I really enjoyed this project! I think that the iMovie Trailer product would definitely be of worth in a classroom. This obviously is dependent on the topic and the class in general, but I think it has great flexibility in all areas.

In my video, Music – A Love Story, I chose to preview passion in music.

Why is passion important? Because it reminds you of why you do the things you love, even in the toughest of times. It’s what gets you the breakthroughs and the successes that lead to your dreams. It is the love of your talents and interests. You should fully love what you do… And if you don’t, it might mean you need a little revamp.

That being said, I love music. Hence, the reason I’m choosing Music Education for my lifelong career. I couldn’t live without it, and this video just gives a little glimpse of that.

This app is awesome because it gives you a variety of themes, topics, layouts, designs, and much more to choose from! That means that originality is still obtainable, which is always a must.

iMovie Trailer is fairly easy to use once you figure out how to open it on your iPad (couldn’t find the free link anywhere). As soon as you open a new project, every step is laid out and waiting for you to get started. All you have to do is… START! I would use this in my classroom to give my students a preview of what the week would look like regarding assignments, concerts, field trips, and whatever else might happen in a daily music schedule.

Need to know more about how one is created? Click here.

I have never created a comic before, but this was a pretty fun experience!

I chose to use the Make Beliefs app available in the Comic iBook provided. It gives a fair amount of options with fun, quirky characters to choose from. These options seemed pretty fair for a beginner to start on with not much instruction involved.

There are a variety of word/thought bubbles to choose from. There are background options with scenery and/or simple colors. The characters come in black and white or color–if you so choose to color them. You can pick what they say, which frame they say it in, and BEST of all, how they say it with the different character emotion options! This app is pretty neat.

I would use this app to maybe set up some ground rules in my classroom. It would also help the students know that even though I take my course very seriously, I still like to have fun!

For more on how to use this app, watch this tutorial:

I used Tellagami for the first time today, and honestly, I didn’t think it was that great of an experience.

This is my “project” that I was able to create, but I felt that the extent of my creation was very limited:

https://tellagami.com/gami/UBTTCB/

This was partially due to the fact that many of the options available in the app were locked.

This made things difficult because I only had a few backgrounds to choose from (though the instructions were to create a clip applicable to our content type, their were no actual “classroom” settings), as well only 30 seconds to record a clip useful to my classroom. Having been a first time user with multiple options locked, I don’t exactly know how I could have made my creation any deeper than it was, my content area being music. In order to make this experience affective, I think better explanation/instruction of using the app and tangible examples would have been a nice provision for me (being a visual learner).

To be honest, I probably will not use this product in my classroom, seeing as I don’t know how it could be useful in a choral setting in general. But thank you for the opportunity.

For my second blog reflection, I chose to read Build Spelling Confidence While Capturing Outlaws with Mystery Word Town from the blog site of Two Guys and Some iPads . These guys, as far as I know, review different educational apps and explain how they are useful for the classroom.

The thing is, these guys don’t simply review the product. They use it. They test it out. They compare it to previous and/or partnering products that are already out there. This is more than simply “reviewing” because they also explain how each app can be used on multiple levels for multiple skills one would want to pinpoint. For instance, in this blog post they wrote about an iPad app called “Mystery Word Town” (linked above) and how, even though it is similar to a math app created by the same company, it is completely useful for students of all ages to develop proper linguistic skills ranging anywhere from spelling to reading and everything in between.

These guys prove that iPads can be very useful within the classroom. Their blog supports individual learning and problem solving skills, AND they prove that it can still be fun! The more kids are excited about learning, the more they’ll want to continue to do so. What a great way to keep kids motivated in the classroom, and even maybe at home, too!