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?