My Project

After using the audacity program for our podcasts, I decided to give it try in my classroom. My unit plan that I was teaching was on Australia and my students were making an Australia ABC book for our authentic problem. After creating our book, I came up with the idea that my students should each read their parts. I recorded them and added that into our Powerpoint. The kids were so excited to see their work and hear themselves when we watched the show. It was definitely a great learning experience for them! Click on the link if you want to see what they made: http://cmsweb2.loudoun.k12.va.us/51212551612463/blank/browse.asp?A=383&BMDRN=2000&BCOB=0&C=79335

Podcasts

My group has started on our podcasts for class. The program audacity is pretty user friendly but it does take a little trial and error to figure things out. I like the idea of using podcasts in my classroom. It seems like a much more usable idea than digital video editing. Once the kids learn which button is record and which one is stop, they could even record themselves independently. (fingers crossed) So far, I've thought of using reader's theater ideas and maybe just reading poems to help with fluency. We could also do interviews or something of that sort to close a unit. Anyone have any good ideas for using podcasting with their class?

How to Edit

I really liked Virginia's idea about possibly introducing editing as a whole class activity. One idea that I was throwing around was to tape the kids doing a reader's theater, then have them put the different parts in the story order. After they have the parts in the correct order, the kids can then play around with the transitions and sounds. I'm not quite sure though because I'd probably end up with an unorganized mess on my hands. We are not exactly "independent" when it comes to computer lab time. More often than not, I still have students who are not logging in correctly. It's March. So I think digital editing may be a little much for them. We shall see. Another problem that I think I will run into will be copyright laws. Many of the reader's theater activities that we do are from storybooks. Anyone out there have any ideas about how to tape my kids legally without having to contact random author's?

Digital Video

I may be reading the schedule wrong but I think we are now moving on to digital video. Either way, I'm ready to move on : ) I really like using the digital video in the classroom and I plan on making more movies with my kids this year. I think that even my first graders would be able to use the flip video, as for doing the editing...we would just have to see. I really like all of these ideas and it is fun to think of ways to incorporate them into my classroom...but I am working with 6 year olds. A good day for us in the computer lab is for eveyone to accomplish a task and get printed. Anyone out there ever try to use digital editing with kids this little?

Our Movie

We just finished and posted our Matter movie. Click on the link to see it on my website. In order to post it, my wonderful TRT had to upload it to the main server in Richmond (??) then link to it from my website. What a hassle! I'm feeling a little frustrated about it because now when I want to make and add a movie, I have to go through this silly process or ask her to. She already has too much on her plate. It is hard when they want us to use the technology we have available but set up so much red tape that it isn't worth it. Any ideas to get around this?

Using Wiki for Movies

So, wouldn't you know it...now that I've done something cool in my class that I want to share, we are having technical difficulties! My class made an awesome movie about Matter that I would love to be able to post on our class website. Unfortunately I haven't been able to figure out how exactly to do it or if we even have the capabilities on the school websites to get it done. My bright idea is to create a Wiki where I can upload my class videos. This will help me to get around having to ask for help each time I want to upload something. The problem is that I don't have enough experience with Wiki's to know exactly what do to. Any ideas ol'blogger friends?

Are Wiki's Worth It?

We've started learning about Wiki's in class. They seem pretty user friendly to me, but what can I say....I'm a bit of an N-gener. To me is seems like building a website, with appropriate links, etc. I think that a Wiki would be a lot easier to implement into my classroom, as opposed to a blog. My kids could help construct a class Wiki on a unit of study and their personal work could be linked on different pages. I'm not quite sure how the privacy issues would work and I think you could run into the same trouble with the comments that we were worried about with blogs. I wonder if there is a way to delete people's comments? I also wonder if there are any other creative ideas out there for using a Wiki?