ST- Take 1

Seeing as the rest of our ICT class has just recently finished their first round of student teaching, I thought that I would reflect upon my first student teaching, which happened last year in May.

Because I am in music education, there was not a lot of technology around. We did have a couple of computers, but they were rarely used because most of the time we were rehearsing or out in the community performing. We did have a few different types of technology though. This included:

• amplifiers
• sound boards
• microphones
• a smart board
• a projecter
• a recorder
• keyboards
• and a small computer lab

The smart board that was in our classroom was rarely used, except for when we needed a blank space to project upon. I had never previously experienced working with smart boards for an extended amount of time, and did not have much of a use for it with the subjects I was teaching. 

One thing that I did find interesting however was a recording tech class that I sat in on. Our computer lab contained about 10 Mac computers and each student had their own log in password. They used this class to put sound effects to silent cartoons, and took movie trailers and cut parts and created their own. I thought this was really interesting and was glad that some students got this opportunity to create something using a technology that was really cool. They also used Garage Band to create their own music using generic guitar sounds, vocal sounds, brass, etc. It was good to be involved in this class because I actually got to learn a lot of stuff about this technology that I hadn't previously known. I also appreciated having time to spend playing with Mac computers, as I have never had any. This was a useful skill to learn, especially since the school I student taught in.

Tell me something....

So I wasn't sure how I felt about posting my picture on the internet. I still don't know if I am entirely comfortable with it, so that's why when we were asked to do this project in our ICT class while a guest speaker was with us earlier last week. He had asked us first to tell him something that we were once told- something that stuck with us, and something that we remembered well (that affected us in some way). Each person thought of something, and then the guest speaker walked around the room recording our thoughts. When everyone had said their sentence, he put it all together in a program called Audacity, which is used to put together sound files and cut parts, slow them down or add music to them, among other things. In the end, it was quite powerful-- hearing everyone in our class tell something that had been very personal to them. And if you add a slow acoustic guitar song behind it, it is really quite impressive.

Later on in the presentation, we were asked to take a "selfie", and then put our favourite educational quote on it. Because I wasn't comfortable with having my picture on the internet, I found a creative commons picture of a pair of shoes, and then placed the quote:

         "You can never be too overdressed or overeducated." --Oscar Wilde

I would love to upload it here! But...it seems that I can't. Hmm. For some reason it won't let me upload it. Why am I always having these problems??? I swear that I know how to work a computer.