Tech Tuesday: Music in the classroom.

I know you all can relate when I say that sometimes I just want to put some ear plugs in my ears in the classroom. 

My students are ELL/ ESL kids and I like giving them TONS of opportunities to talk and discuss topics and events in English. However, sometimes I could really use some silence. I mean seriously they can talk FOREVER. That is unless I ASK them to talk. Then they are as quiet as a mouse.

My students get to chatter most of the time, as they work. I really only ask them to be quiet when I am teaching or another student is talking. So far this works. However, we do have times where I would rather them CONCENTRATE on what they are doing instead of chatter away. During these times I play music. I know this is NOT a new revelation, I am not inventing, nor "re-inventing" anything.

(Seriously though who thought of "reinventing"? You can't "RE-invent". If you invent something new you invented something new. If it is the same product with a twist you modified or improved it. Don't even get me started on "New AND Improved." Is it new or is it improved? Semantics people, they are important.)

Back to what I was saying. I know that teachers have been playing music for kids for AGES. I play soft music during writing time, I play fun pop music during clean up time (It makes a great timer) and I play music to get kids moving in general.
Obviously when I first started teaching 10 years ago (yikes) I used CD's and cassette tapes. Yes, cassette tapes, I think I still have a few floating around somewhere.

However, I have evolved with the times and started playing a lot of my music digitally. That meant that I started doing 2 things. One was uploading CD's to my iTunes library. The second was purchasing kid friendly music on iTunes. At first this was excellent.

These are two of my students faves. They are short so I tend to play them in a loop. Yet, after a while the clutter of music I didn't listen to outside of work started to bug me. We could say I was less than thrilled.
About that time a friend introduced me to Pandora Radio. Which I might add has been a WONDERFUL addition to both my personal and professional life. Personally it saved me so much money because I could now listen to songs that I like but don't want to purchase. Professionally it saved me clutter, money and peace of mind.

I have also used iTunes radio with limited success. It is great in a pinch, BUT doesn't offer me the versatility nor the customizing features that Pandora Radio does. Maybe with time.

With Pandora I can create a Kid friendly station. Right now I just have 1 kids Pop station, that is all I've needed really. I get a variety of music for my students. It plays popular tunes that they love and sing along to. Because it is a kids station I don't have to worry about inappropriate language which has been a wonderful perk. I use it as a timer and play it when I want kids to clean up.

I just tell them they have to be done by the end of the song. During writing I play a modern classical music station, but not just any old music will do, I made a Danny Elfman and John Williams station. I tend to get a lot of the Harry Potter or Spiderman soundtrack music. 

Sometimes I just play something to get them moving and they do their work standing/ dancing and singing. :) 

Sometimes I play the music from my computer, other times from my iPod, or iPad, but the best part is that I get to wirelessly stream it to my projector which has some great speakers. I know they don't all, but I got lucky. Not having cords has been such a wonderful perk. 

If you haven't read my post on wirelessly streaming you can find it by clicking here.

Hope you are having a great week. I am just about half way through my 11 hour day!

Technology (Tech) Tuesday: Wireless Streaming

It is amazing how a week can fly by. I missed posting my lesson plans for the week. Sorry about that. I thought of posting them today BUT I have been wanting to post about my Apple Tv and iPad mini set up for weeks!

This year I have been so lucky. My schools Technology Integrationist came to me and asked if I would be willing to pilot a wireless streaming system in my classroom. At first I was really very excited. Then I realized I would have to give up my trusty Doc Cam and panicked just a little bit. I mean how would I project all the work my kids do and demonstrate for my ELL kids?

This is what my set up used to look like.

I really did rely on my doc cam to demonstrate a lot. However, it was't always my best friend. Sometimes I struggled to get the whole image on the screen. Also adjusting the camera arm was never fun, or quick. BUT, it worked and I loved it.

Then came the day this baby came into my room. The whole set up includes an HD projector,  iPad mini, Apple TV and stand. At first this huge stand was a bit of an eyesore to me. It was big and clunky and I felt would dominate my table. I stayed open to the possibilities because I REALLY wanted the iPad mini in my room. The most expensive piece was the HD projector.

It was my first experience with an Apple tv. To be honest I had no clue what they did before I got one. Now though I LOVE it.

 What is the difference?

So here is the big deal I can basically stream anything, my iPad mini, my computer, even my iPhone wirelessly.

I can use the iPad camera to show images like before. PLUS now I can use all my educational apps too! Also I can capture video of my demonstrations and play them back for the students who are visual learners and need to see something more than once.

Please excuse the mess, the picture doesn't translate well on camera because of the glare, but as you can see we were working on a letter Bb crown. Side note... can you all see how many other blogger products I currently have up in my room!?! 

This is just the simple projection using the camera app.

It is hard to keep those little fingers out from under the camera. It is so tempting.

My favorite part is taking the pad, launching an app and passing it around the room having students work on the device independently. Here they are practicing their names.

 They were so excited that day. they took turns, and were polite to one another. One of the rules is, if you are not kind, or careful with the iPad, you don't get to use it for the day. So they really do take care to not lose that privilege.

I have to admit one of my favorite things to do is take a picture of the assignment and draw or write directly on the ipad. It saves me extra copies and I am able to take pictures of each stage of the assignment. When I have to go back to show an example I have it right there in my cameral roll.

All of this is possible because of the Apple TV. 

I know the iPad mini gets most of the glory BUT, were it not for the Apple TV I could not stream wirelessly. I love plugging my laptop in at my table in the back of the room, but still being able to stream educational You Tube videos across the room. 

This is what the interface looks like.

You could use the apps and what not but I basically just hit Air Play on my device.

We have multiple Apple tv's in my school so I have to choose my classrooms device.

I turn on mirroring and type in a access code. Then I am in!

As for that big arm stand... it turns out that it is pretty cool too. It is not a clunky as I thought it would be. It has several adjustable, fixed positions, but is pretty versatile. It also has a USB and outlet plug on the stand itself so I can charge the devices while using it.

I am pretty happy with it, and so are the other teachers I work with that are also piloting the Apple TV. If you get the chance to try it I highly recommend it. Feel free to ask any question you may have. I also plan to come back and talk about several other things I do with it.