Working in the sandbox this week was both interesting and frustrating. I played with all the tools and generally found them straightforward and easy to use. With the exception of Clyp. I created my free account and attempted to upload a file. Immediately I received a message saying I had reached my storage limit and would have to upgrade to a paid account to continue. When I attempted to record a new file I received another message stating that I had 0 minutes remaining of my free trial and that I would have to upgrade to a paid account. No thank you. I closed down and moved on.

I used Vocaroo to record a gray cat bird in the park near my home. It was simple. No bells and whistles but exactly what I needed. There was a lot of background noise – trucks, my footsteps as I tracked the bird, my dog snuffling in the grass beside me, and other birds. But other than scaling the tree with a parabolic microphone I’m not sure I could get much better. And the catbird very thoughtfully descended to a branch right above the footpath. I recorded two samples. The first is his song. The second is his call. Despite my best efforts I could not embed these into my blog. I checked out the WordPress tutorial and confirmed that my files were in Mp3 format and tried again, and again, and again. I had a troubleshooting zoom call with the IT folks that essentially left them stumped. Their advice was to post a link to a Google file (see below). I’m not going to lie. That was very disappointing and frustrating. Vocaroo, however, did allow me to create QR Codes for the two files I recorded there. You can scan them below and it will take you directly to the audio clips. I thought that was a very cool feature and something that would make a great classroom lesson.

Gray Catbird Singing

Gray Catbird Calling

If you’re a normal person and not crazy about birds like I am, you’re probably asking yourself why is this gal posting bird songs and calls? That’s fair. To find out what I love about these delightful and thoroughly unique songbirds follow this link: https://www.speakpipe.com/msg/s/272004/2/1z8g9xk8krtv0cm7. I think you’ll see why I chose it for a project on auditory exploration. They are masters of sampling. I wanted to use another tool to record my discussion on the catbird. For that audio file I chose SpeakPipe. I could have also used Online Voice Recorder. They were very similar. I liked the editing features in Online Voice Recorder but I loved the option to leave an audio reply with SpeakPipe. I can see it being interesting way for students and teachers to give each other feedback on readings and projects.

There are many applications for these three tools in the classroom. I think having kids record themselves reading is an amazing way for them to build their reading skills. The ability to immediately play back and critique themselves and their work is amazing tool. As King said, “most students are already eager to talk about their experiences. With audio recording, they can complete the assignment in a medium with which many of them are already quite practiced and comfortable”(2019).

Another tool that I think would be useful in the classroom is Voki. I enjoyed creating an avatar. I played with the different voices and backgrounds and recorded myself reading a picture book out loud. I imagined a project where students could do the same. I was very disappointed when I realized most of my customizations required upgrading to a paid account. Back to the drawing board. I chose the Mother Goose avatar and modified it to give her green eyes (like me) and a dress her in pink (which I happened to be wearing) and changed the background to a classroom. I played with the voice modification tools. They were not at all what I expected. The Whisper feature was terrifying! The slow motion was also scary and then I got stuck in chipmunk! I couldn’t get it to reset and wound up having to start from scratch all over again. Then to top it all off, once again I could not upload my audio creation. But you can check it out here. https://www.voki.com/site/pickup?scid=19014760&chsm=062e945116ab5d57d4570d050669e462.

Confession time: I had never listened to a podcast before this week. It was a completely new experience for me! I tried several different podcasts. They were interesting as well as entertaining. The one that I enjoyed the most was Book Club for Kids (Felde, 2022). The podcast reviewed one of my favorite children’s book authors, Dan Gutman and his book Jackie & Me (1999). The podcast included several interesting elements including a panel of five students, an interview with Dan Gutman, a guest reader named Tommy Davis who was a teammate of Jackie Robinson, and a Q & A with the author. I was impressed with the way the host, Kitty Felde, interviewed the panel of students. Her questions were well thought out and covered a wide breadth of topics from elements of fantasy to civil rights history. She never talked down to them. You immediately got the sense that she was genuinely interested in what they had to say. The students were engaging and offered insightful answers and comments. I was impressed with their language and critical reading skills. Gutman spoke about the book and the creation of the series which uses baseball cards to transport the protagonist back in time. Davis read a passage from the book and spoke about his own personal experiences with Jackie Robinson. After answering initial questions from Felde, we were treated to a Q & A where the students got to ask the author questions. All in all, it was a well paced, well crafted episode. At twenty minutes it was the perfect length for a child. Also, the perfect length of time for a library lesson. Twenty minutes to listen, ten minutes to discuss. I will definitely be tuning in for more episodes!

Link to my Google Drive with Audio Files. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1HHuIguO492GuCqhwVC22zpkX-i7Mdef-?usp=sharing

References

Felde, K. (Host). (2022, March 30). Jackie & me. Dan Gutman. (No. 86) [Podcast audio episode]. In Book club for kids. https://www.bookclubforkids.org/new-blog/2019/4/4/episode-86-jackie-amp-me-dan-gutman?rq=dan%20gutman

Gutman, D. (1999). Jackie & me. HarperCollins.

King, M. (2018). 4 ways audio recording can boost classroom learning. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/discussion/4-ways-audio-recording-can-boost-classroom-learning

Reynolds, G. (2014). Presentations zen design. (2nd ed.). New Riders/Pearson.

Wood, A. and Wood, D. (1984). The little mouse, the red ripe strawberry, and the big hungry bear. Child’s Play.