The joy of recording!

This simple device is becoming a "staple" in my lessons. I plug it to my computer, open Audacity (a free, open source software for recording and editing sounds) and I start recording my students. they usually have a conversation with a partner or they do a little presentation about themselves. They love it because for some reason they love listening to their own voice. So the magic happens: once they have recorded themselves, they listen to their performance and most of the time they want to do it again
because they have spotted a pronunciation mistake or a grammatical error! I mean, how often do you hear students wanting to repeat themselves when they speak in another language??? The recording exercise allows this magical phenomenon to happen! And even better, students love it when they know their recordings will be embedded on the school blog and therefore available for the world to listen to.

This week I have decided to try to use it as often as I can in an attempt to make my students visit the blog and leave comments. I have noticed they do visit the blog but they have not yet stepped into the commenting phase. Do you have any suggestions to make students comment on a blog?

If you haven't tried this yet, please do. You can find microphones at a very affordable price and they are so easy to use with Audacity. You can then save your recordings as .wav or.mp3 files and easily embed them onto your blog or website. You will see your students being motivated to SPEAK ;)

What about you? what do you do to make your students speak in another language?

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Personally Owned Devices or whether or not using them in the classroom.

I have noticed there is a lot of talk at the moment about cell phones in schools: should they be banned or could they be used as a learning tool? Teachers I know from my PLN, twitter and from the blogs I read are mostly pro cell phones. However, the policy at my school is that cell phones have no place in the classroom and that students shouldn't be using them during lessons. I understand that if a student uses his or her cellphone to answer a call or a text message during a lesson, then obviously the teacher should stop it. But I have read an excellent post by Steve Dembo where he explains that " a teacher requires that the cell phone be out and ON the desk. In plain site. Not hidden in a pocket or backpack. So if the student is using it, the teacher KNOWS. And if the student is using it when they shouldn’t… Well, that’s when there are consequences. Phone is confiscated until the end of the week, or the parent can pay a $25 fine to get it back for their student. Sure, there were plenty of students who lost their phones, and plenty of fines paid. They used the money to pay for a field trip before the end of the year. But the point is, the students learned when it was ok to be using the phone as a learning device, and when it was inappropriate. Believe me, no student wants to go to his parents and let them know that they need $25 to get their phone back… and explain why."

Now my school has a tight budget and clearly lacks new technology and as Steve Dembo mentions "here we are with millions of dollars in technology that’s being paid for by the parents VOLUNTARILY… and most schools refuse to leverage it because of outdated policies and teachers that don’t want to modify their own classroom management strategies."

I must admit I love my computer but I am not really good with cell phones or other personally owned devices, I have the most basic one just in case of emergency. Most of my contacts are by emails or skype calls. However after watching this wonderful presentation from this other excellent post by Lisa Nielsen, I am tempted to have no fear and give cell phones or ipods a go, especially because we don't have many computers in my school. If in any doubt about whether or not you should allow your students to use their cell phones in your lesson, watch this, it's great!

The POD's are Coming

Spanish blog for my students.

In an attempt to get my Spanish students to practice their Spanish outside the classroom, I decided to set up a blog for them to be able to view, read and listen good stuff related to Spanish culture and language. To also share and view their work. The main objectives of this blog are for more students to keep up with their Spanish and to also make them share their views in the "comments" section. Especially when they listen or read other students' works, they will be able to compare, assess and see how work can be improved.

At my last school, I already set up a school blog using Edublogs. I chose http://edublogs.org/ because it was free and I suppose their tag line "Blogging for students and teachers made easy"! drew the attention on me. Nevertheless, it was not that easy to set up and at times, it took a long time to download resources.

My personal blog is with http://posterous.com/ and I find it so much easier to use, especially if you're not a geek :)
All you have to do is to write an email as your post (as I am doing now) and send it to Posterous. Posterous takes care of the rest. If you want to send a video, you attach it to the email or copy the URL into your email and Posterous will show the video in your post. If you want to send a picture, just copy the image location or attach it to your email. Again Posterous will show the picture in your post. If you want to send a slideshow or a document, attach it to your email, Posterous takes care of the rest.
I did a lot a recordings this year with students using a little microphone plugged into my laptop and Audacity. I save the recordings as .mp3 files and attach them to the emails I send to Posterous. Posterous insert the audio files into the new posts and this way, students can listen to their own recordings (which they looove!).
So far so good... They are not many comments made by students yet, but I know it takes a while and it is a learning process. The blog is http://spanishblog.posterous.com/ and of course, your comments are welcome as well :)

What about you? which platform do you use to blog and why?

| Thank You Logitech!

