Examples of work during own time
Youtube
Fun Facts:
- Created in 2005
- Video sharing website that anybody can upload onto and watch from
- Some countries have blocked Youtube and some schools have too
- Most viewed video on Youtube
- My personal favourite video
I use Youtube everyday but had never considered making an account. However to upload videos you need an account and it was really easy to do! It is self explanatory and I didn't need to click the Help button. Once on your profile you can view all the videos you have uploaded and see how many hits (people who have watched) your video has got. Additionally you can subscribe to other channels that maybe of interest. I love musical theatre and often sing along to karaoke tracks and so by subscribing to providers (people) who upload lots of karaoke tracks I can get quick access to those videos. Youtube also looks at the videos you have watched and suggests other videos that may be of interest.
Youtube has a wealth of educational resources ranging from teachers tv videos to clips about air resistance. When looking for a visual representation of a concept I will always go to Youtube first. I was lucky during GPP for the school not to have blocked Youtube but that is something to be aware of in future schools.
There is a danger to Youtube as there is some risqué content and so I would never promote Youtube to children or suggest that they search on there.
Audacity
I downloaded Audacity from the Internet and have been having an experiment at the different techniques you can use with it.
I have found it rather difficult to navigate around. It was simple to record myself singing and listen to it back. It proved a little more difficult when it came to altering the Pitch, Speed and other features.
Due to not having the ProWeebly website I have not been able to upload it to this website but I have uploaded it onto Youtube so you can listen to my experiment. I have quickly added it to Microsoft Movie maker to make it easier to upload onto Youtube. I have experimented with Pitch, Speed, added a wahwah and a tremelo (not quite sure what the last two are!)
Audacity is a lot more technical than needed for children- you can input music over the top of each other and mix together tracks. However this would be really good to use for creating a video with the children or maybe a news broadcast. They could record themselves and then through using Microsoft Movie Maker they can input the vocal over pictures for example.
I have found it rather difficult to navigate around. It was simple to record myself singing and listen to it back. It proved a little more difficult when it came to altering the Pitch, Speed and other features.
Due to not having the ProWeebly website I have not been able to upload it to this website but I have uploaded it onto Youtube so you can listen to my experiment. I have quickly added it to Microsoft Movie maker to make it easier to upload onto Youtube. I have experimented with Pitch, Speed, added a wahwah and a tremelo (not quite sure what the last two are!)
Audacity is a lot more technical than needed for children- you can input music over the top of each other and mix together tracks. However this would be really good to use for creating a video with the children or maybe a news broadcast. They could record themselves and then through using Microsoft Movie Maker they can input the vocal over pictures for example.
Inspiration
Inspiration is brilliant to use when there are many ideas in your head and you need to get them out. From there you can then arrange them into a methodical pattern and it helps to create a structure for essays, presentations etc.
On the mind map you can include pictures which may act as a prompt or sound files of songs you want to use or something recorded from a dictaphone.
Can this be used in the classroom?
Certainly! To elicit the class' knowledge on a topic this would be good to use and you can show links to other topics through adding arrows. Once a map has been created it could be blown up on the photocopier and then added to a working wall in which new ideas can be added via post it note as the children learn new concepts.
This could also be used to gather ideas for a story. Once the ideas are in mind map form there is a function in which it will put it in a list with the headings and all the content giving a clear structure. The children could then write a story following the clearly mapped out structure.
The only criticism to this software is that you can get caught up in the aesthetics and waste a lot of time making it look visually appealing. It is simple to use but to make it look pretty takes time.
A lot of schools do not have this technology but during FPP I intend to take in my laptop so this software can be used as I think it will be useful.
On the mind map you can include pictures which may act as a prompt or sound files of songs you want to use or something recorded from a dictaphone.
Can this be used in the classroom?
Certainly! To elicit the class' knowledge on a topic this would be good to use and you can show links to other topics through adding arrows. Once a map has been created it could be blown up on the photocopier and then added to a working wall in which new ideas can be added via post it note as the children learn new concepts.
This could also be used to gather ideas for a story. Once the ideas are in mind map form there is a function in which it will put it in a list with the headings and all the content giving a clear structure. The children could then write a story following the clearly mapped out structure.
The only criticism to this software is that you can get caught up in the aesthetics and waste a lot of time making it look visually appealing. It is simple to use but to make it look pretty takes time.
A lot of schools do not have this technology but during FPP I intend to take in my laptop so this software can be used as I think it will be useful.
Read&Write Gold
This software is a toolbar which sits at the top of the screen of any programme that is open. It can be used in any programme such as Word and web pages.
It is fantastic in helping to proof read essays and I use this with all my work. When somebody reads aloud the test you can hear where the punctuation needs to be and whether it is in the correct tense. This would be brilliant for children to use to proof read their work as often they skim through their work missing obvious mistakes. The spell checker on this software is much more advanced to Microsoft Word as it looks at homophones and double checks that you meant where instead of ware or wear for example. Thus eliminating any silly errors.
This programme allows for the background screen to be a different colour and this impacts every window open. Web pages and word documents all have a film covering them of the requested colour. This is beneficial for children who are dyslexic as this makes reading much easier as they are not having to struggle against the white background.
Unlike Inspiration this software is much more recognised within schools however it is expensive and so not all children have the privilege of using it. Again, I will certainly be taking my laptop into school so that during any computer work those children who have dyslexia or any special education needs can use the tinted screen and text reader.