IEP-Garage Band

For my IEP, I chose to learn Garage Band. Garage Band is a Mac application that allows you to create music tracks or podcasts. I decided on Garage Band because I knew students were interested in the program and I wanted to find a way I could use it to help them begin professional authorship. I had seen my students play with it to record songs and had once played with the musical options but became quickly overwhelmed.

After my learning experience, I then created a series of lesson plans that incorporate the use of Garage Band to create a podcast that shares a family story. I started by playing with the application. I read and viewed a few useful sites to help me get acquainted with the program and to guide my exploration. Specifically, Dave Jackel's video tutorial from eHow.com was very helpful. View the video here.

His lesson on exporting was also very helpful. View it here.

After exploring and getting familiar with the functions and buttons, I then worked on my script for my recording. I recorded a story my mother told me about a seal's spirit when she taught me how to cut a seal. I then added an introduction and story background. Finally, I exported it and published it as a podcast file.

Using what I had learned and this podcast idea, I created a unit for my Yup'ik I class on Preserving Family Stories. Storytelling is a powerful educational tool and is rooted in Yup'ik traditions of the oral tradition. In designing these lesson plans I had to keep in mind modeling and being explicit about direction and expectations for the development of the story project.

View my lesson plans here for my unit: Preserving Family Stories Using Podcasts

Taking the time to learn Garage Band was extremely beneficial. I was finally able to have a comfortable grasp over the application and its abilities. I plan to teach this unit this year and think my students will really enjoy the creation of their podcast. Learning this program has also opened up an array of possibilities to record Yuraq (Eskimo dancing) songs and Elder interviews. I'm very excited to incorporate other ways to use it in my classroom!