How to Create an Audio Recording on a Chromebook Using Twisted Wave

I created this short tutorial to show students how to record "podcasts" on a Chromebook. We used Twisted Wave to record, edit and save their audio skits as mp3 files. Twisted Wave can be installed on the Chromebooks as an app or the students can just go to TwistedWave.com.

If the students have Google Apps for Education accounts, it makes it very easy to sign in and save their files to Google Drive. From there it can be shared with others or turned in through Google Classroom.

I was very impressed with the ease of this process. Students who wrote and practiced their scripts ahead of time finished their short recordings in about 10 minutes. Those who remembered doing similar projects with Audacity in the past agreed this was much simpler. (Though Audacity is an excellent tool for multi-track projects.)

We did run into a few bumps using the process outlined below.

• It seemed to freeze more often if students opened the recorder in full screen. I suggest keeping it in a smaller window as shown in the tutorial.
• When the recorder did freeze, closing and reloading seemed to solve the problem. No one reported that their file was lost. It autosaves frequently.
• Sometimes it wouldn't properly load the window asking for permission to access the microphone on the Chromebook. This stumped me and some students at first, but eventually the recording window would show up with a small icon in the upper right. By clicking that, I was able to grant access and complete the activity.

Two simple, free tools for adding text to pictures

I recently came across these two very simple tools that will add text to a picture in no time.

If you're on Facebook or Twitter, I'm sure you've seen how people put words (usually humorous ones) on pictures. The best ones are quickly shared with the masses. Many educators create these images (sometimes called "cards") to share great quotes or thoughts for professional development.

I used to call them "digital posters" and I put several of mine on this post on my blog. Tony Vincent calls them "infopics" and he has a lot to say on his blog about how you can use them in the classroom.

I usually to use Pixlr or Picmonkey to create these myself, but these other two sites will let you put a quote or phrase on a picture in minutes.

Because of this, both should be ideal for classroom projects where you don't want the tech taking the focus. They have banner ads displayed on both sites, but as I've used them to test the features I haven't seen anything inappropriate in the ads. Here are some pros, cons and examples.

PICFONT

The interface for PICFONT looks a little dated, but the pictures come out looking great. It provides several effects to choose from besides just adding text. That's great if you want to get into the details of design, but it also could make it more of a distraction in class. 

I couldn't figure out how to center the text without entering each line individually. It wasn't hard once I realized that, so I pass it along. Here's the sample graphic I created at the site:

AddText
Of these two, AddText is the most streamlined. There simply isn't much you can do with the free version other than choose or upload a picture, then type the text. This site has the opposite problem of PICFONT when it comes to arranging the text. The text automatically is centered, so you'll have to add multiple lines of text if you want to align it in any other arrangement.

There aren't many free fonts to choose from, but there are some decorative ones that look a lot better than PICFONT's options. This can be a great option for meme projects, since there are some pictures in the gallery and a font that are available just for that purpose.

The message to get a premium membership will pop up if students choose a font marked with a star. For about $20 a year you can get the premium features (which is actually a premium account at FlamingText.com). It's a fair price by the looks of the many font options, but for quick class projects the free fonts will serve you well.

Here's an example of what I quickly put together with AddText:

Thanksgiving Magnetic Poetry in Google Drawings

I created this Thanksgiving Magnetic Poetry* in Google Drawings for another teacher. If you click the link, it will ask you to make a copy in your Google Drive.

*If you get a message to request access when you click the link, it is because your Google account won't let you open it. It is shared properly and anyone can open it unless their administrator blocked outside sharing. 

I suggest editing it as you prefer, then assigning it in Google Classroom so all your students get their own copy.

The words are all images except for the five text boxes at the top. It might be cheating to type your own words in magnetic poetry, but teachers can delete those text boxes if they don't want students to use them. I would suggest students limit themselves to five of their own words at most.

You can remove any of the word images that you want too.

If you and your students enjoy this activity, please share a link in the comments of the poems you and they create!

It's inspired by this very popular, well done Halloween Magnetic Poetry activity from the Shake Up Learning blog.

If you like this simple activity, please consider purchasing one of my inexpensive tech activities on Teachers Pay Teachers. It helps me continue to make creative, educational resources.

