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.

iMages, Photos, and Art...Oh My!

Just like bar bands get Lynyrd Skynyrd's Free Bird requests, I am always asked for image online libraries.  Many teachers like their clipart and here are my 5 (+1) suggestions for alternatives to clipart associated with computer applications.  Below you will find random images associated with each of my suggestions.  

As a tech coach, I have to be careful about using royalty-free images.  For one, I want to set a good example as a digital citizen, but also I don't want to fight an epic legal battle.  So, to get around just borrowing images from a quick Google Images search, I can use the following resources.

Open Clipart

OpenClipart is a free website filled with clipart that is free to use.  It's a great site for teachers looking for clipart to spruce up their Pages documents.  On this website, there are over 100,000 artist contributing to the free clipart and feeding elementary teacher's addiction to cute artwork.  

Pics4Learning

Pics4Learning allows teachers and students to access their library of "copyright-friendly" images.

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art hosts a searchable warehouse of digital artwork.  This repository of images houses more than 25,000 from various artists.  Most of the images can be downloaded and reused for free, and this is a nice way to incorporate artwork into a class project.

PhotoPin 

The PhotoPin website allows bloggers to locate photos and makes the process of siting the photos easy.    PhotoPin searches Flickr for CreativeCommon photos for sharing within a blog post.  

Take your Own Photos

My biggest suggestion is to take your own photos and upload them to Picasa or Flickr.  Use a smartphone and send your photos to Instagram as a storage tool.  Then, allow your students to access your images or keep them as your own repository of generic tech, field trip, first day, project, or other themed photos to use when needed.

Make your Own Photos

Considering the suggestion just above this one, this might seem a little redundant.  But, I mean take photos using a device and use an app to make it unique to the project you are attempting to create.  Take a still shot with your iPhone and use an app to transform the image into what was needed.  For instance, turn yourself into a cartoon character with the My Cartoon app.  Create a comic book collage image with the app ComicBook.  Or just apply filters and effects with Pixlr Express+.

Here is an example of the process I am referencing.  The following image was taken from a video that I took from an Instagram video I made.  I used the app entitled Video 2 Photo to do this.   Then, I place the image into the app Over to add text and additional effects.

I had the Great Depression in mind when I made this one, and it could have been used for an iBook cover in an iTunes U course on this historical event.

So, the next time you are in need of the perfect image use the above resources or if you are a "rebel and a loner PeeWee" try to create your own images.