post #4 - week 5

My Genius Hour project has gone better than I expected. My completed video trailer came out better than I had anticipated and I have become quite good at performing the wolf whistle. Coming up this next week is our Ted Talk presentation of our Genius Hour Project. This has gotten me to reflect a little on my reasoning for picking something as random as the wolf whistle to explore for this project. Reflecting on this, my reasoning is because of my Grandfather. While hunting as a child I would watch my Grandfather as he would be the 'caller' for the end of the hunt. With his powerful whistle he would signal to other hunters that the hunt was coming to an end. This whistle also came in handy when getting lost. He would walk through the woods calling with his whistle and slowly all of the other hunters would come out of their posted spots and gather for the next area that would become the hunting grounds. Because of this, I believe I have always been interested in this technique and it wasn't until I started thinking about the reasoning that I realized where this interest came from. I'm glad that I had a chance to reflect on this and relive a little of my youthful glory days. They were spent in one of the most beautiful places in Ontario, Restoule Ontario.

Post #3 - week 4

Reflecting on my Genius Hour project I am pleased to say that I have had a breakthrough in my ability to make sound. While completing my movie trailer for this project I had time to go through multiple instructional videos on the topic and to view many photos of people making this technique work. After seeing so many videos and pictures regarding the wolf whistle I have been able to finally make a little sound. This is in no way a nice sound or a good sound but I have finally been able to make some form of noise accompanied with less spit than previous attempts. This learning experience has equipped me with the knowledge of task completion and perseverance. I feel that this tool will be very useful when trying to get the attention of a class or possible when lost in the woods on a camping trip. Other applications for this technique will present themselves as time moves on and I am interested to see how proficient I can become at this task and look forward to completing my Ted Talk on the matter.

Post #2 - week 3

     In regards to what I've learned about my topic thus far is that the technique involved in this process is extremely difficult. When attempting to make any sound at all I find that I am much better at putting spit all over my general vicinity than I am able to actually create a sound. As a musician I felt like this task would be a little easier for me as I have played wind instruments in the past. What I've learned about myself is that despite my musical background this task is surprisingly difficult. I've also learned that I am persistent. My ability to push myself is a quality that I thought I lost well before high school. From this point I will continue to find instructional videos that model this technique of power whistling and continue to push myself to overcome my inability of creating any sound. In my future endeavors of completing this task I will do so by practicing away from all computer screens, objects of value, and the public.

Post #1 - week 2

Genius Hour (Cont'd)


     For my genius hour question I chose to see whether or not I am able to learn how to power whistle. Whistling has always been a little difficult for me and I was interested in the power whistle after I saw a video of a guy who could break glass by using the whistle to create a high pitch. My goal for this project is to try to make some form of sound using the proper techniques of this whistle. I will measure my progress by my ability to make some form of noise within one week and then eventually hope to break a glass by using this whistle to create a high pitch. If I can match the frequency of the glass I should be able to break it.

As my introductory post I was required to include a link to http://www.handy4class.com/h4c2011/

Genius Hour Project

Copyright

     Exploring the topic of copyright, it is interesting to find out that everything on the internet is copyright. Everything from audio files, to videos, to pictures, to documents, and to any user created material on the internet. This means that anything that you create yourself is also copyright and you hold the all rights reserved copyright to that creativity. Using a company called Creative Commons it is possible for individuals of creative work to obtain free copyright licenses that allow them to decide what parts of the copyright other individuals may use. This company gives the author or rights holder the ability to refine the rules of their copyright without giving up the rights to that piece of work.

     One of the most important things I feel necessary to explain to students about copyright is that copyright does not limit them to the information or material they find on the internet. On the contrary, copyright makes it possible for students to obtain vast amounts of information and materials through copyright friendly search engines such as Creative Commons. This is beneficial to students because it allows them to expand on other peoples ideas and creative works by using properly cited material and then protects the students' own creative work when it is shared online. Furthermore, the greatest lesson for students regarding copyright would come from myself as their teacher. By putting into practice what I preach - constantly citing material found online - the students would always be reminded about citing other peoples creative work. Over time this practice would become common place to them.

IICD. (2007, July 5). "Rhodes Park School Pupils in Computer Lab" [Online Image]. License Link: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/. Retrieved from https://www.flickr.com/photos/iicd/4445785692/in/album-72157623526028581/

Pixabay. (2014, March 14). "Excited Children on the Computer" [Online Image]. Retrieved from https://pixabay.com/p-593313/?no_redirect