BP13_Flash CS4 Part 3

In this video I learned how to make my character walk (I messed up a lot trying this, but still got it!).  Flash is really a lot of fun, I look forward to figuring out some more things!

BP12_Flash CS4 Part 2

I then learned how to make a symbol.  Symbols are used when you want to group stuff together to make animations.  I made the head of the character the symbol in this video.

BP12_Flash CS4

Flash is a really cool program for all different types of animation.  The video that I made shows the process that I learned for making a character.  It’s a real basic character, but I learned the concepts of layers and how to manipulate lines.  It’s so exciting!

BP11_PodOmatic Movie

This is my one minute PodOmatic.com commercial!

Like I said in a previous blog, PodOmatic is a wonderful site for creating and sharing podcast.  It gives you plenty of options for uploading and creating podcast. 

When you are done creating, and labeling, you can publish them for all to see and hear.  People can even watch and listen to it from iTunes!  

Watch the video and enjoy the wonderful things PodOmatic has to offer!

BP10_Comment on Noelia

Follow this link to my comments on Noelia's blog.

Goanimate is a really cool site where people can go and make a cartoon.  Normally you would have to do some crazy stuff with flash or other programs, but this site allows you to do all of that without flash knowledge.  This is a site that could definitely be used by students to make projects more creative, and fun.

BP9_ Comment to Teri

Follow this link to my comments on Teri's blog.

Teri explains a wonderful webpage making site.  It is a great site for promoting school programs or just making a personal page.  She even has a sample webpage that she made for her own school.  Check it out, it is well worth it.

BP8_PodOmatic

PodOmatic is a podcast publishing and sharing website.  It allows you to create podcast through the site by recording through a microphone or uploading a file from your computer.  I think this site would make a great addition to my music curriculum.  I can create a class podcast page, and/or students can create individual podcast pages where they can all publish their works.

(My Podcast Page)

I have already uploaded a song, which is the same song I have uploaded on the other Web 2.0 sites as well.  If you click here, you can check out my page.  When you go to a profile, you have several options.  You can subscribe to the podcast feed, which will automatically download the uploaded audio directly to your computer through iTunes.  You can subscribe to the RSS feed, which will let you know when new things have been posted.  You can follow the profile and also receive email updates of when things are published.

When you click to play on a song, a new menu comes up with with similar options, as seen below.

Another cool feature is that the site gives you the html code to post it to another website.  If I wanted to post it to my school site or someplace else, it would be a great way to provide background music, or show of students' works in other places.

(Html code imported into my band site)

This is a wonderful site, full of amazing options and opportunities.  Check it out at, www.podomatic.com.  Thank you!

BP7_Google Apps and More

This is a one minute video describing how I plan to use the Google applications in my classroom next year.  Google apps, when used with other sites, are an amazing way to stay organized and share information.  In the video I talk about how I use Google Apps to link to other Web 2.0 tools including Facebook, Twitter, and more.  Enjoy!

BP6_Comment to Amille

Follow this link to my comments on Amille's Blog.  

She goes indepth on this wonderful site that contains many tutorials that I could use as a music teacher, and also tutorials for everyone else to learn from as well. 

Thanks Amille!

(Screenshot of Amille's Blog page)

BP5_Comment to Sabrina

Follow this link to my comment on Sabrina's blog!  Sabrina talks about an amazing music site that allows you to create playlist, and access them on any computer.  Perfect for a music teacher like me!

(Screenshot of Sabrina's Blog Page)

BP4_Soundation

I discovered a wonderful Web 2.0 tool called Soundation!  

This site allows the user to actually create music online.  At the top of the creation page, there are meter markings showing the beats in a measure.  On the right hand side is a list of loops already part of the online program.  You can add loop or instrumental tracks.  When working with loop tracks, you can drag the loops to the right, right into the working platform.  You can shorten the length of the loop, copy, paste, modify, and much more.  It even has the workings of panning and other advanced mixing properties.

Web 2.0 tools along with being interactive and creation based tools, are also social tools.  This site allows you to then export your song onto your computer or publish onto the web.  The site generates a site URL in which you can share with your friends.  Here is a link to my little techno song.  You can also export the song to a linked Facebook account.

                             

I can use this in a couple different ways.  Students can go onto the site and build their own piece of music.  The great thing is that they need to have an understanding of meter and rhythm in order to coordinate the loops in proper rhythmic order.  The students can then export the song onto the computer and possibly even upload it on the class Soundcloud account.  This would then sync with the class Rootmusic account, and be published on the Hammonton Music Department Facebook Page for all to see.  This combination of Web 2.0 tools is a great way for the students to be creative, original, and proud of their musical abilities.