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Reach Your Online Volunteers with a Tweet and a Chirp - by Randy Tyler

(download)

How to Easily Enrich Your Tweet with a Voice Message Using  Chirps

Reaching your online volunteers via Twitter's 140 character limit may be inadequate. However, adding a voice message to a Tweet allows one to move beyond the 140 character limit while adding rich emotions to your Twitter message. This audio recording provides a brief overview as to how you can use Chirps free service (www.chir.ps) to easily add a voice message to your tweet.

To learn more about online volunteering, see http://www.RandyTyler.org or e-mail RandyTyler@gmail.com.

 

2009 Summer Garage Sale: Computers and Accessories

As we all know, the economy is in the tanker, which means a lot of us are doing what we can to make ends meet. Needless to say, I'm one of them. So, like so many people, when in need, it's time to start offloading stuff that isn't exactly 100% needed. So, without further ado, a little sampling of what I either plan on or am thinking about selling (trust me, there's more than this).

Couple quick notes: First, the images shown here aren't the actual images I'll use when posting these items during their actual sale. I just wanted to get a quick pic of each thing just so people could get a little glimpse of what it looks like. Second, I'm not sure how I plan on selling these (eBay, CraigsList, Twitter/Facebook, word of mouth, etc.).

Dell Inspiron 530

One of the first things I'm dropping has actually served me well during the time I've had it (no matter how many times I've cussed it out). It's a Dell Inspiron 530 Mini-Tower computer.

It comes with an Intel Celeron 420 processor (1.6 GHz, Single Core), 1.5 GB of RAM (upgraded from 512 MB), a 120 GB SATA Hard Drive, a 8-in-1 media card reader, a DVD+/-RW drive, and integrated surround sound.

On the Operating System side of things, this Dell is preinstalled with Windows Vista Basic (sorry). Now, it IS capable of running Windows 7 without any problems. If it runs it great, that's open to debate. Of course, if you have a license for Windows XP, you may want to downgrade. You could even install Ubuntu Linux instead as well.

I have added a Gigabit Ethernet card as the built-in Ethernet adapter is only 10/100. I also added a 4-port USB card just in case the 6 built-in ports (4 in the back, 2 in front) aren't enough.

I must note, this computer is refurbished, but you really wouldn't be able to tell.

Apple Mac mini (Early 2006)

One of my very first Mac purchases! After selling my iMac to my bro, I picked up a Mac mini so that I could do video editing for a business idea that went nowhere. For now, it's acting as a Home Media Center and Media Server. (I have a MacBook as my main machine ... for now.)

This Early 2006 model has a 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo (NOT a Core 2 Duo), 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW Drive, 2 GB of RAM (upgraded from 512 MB), integrated graphics, four USB 2.0 ports, a Firewire port, DVI monitor port, Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11g Wireless, and a Apple Remote.

I think this computer does have a few months of AppleCare left (expires February or March 2010). It also comes with a DVI-to-VGA adapter for those with a VGA monitor. The system comes preinstalled with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. And, like the Dell, this is refurbished.

Gateway FPD1975W 19" Widescreen LCD Display with Speaker Bar

The next item up for bid could be a considered a companion to one of the computers listed above. This is a 19" Widescreen LCD display from Gateway with additional Speaker Bar.

The display offers a maximum resolution of 1440 x 900. You can also use either VGA or a DVI connection (or both!). That's the basics of the monitor as I know. If you want the really nitty gritty details, check it out on Gateway's web site.

In additional to the monitor, I'm also including the Speaker Bar accessory. The Speaker Bar has headphone ports on either side of the bar and an analog microphone port on the right side of the bar. A volume knob is on front. The Speaker Bar is powered by USB so a separate power supply is not needed.

