided to take notes for later use, because I know that there is "no way" I remember all of this information.  Fortunately the tutorials won't be deleted after completion for I know I will be going back there for assistance real soon! 

              I began using iMovie during the first class at FSO when Dr. Sharon. 

It always took me forever to complete a movie, because I did not take the time to watch the tutorials, therefore my videos were okay but not extraordinary.  After viewing the lesson on adding selections to your project, I have a better understanding of how to navigate in the project library.

I have also learned how to edit the titles of my videos, I did not know this prior to watching the tutorials on Lynda.com. Here is a screenshot after I changed my movie titles:

 

Prior to the tutorials I sort of stumbled upon various aspects of iMovie after I recorded a movie, which prolonged my ability to finalize each project. Even though we stress reading directions and following the prompts with our learners, we as educators sometimes don’t follow our own rules.  Well,  I guess I’m only speaking of myself. (LOL)

BP2_MIXLR

MIXLR is a Web 2.0 tool that is exclusive of audio broadcasting. It functions similarly to YouTube, wherein other members files are available for listening purposes. This tool can be an excellent tool over iPhones, the web, iPad and mobile devices.  In my real world classroom I could record vocal tracks for students to listen to repeatedly so that learning music would take place at home.  I could also record the accompaniment for each choral piece so that learners would have tracks to sing to. Learners can study their voice parts at home as well as submit an audio file of their individual performance for assessment purposes.   Furthermore, using this tool would improve how learners are engaged during instruction because music being studied would be more collaborative since much of the learning would have taken place away from class and learners in the choral setting would be able to perform pieces together during class time.  With Mixlr, choral teachers can eliminate having students waiting to learn their voice parts in the classroom while other sections are waiting to learn their vocal parts.  Many students are afraid to sing out in class, therefore this would provide those students the ability to perform in the privacy of their own homes. There is a subscription fee based on amount of usage to use this web 2.0 tool.

BP3_Screenshots

BP1_Welcome To My Blog!

Happy New Year everyone!  Peace and blessings to all who might arrive on this journey with me as I take flight on this first experience of blogging. It is my hope that you would have an enjoyable experience while being proactive in joining me on this voyage.

Once you arrive, you will have the opportunity to experience the events of my profession as a High School Choral Director as well as the dynamics of being a single mom living with my 23 year daughter and my puppy, MAX.

Additionally, you will find posts about my expedition at Full Sail University through the Education Media Design and Technology program and my Challenged Based Research(CBR) Project.

For my CBR I have chosen Motivation/Engagement as the Big Idea!   I have observed many African American male students who have disengaged from learning. These learners opt to drop out of school or they opt to stay and continue to be disengaged.

I hope to gain insight into what the prelude is to the phenomenon of disengagement. I also anticipate finding empirical evidence of curricula, technological tools and strategies that would motivate these learners to take charge of their learning, so that engagement is achieved to facilitate their becoming proactive and productive adults.