BP3_RootMusic

I came across an amazing discovery of www.rootmusic.com.  After making an account, I found that I was able to make a band or music promotion page for Facebook.  Those that have been on Facebook probably have seen band pages before, but this is different.  This site allows you to add music and a whole bunch of different features.  Unfortunately, in order to get all of the really cool features like coloring and banners you need to pay $2 a month.  The standard features are nice though and definitely are a nice touch if you are in my profession.

As you can see from the picture, the standard features include a player for music.  It also has your band logo to the left of the player.  In the middle of the picture, there were areas for contact information, band members, photos, and videos.  To the bottom of that is a great area to promote upcoming gigs and concerts.

The complete bottom of the page has a great link to Twitter.  Since I have an account for my music department, and that is what I created this page for, I linked the two accounts.  The bottom instantly started showing a feed of my Twitter account, including post that the students and parents have replied too.

On top of this website, in order to upload a song, I had to create an account on www.soundcloud.com which is a nice site for uploading music.  The two sites sync together, which then syncs to your facebook.  If you click here, you can go to my facebook page made for my music department that I teach.  I feel like this will be a great way to promote the songs that the students create.  This will allow students, their parents, the community, and others to check out what is happening in my music department.

BP_Diigo Group

Diigo is a very interesting website.  I really like the idea of being able to highlight material on the web and keeping it in a library.   Also being able to write sticky notes and take snapshots of sites is very appealing too.  I definitely think that this will be a great tool for my action research project.  Little features like tagging will help be able to navigate the information fast, and with ease.  I also think this will be an incredible tool for my students.  By installing diigo on my classroom browers, this is will allow students to create their own libraries and be able to transfer information from the classroom to their home or vice versa.  What a wonderful tool!

BP2_iGoogle Screen Shots

This was definitely an educational assignment.  I had the opportunity to explore iGoogle and a bunch of the amazing apps that it features.  Since I already had a facebook, twitter, blogger, and linkedin account, it made it really cool to see it's connectivity and accessibility right on my homepage. 

I did come up with some problems, though, that are also seen through the screenshots below.  For some reason the facebook and linkedin apps did not load for me.  I even got prompted for this very strange username and password area, and still didn't work.  I will definitely investigate those issues in a later time. 

Once again, very happy to have discovered all of these apps.  This may be a great way for my students to share and create projects online.  Oh the ideas......!!!

(Home Screenshot)

(FSO Screenshot)

(AR Screenshot)

(ETC Screenshot)

BP1_Google Reader

Google Reader is a really great tool for acquiring tons of information.  While searching for sites that had RSS feeds, I immediately went to some key sites that I visit frequently.  I saw that each of them had RSS feed links.  I copied each into Google Reader, and it was amazing to see the information that came up.  

(A screenshot of my Google Reader)

Here are five RSS feeds that I have subscribed to:

• http://www.myhammonton.com/?feed=rss2
• This is a feed that has articles written from my town’s newspaper.  I feel like this was an important site to subscribe to due to the nature of my job in my town, and how I often communicate with local politicians, school administration, and/or just community members in general.  It is important I am on top of the issues in my town, so I am educated and know how to respond to issues when they come to my attention.

• http://my.hsj.org/DesktopModules/ASNE/ASNE.VenexusArticles/ArticlesRss.aspx?newspaperid=3401&categoryid=0&articleid=0&isblog=0
• This is a feed that has articles written from my school’s newspaper.  This is extremely helping in knowing the current events involved in my place of employment.  It has links to videos of the morning announcements, news on clubs and activities, and much more.  I was browsing through the articles, and I even found an article on me and my band that I direct, which was nice.

• http://www.keynotesmagazine.com/rss.php
• This feed is designed by the Conn-Selmer Company.  They are a company that, from my experience, makes incredible instruments and music supplies.  This feed is great for my profession, because it offers many articles about band performance and rehearsals.  It has articles on writing grants to even some lessons for students.  This is a very useful feed for my profession.

• http://www.feedfire.com/site/rss.cgi?ChanContentId=025922
• This is a feed from the marching organization, US Scholastic Band Association (USSBA).  This is the organization my marching band marches under.  The feed is great because it has many of the articles that are found on the normal website.  From skimming through them, I noticed information regarding registration dates and changes to the season’s schedule.

• feed://www.vicfirth.com/features.xml
• The Vic Firth Company is well known in my profession for their knowledge and inventory of percussion instruments and sticks.  This feed is a wonderful extension of their site because they post great links to percussion videos and information.  From browsing through, I even discovered a free booklet of drumline warm ups.  This is a very useful feed.

Each of these sites, like I said, were great.  They each provided valuable information for my profession.  Another great perk to the reader is that it also syncs with the Google app on my iPhone.  In opening the app, I am able to check out all those articles and posts anytime I want, without the use of my computer.