Reflection Journal Entry #8: Audio Software

I never had any past experience using GarageBand no Audacity so this whole project was a new experience for me. For the project, I recorded a tune on GarageBand and decided to just have my students open this pre-made tune and sing a song about seasons (lyrics given to them) along with it. I think this would be a great way for the students to be able to learn different topics (numbers, shapes, math, reading, etc.) through songs. I could create my own tunes and my own songs about certain topics and use this as a fun way for them to learn. Also, I could use this program so the students can create and record their own songs or poems for certain holidays or even for their parents. This way the parents can see what the kids are learning in class and also can involved with it. I think it would be difficult to get the students to create their own songs unless it's just with the piano, but even then it wouldn't be very easy for them. Therefore, I think for a second grade class it would be easier to give them a choice of pre-made tunes by me (the teacher) and then just have them record their voices over it. For the tutorial I used Audacity which was a lot simpler because this program is only used for voice recording. I think I could have students recite their assigments (poems, readings, etc.) on this so that I can hear them and then maybe even let other people (classmates, other teachers, parents, etc.) listen to them. This way people will know what is going on in my class and all the things we are doing. I think in order to use these programs, I would need to clearly explain to my students, step by step, the procedures and directions. Even for me, the programs were a bit confusing but for a second grader, it would be much harder. Overall, I'm glad I got to explore these two programs because I think they would be very useful and fun to use in my classroom and teaching. They are a fun way for students to get interactive and to let others listen to their works as well.

Audio Project: Song of the Seasons

Purpose:

• To create a fun way for second graders to learn about the seasons. Songs are a great way for younger kids to both be entertained but also memorize different topics. Therefore, by singing about the seasons students will have a fun time but the lyrics will be ingrained into their minds. The tune of the song is "This Old Man," which most younger kids know. Therefore, I thought this would be easier for most students to know and to sing a long to. The lyrics of the song are:
  

  Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  There are seasons, four in all.

  Weather changes, sun and rain and snow,
  Leaves fall down and flowers grow.

  Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall
  There are seasons, four in all.

  Look outside and you will see
  Just what season it will be!

Note:

• I would save my song as "Grace's Song" on the desktop of all my student's computers so that they can open it and listen to a demo of it. Then, I would save a copy of the tune ("This Old Man") to the their desktops, titled as "Grace's Tune". I will already have everything set up for them so all they need to do is press the record button. Also, I would type out a copy of the lyrics onto a word document and also save a copy of it onto all the student's desktops, titled as "Season's Lyrics".
  

Personal Growth:
I have never used Audio Software in the past, especially not something like GarageBand, so it was a new experience for me. At first it was really awkward to hear myself and it felt really weird to be speaking and singing into a computer. I guess it still does feel weird but it got a lot easier. I thought the programs were not as hard to use as I thought they would be. In the beginning I didn't realize that if I messed up I didn't have to start all over again. Therefore, when I kept messing up even towards the end I would delete and try to complete the recording in one attempt. However, I then realized I could cut out the parts I messed up and just record over it which made the process a lot easier. The only real difficulty I had was playing the song on the piano in GarageBand, which took more than a few attempts. Even now it sounds a bit shaky, but for the most part I had a lot of fun.

Reflection Journal Entry #7: Multiple Intelligences

According to Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, I am a mixture of a bodily-kinesthetic and interpersonal learner. I feel as though my categorization of being a mixture of these types of intelligences wouldn't really affect my teaching in any sort of way. I think I would do my best to accomodate all my students, because each child has a different style of learning. Therefore, I would try to incorporate each type of intelligence into my lessons, projects, assigments, etc. Since I will be teaching second graders, I think the bodily-kinesthetic intelligence is present in many younger children. They are always active and wanting to move around, that interaction is needed in order for them to stay focused and entertained. Also, as having an interpersonal intelligence I think it would be easier for me to communicate with my students and even their parents. I would also create many opportunities for the students to talk and contribute to class discussions or activities. Overall, however, I don't think the type of intelligence I have will affect my student's learning or the way that I teach. Rather, because I know all these different types of intelligences I can try to incorporate different ways of learning into my lessons.

Reflection Journal Entry #6: Excel Project

I always never fully knew how to use excel because instructions were pretty much given to me by teachers when I did have to use it. Also, the only thing I ever made on excel were line graphs for science classes. Therefore, trying to make different graphs was a bit difficult but also very frustrating. The bar graph that I made wasn't as bad but the picture graph was very irritating. I had to make it from scratch and without a template sort of thing. Then, when trying to copy and paste multiple copies of the same picture the sizes would keep changing so that just took a lot of time. Also, mid way through the project, the program closed out and wouldn't reopen my project so I had to redo half of it all over again. I guess for the future using excel as a grade book would be a good idea and probably much easier. Although annoying, I could try to make different sorts of graphs to teach my students about various graphs but also to teach them how to read certain graphs and why they are used. I think just from this experience I've been a bit turned away from excel just because it was giving me so many problems. However, I know overall this is a great tool to use and can be useful for many different things such as for my own personal assignments, but also for grade books and to teach about graphs. I think before making a graph, one should be taught how to read graphs and what different parts of the graph mean in order to make the process a bit easier. I think in the future I would want to try to make a grade book using this tool since I didn't get to do it for this assignment.

Excel Project: Learning to Read Graphs

Purpose:

• To create a fun way for second graders to learn about different graphs but also to learn how to read them. In this project, a bar graph of skittles and picture graph of fruits were created. Students are then supposed to try to to figure out many of each colored skittles exists in a bag using the graph and also how many fruits were bought using the graph.
  

Excel Project was e-mailed

Personal Growth:
In the past, I have only used excel to make lines graphs for science classes and even then I had a lot of difficulty. Therefore, trying to make different types of graph was a bit challenging. The picture graph was especially frustrating because I had to make it from scratch. I didn't know whether the data sheet was needed and trying to place the pictures in was irritating because when I copied and pasted the sizes of the pictures would continuously change. I did find new graphs that I could use to teach younger children but overall just using excel was difficult.

Reflection Journal Entry #5: Presentation Software

Previously, I had only used the presentation software to create the normal presentations for informational projects. I never really used any of the different transitions effects and I had just made the slides go in order. Now that I know how to link different slides together that are not in sequential order, I could make many different kinds of presentations. I could make different sorts of trivia games or more fun filled ways to involve student interaction. This software would keep kids entertained if the presentation were created in a creative and interactive way for the students. I had never really liked the idea of using the presentation software when teachers wanted a "creative" way of presenting something because I thought the whole idea of slide after slide with information was really boring. However, I think through this assignment I was able to learn more entertaining ways to use the software and therefore it would keep my audience more interested. Word and the publishing software would be a good introduction to using this software because then one would know how to add text boxes and photo boxes. Also, knowing how to link pages to one another is also a very useful tool. I think there are more interesting features of the presentation software that I have yet to explore.

Presentation Software: Math Jeopardy

Purpose:

• To create a game of jeopardy for second grade math, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. This is a great way for students to learn but also be entertained through the different slides. Also, the idea of a game or even a competition can be very stimulating for the student's minds.
  

Presentation Software Project is on Educ2040Barger

Personal Growth:

• In the past, I have only really used the presentation software for informational projects. I just created projects that went from one slide to the next slide. Therefore, trying to make a jeopardy game where I had to link slides to previous slides and such was very difficult but also frustrating. The process took quite a bit of time but overall it was good to find another use for the presentation software.