Wednesday, October 23, 2013

GarageBand App Free Today


If you want a great iPad/iPhone app to record student voice or even to create music for the fun of it, download the GarageBand app for free.  I hope it is still free tomorrow morning.  This was a last minute find on Twitter that I wanted to share out for those with iPads or iPhones.  

Even though I paid at least $5 for GarageBand, it was like the Heavens parted and a light shined down on me when I saw the GarageBand app was free today.  GB is a easy-to-use audio recording app with intuitive instruments and microphone effects to provide simple-minded folks (like myself) with professional sounding audio recordings.
Here are some classroom applications for GarageBand
  • Record students repeated readings to encourage fluency
  • Record students oral presentations to share on a blog
  • Record student book talks 
  • Record student book reviews
  • Record students reading their writing for revision purposes
  • Record model examples of student writing to share with whole class
  • Record podcasts developed by students and based on their interests
  • Record exit slip reflections daily on what was learned in class
  • Record model examples of great classroom discussion to share
  • Record impromptu classroom events 
  • Record the questions on a test
  • Record the directions to an activity for students that need a repeat
  • Record messages to students or parents and upload to your blog, Moodle, Edmodo, etc.
  • Record a problem of the day for students to access online and work on
This list of classroom ideas can just keep going and going and going like the Energizer Bunny.  GarageBand has become an easily overlooked app, but it provides teachers and students with an easy to use tool for audio recording.

Don't forget about Garageband on your MacBooks.  This MacBook app can be used to complete all of the above classroom ideas as well.  How can you utilize this audio recording tool in your classroom?  If you have additional audio recording ideas, list them below in the comments section.

Literacy and EdTech Collaborative

The following presentation was created to demonstrate ideas on how to implement a developmental spelling program to replace or supplement an existing spelling program.  Checkout Sarah Taylor's Literacy Blog for more literacy resources.

My section of the presentation goes over six EdTech ideas for utilizing iPads and MacBook Airs with sound instructional practices.