• Comic Projects with Google Tools Bundle
• Animation and Interactive Stories Using Google Slides

If you like this post, you might also like:

• My Classroom Creativity Game - Make haikus or play other fun games as a class
• Comics with Google Apps - Resources for making comics from photos and more
• Use Google Slides and WeVideo to make narrated slideshows

Presenting at miGoogle and Michigan State

We will presenting The Way of the Google Drive: Thoughts and Tools to Inspire Change at two conferences the first week of November.

• miGoogle 2015 in Brighton, Michigan
• Michigan State University College of Education Technology Conference

It will be a fast paced combination of motivational thoughts and practical examples of how we've seen the ideas work.

To prepare, I've been posting articles here or on my other blog every day of October. Here are some popular ones from this week:

• The outline of our session
• Always Striving to Improve - My interview with Jake Gentry, who will be presenting with me at both conferences
• Lifelong learning, PBL and a passion for encouraging others - My interview with Clark Rodeffer, who will join us for miGoogle

Click here to see all posts from Teaching Like an Artist with the tag "The Way of the Google Drive".

And if I haven't promoted it enough yet, don't miss our EPIC session trailer!

Thoughts on 'Most Likely to Succeed'

I first heard about Most Likely to Succeed about six months ago when organizing some staff professional development for project-based learning. I watched the trailer and all the sound bites gave me chills. The things the teachers and the experts were saying in the film were all the best things I was discovering in the job as I was implementing project-based learning.

A few weeks ago, while my mind has been swirling with ideas for my upcoming conference sessions, I was thrilled to learn they were screening the movie at a nearby college. My wife and I were able to watch it tonight.

I won't give a detailed review of the movie. I would want to watch it again and dig into a few claims before I would do that. I want to get a few thoughts out, though.

To provide some background, the film contrasts the traditional education system with innovative teaching methods and organization of High Tech High. What's wrong with the current system and the promises of the new approaches to teaching come out through interviews with familiar faces like Sal Khan and Ken Robinson as well as staff of High Tech High and experts in business.

I enjoyed it thoroughly from start to finish. I want to watch it again as soon as I can. Every educator should watch it the first chance they get. It raises excellent questions and even if you think some of the visions were too idealistic or that High Tech High is too unrealistic, it offers at least a glimmer of hope for what education can be. Seeing the students perform or show their work in the exhibitions was powerful.

As someone who has been working in ed-tech now for almost eight years, a lot of the points were nothing new. Yes, the current system was originally designed over 100 years ago with a purpose of turning out good factory workers. Yes, computers are making many jobs obsolete and we don't know exactly what careers will even be available for today's K - 12 students.

Some of these insights will be new to many, though, and what I appreciate most is the film made them loud and clear. Viewers will be forced to think about the questions that are raised. Teachers will have to form convictions.

One of my favorite statements came from Dr. Eric Mazur. He raised the question of why we test students the way we do when we know the posture and restrictions of a student taking a test is never what we see anyone doing in the world of work. I have a lot of respect for Mazur's work and it's something I've pointed out myself. He put it brilliantly.

I enjoyed how it let parents and students provide the counterargument to the ideal world of High Tech High. Parents of the students who attended the school asked great questions of the teachers about the lack of course content. In one school, the students banded together against their innovative math teacher and said they just want to be prepared for college, not necessarily life. In some cases the teachers didn't have much to say in return.

The film ultimately portrayed a decision between these extremes as a gamble for the parents. The facts are simply not in yet as to which is better. As a parent, I waver on this myself. The traditional and the innovative approaches have some benefits. Is a good balance possible? If not, which is best? What about the majority of us who don't have a very innovative option for our children anyway?

But the biggest question in my mind during the film was this: Who decides what matters?

Is development of "soft skills" like empathy and leadership more important than the broad exposure to traditional content? Do we let the government decide the standards by which schools are measured? Or do we listen to Sal Khan and the rep from Google, as they talk about what the most forward-thinking companies should be looking for in their employees? Do SAT scores matter just because they matter to colleges?

I look forward to exploring these questions with administrators in my district and with my colleagues. I hope the film will be widely available soon. At least parts of it will be excellent for use in class. I want to hear what students have to say.

Let's keep the conversation going with a focus on being the best educators we can be.

_________________

I'm doing a challenge this month to post on one of my blogs every day. It's in preparation for my conference session, The Way of the Google Drive. Be sure to follow me on Twitter or on either blog to keep up with the "thoughts and tools to inspire". 

Click here to see all the posts from Teaching Like an Artist with the tag The Way of the Google Drive.