Using Boombox Outputs
9th article in a series about boomboxes
When it comes to working in a classroom environment with AV equipment, there’s a great feeling of confidence you get when you know there are multiple options available to you which matches the needs of your lesson plan or your students. Having the freedom to teach in your own style usually translates into having a successful group of students in your midst. Incorporating audio visual equipment, such as a boombox, within your classroom that invigorates the learning process can only serve as a supplement to your existing curriculum.While the typical boombox has often been used to play or record music from one of its sources, they can do much more than that when using different outputs. The importance of an output is it enables you to play the audio through different means. The most common output is through the speakers on the boombox itself. Multimedia players have different wattages for use with audiences of different sizes.
“The Music Maker 2385AV serves as a listening center so our junior kindergarteners can develop their reading skills.”
The second most widely used output is through a headphone jack for individual use, or by attaching a jackbox, creating a differentiated learning center for students of similar reading levels. Most multimedia players have a single headphone jack, such as the Music Maker™ series players. Shares Canadian teacher Morey Wovnillowicz: “The Music Maker 2385AV media player serves as a listening center so our junior kindergarteners can develop their reading skills.” There’s even flexibility in personal media players with the Califone MP3 player having two headphone jacks. On the other end of the spectrum, the Performer Plus™ has multiple headphone jacks so up to six students can simultaneously follow along with an audio book. Tanya Mau-Halsall, an English Language Learners program teacher from Honolulu, HI uses the multiple headphone jacks on the Performer Plus “for my listening center so that several K-5 students can listen to a story and follow along at the same time. Listening to stories will help the students improve their English skills as well as their reading skills.”
Another output option is to utilize the two ¼” speaker output jacks located on the back of the Performer Plus and Music Maker series players to plug in additional speakers. Just as portable PAs are able to connect to other speakers, the two ¼” speaker output jacks on some multimedia players allow for external speakers to be connected to them. With the Performer Plus, an RCA line out jack can function as a link between a speaker’s line in or even the line in on a computer, whereby material recorded on a cassette or CD can be transferred and turned into a digital audio format.
Read the 10th article in the series, read the previous one, or return to the first article
