Garageband

=Garageband =

I believe that the most effective use of technology is finding ways to capture student voice. There are so many amazing things that our technology can do, but I'm convinced that there's incredible potential in empowering students by documenting their voice. Children can assess their own reading by listening to their own voice.

Improving Fluency

Reading instruction should focus simultaneously on accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. We often find that the fusion of these three skills presents a challenge when taught through traditional reading instruction. Garageband offers a successful way in which to integrate these skills in an engaging and effective way. Often when we are listening to students read or assessing their reading fluency, they are intent on the reading and do not actually hear their own voice. Let's try a little self-assessment of reading fluency using Garageband.  Hands on Assignment: Creating the File
 * 1) Select one of the children's books.
 * 2) Open Garageband
 * 3) Choose Podcast
 * 4) Save as your own name.
 * 5) Practice reading the book orally using Garageband.
 * 6) Listen to your own voice.
 * 7) If you do not like it, delete it and try again.



Very simple, even first graders could learn to do this quite easily.

Now, how about saving the readings. Add them to your wiki, or save them for Parent/Teacher conferences. Record student voices several times a year to assess for fluency progress.

 Hands on Assignment: Saving the file
 * 1) When you finish the story, Click "Share". (Found at the top of the screen)
 * 2) Click "Send Song to iTunes"
 * 3) Drag the recording to your desktop

Once recording is in iTunes, Student drags the recording to their desktop. Submit through the Edgebox. Teacher collects files and empties Edgebox. Save in Teacher's iTunes or add to a wiki. File will appear in your wiki like this. media type="file" key="ThreeBears.m4a" Hands on Assignment: Sharing the File 
 * 1) Submit your file to your edge box.**REMINDER: Teachers should empty the edge box after every assignment.**
 * 2) To play for parents at conference, click and drag the file to your itunes.
 * 3) To post on a wiki, click "insert images and files".

Class Discussion: How will you use GarageBand in your classroom? media type="custom" key="4100035"