Meet Mrs. Rega & her cvstechtime site #spedtech #spedchat #lifeskills

I would like to introduce a new member of my ever-growing PLN, Marissa Rega.  Marissa is a Technology Integration Teacher at a center-based school for students with special needs.   She teaches technology, life skills, as well as music.  She has taught in learning support and life skills classrooms for the past ten years and is now transitioning to the Technology Integration Teacher position.  Some of her favorite technologies to use in the classroom include SMART Board, iPods, and web 2.0 tools.  Marissa's site, cvstechtime, is currently under construction.  Her site features resources for teaching consumer and life skills (i.e., cooking), interactive/web 2.0 tools, and teacher tutorials.

-  Jeremy

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Adaptive Use Musical Instruments #accessibility #inclusion #assistivetech

Adaptive Use Musical Instruments (AUMI) is software that enables students who have very little voluntary mobility or other impairments to create music simply by moving their head!  This software would make it possible for ALL students to participate in solo and ensemble electronic music improvisation and composition.

How Does It Work?
The AUMI software incorporates camera tracking technology.  Through improvised head movements, students are able create rhythmic patterns and communicate with others musically. Additionally, a virtual keyboard is played with lateral head movement along the virtual keys to create scalar melodies.


Register & Download
Visit the Deep Listening Institute site to register and download the AUMI software for Mac or Windows for FREE.  For guidance on how to use the software, check out the provided step-by-step instructions or video tutorial below.

Participate!
Now in the third year of use The AUMI program continues to be revised and improved with input from the technologists, students, therapists and feedback from registered users.  The latest initiative is the development of a training program for therapists, aides, parents and teachers in the use of AUMI software and improvisation.


- Jeremy


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#AppMondayTAS - Garkelin

Two weeks ago I posted about a bunch of music apps - #AppMonday - Music Apps.  That post prompted me to start looking for an app for a student to use as a recorder.  What I found was Garklein - The smallest recorder.

As with most good apps, this one is simple.  There are almost no options, and all you do is touch the screen to "play".  You can hold down up to 5 buttons to create the different notes, but there is no need to get that fancy.  Several of my students picked up this app, and started using it immediately.  The sound quality is quite good for a synthesized instrument, in fact the music teacher in my school never even noticed that the student was not using her recorder!  More than anything, I was excited to help this student participate in an activity she had previously had to sit out, since she is not able to use a traditional recorder.

This app is a free download!  Check it out today!

Patrick


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#AppMonday - Music Apps

This week's #AppMonday is inspired by this video - North Point's iBand.  It got me thinking about how easy it would be to have kids use iDevices to participate in and create their own music.  I've included the apps that were used in the video below:


SoundGrid-a sound board, reviews state that it is very easy to use - $2.99
NLog Free Synthesizer - Synthesizer with many different options - Free
Melody Bells - play one handbell (by shaking, great for many students) or multiple ones by touch - $0.99
Guitarist - Allows you to hold chords & strum at the same time, comes with many different guitars - $3.99
iGOG - simple easy to drum kit, comes with 1 kit, but you can download other kits for free - $2.99
Bassist - Made by the same developer as Guitarist, only plays Bass Guitar - $2.99
iBand Tribal Percussion - includes several instruments like maracas, sticks & tambourine, you can play them by shaking or tapping - $0.99


This is just the tip of the iceberg for music apps available for iOS.  Have fun playing with these!

Patrick


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Powerlink & Environmental Controls

So recently I asked Alicia of SMD Teacher what can I do with a Powerlink and she responded this way. She posted a great link about Powerlinks & how she uses them in the classroom. So with that being said, I've now been able to stop staring at the Powerlink sitting in my closet and use it!

For the first time I was able to have a student use the timer settings to allow them to play songs! It also allows me to require a student to turn on the tape player before we do songs for morning calendar. I really see how much fun students could have with this kind of device. Thanks Alicia!

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