Newer Technology miniStack v2 external hard drive enclosure

If you're looking at the Mac mini, you may want to consider a few extras. On the hardware side of things, you may want to consider this miniStack v2 external hard drive enclosure.

I like this enclosure mainly for the fact that it fits under the Mac mini perfectly. It also acts as a USB and Firewire hub. There are two available USB ports and 1 Firewire port on the back, as well as one USB port and one Firewire port on its side. I say "freely available" as one of the two Firewire ports on the back is used as the uplink to the Mac mini.

Speaking of the Firewire port, one of the nice things about this drive is that you can use the hard drive as either an USB Drive or a Firewire Drive. Supposedly, Firewire is faster for data transfer, so I've been using that.

Sadly, I cannot provide a Hard Drive with this (it's got my data on it), so you're on your own when it comes to providing an IDE Hard Drive for this. I belive it only supports up to 500 GB.

I have two of these available, but one is having issues with the temperature sensor, so the fan is running ALL the time at the highest speed.

Apple Final Cut Studio (Academic Edition)

As I mentioned previously, I had purchased a Mac mini with the intent of doing some serious video editing for a business idea that barely saw the light of day. When it comes to serious video editing on the Mac, you look no further than Final Cut Studio.

This is the very first release of Final Cut Studio, which comes with Final Cut Pro 5.1, Motion 2, DVD Studio Pro, and Soundtrack Pro.  This was also the first version of Final Cut to support Intel processors, so you know it's good to go on all modern Macs.

This item I probably won't sell on eBay for the lone fact that this thing is HUGE and weights a ton, thanks to the paper manuals (more like books) included in this set.

As stated in the title, this is the Academic Edition. I'm not sure what the resell rules are on this, but I'm assuming it means I can only resale it to people that are currently enrolled in a school or work for an educational institute.

Microsoft Office:mac 2004

With the freely available OpenOffice.org software, I don't see much need in owning Microsoft Office anymore, especially for someone who is having to do everything as cheaply as possible.

Microsoft Office:mac 2004 includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Entourage (the Mac equivalent of Outlook).

The version being sold here is the Student and Teacher Edition. This means that you are legally allowed to install this on three computers in your household, as long as you're a student or work for an educational institute. At least, I assume so. For sure, you're allowed to install it on three computers.

The only downside to Microsoft Office:mac is that it's not optimized for running on Intel-based Macs. Thankfully, you CAN run it on Intel Macs, thanks to Rosetta, but it just won't run as fast as you may want it to.

Apple MacBook (Late 2006, Core 2 Duo)

Finally, my (current) pride and joy. This MacBook is my main computer, but I may possibly part with it, if the price is right. I'm still trying to decide if I really want to sell this or not. My plan would be to sell the MacBook and use some of the money to purchase an inexpensive PC laptop (maybe one that can be run as a Hackintosh?). Looking around at how much the MacBook would sell for, it would be a terrible idea. Just one reason why this is a tough call.

Either way, this is a Late 2006 model White MacBook with a 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of RAM (upgraded from 512MB), 80 GB Hard Drive, DVD+/-RW Drive, integrated graphics, and 802.11n Wireless. The 13 inch screen can display resolutions up to 1280x800. The system comes preinstalled with Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger.

Like the Mac mini, I believe this too has a few months of AppleCare left (expiring maybe Feburary or March 2010).

To sweeten the deal, I could also include some accessories, such as an extra power adapter, a mini-DVI to DVI display adapter, and... I think that's it. I'll have to see what other accessories I have lying around.

If I do sell this, I do need to take it to the Apple Store for some repairs. There is a known issue with early model MacBooks having issues with the casing cracking. Take a guess what issue I'm having. Either way, it needs to be done so to make it look right again.

Once again, like the two other computers, this system is refurbished.

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As I mentioned previously, this is just the start of what I'm selling. I also have some networking equipment, camcorders and accessories, and possibly a cell phone as well. I'll be sure to post the additional items in the coming days.

I just picked up a Snowball microphone for my new podcast series

I've been using a $25 Logitech microphone for my screen casts and podcasts on  Expand2Web but wasn't totally happy with the sound quality. This is by no means a pro microphone but it's a step up. I'm hoping this mic will  improve the sound quality of my productions.