After subscribing to the Free Tech for Teachers blog, I explored a number of resources that were listed in the blog. One of them that I thought I could try is Clyp.it. Clyp.it is a quick and easy way to record audio from your computer, iPad, iPhone, or other device. The iPad/iPhone app is called Clyp. While many apps record, I like the way you can make a quick link and share it with others. There are many ways this could be useful in the classroom. In Larry Ferlazzo's blog post, he is using it with his ELL students to practice listening and speaking English. Students can then save their recordings and post it on his classroom's blog. You can create an account, but you don't have to have an account to use the app.
I tried Clyp.it. It took me a little while to get my microphone to cooperate (you have to be sure to allow the site to use your internal microphone). One audio recording that I thought of right away relates to my 4th grade math class. In our last chapter we learned about mean, median, mode, and range. The students always have a difficult time remembering the differences. Our team found a song on to the tune of "Hey Diddle, Diddle" that focuses on this concept. I taught them the song and recorded them singing it with my phone. I was able to play this recording and make a Clyp.it of the song. I can now save it to our class's website so that students can listen to it any time. I could also easily email it to parents. Here is the link to my first Clyp.it on Mean, Median, and Mode. https://clyp.it/ov4nkej2
Because some of my students loved the song so much (ok insert a little bit of saracasm here), a few asked if there were any songs that related to the concepts in this chapter on geometry. I couldn't resist and made up a song called, "That's a Quadrilateral" to the tune of One Direction's song "What Makes You Beautiful". (My teenager daughters are not pleased about this choice). I taught it to the kids last week and recorded them on my iPad (which is at school right now). I will try recording them again directly from Clyp.it. I'm sure the song is going to be a hit! (Roll your eyes here). I'll post the link here soon.
Students could certainly become creators versus consumers by using this type of audio recording. I can challenge them to create with their own songs about triangles, transformations, or even the coordinate grid. This math chapter is very vocabulary heavy, and catchy tunes can help students remember the vocabulary (especially when the song is stuck in your head all day!). It's nice that this app can be used on various devices and the links are very short (easy to share). This is a great way to combine the content with technology as well as knowing a great way to help kids learn and remember what they've learned.
I'm sure there are many other ways that this app can be used with reading, writing, social studies, and science. I can't wait to hear your thoughts!
I think this app looks like a great easy to use/figure out app...which is something I'm always looking for! I like how you used it with your math class to create a song about math vocabulary, which can be difficult for students at times. I feel like if you add that creativeness to it, it helps trigger their memory--I will tell you that when they come to fifth grade, they still remember the song when we work with mean, median, mode, and range! :) Another way I can see teachers using this is with reading fluency, having students read into the device, listen to it to hear themselves, and having the opportunity to send it out to parents so they can hear how their child is doing. With science fair coming up in 5th grade, I can also see how this could be used to help students with their presentations.
ReplyDeleteAnnie-I really liked how you used a song to help the students learn and remember math terms. I still remember a few from back in the day when I was in elementary. Being able to record the students and either share it with them, their parents or even other educators is a awesome! It is one of the things I love most about teaching with technology. I can only imagine how hard it used to be to share great resources like this.
ReplyDeleteQuestion though-can anything be typed along with the recording? For example, song lyrics?
Also, can these recordings be put into other types of presentations apps? I'm just thinking that if a student recorded something for a science fair-could they put the recording into their presentation if they were using some sort of slideshow program? Just curious.
What a great song! I like how you uploaded it on your website so that students could listen to it at home. This is a great advantage of Clyp.it. I was also thinking about using this source in regards to reading fluency. It would be especially helpful to share with special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, and ELL teachers so that each member of the child’s team can stay up to date on progress.
ReplyDelete