I learned that by cutting and pasting sound clips audacity works much better than when they do individually. I have also learned that my students love to blog about the trial. I think that next year when I tweak this lesson I will allow more time for class discussion in class. It seems like there is never enough time in the school year to get everything you want to done. Next year, my plan is to try and pick one student every class to highlight a blog they thought was either insightful or helped their understanding on the smart board. From there, I hope to have my class get into a discussion based on the student’s presentation.
I have learned that I really need to teach this lesson in along with a speech class or have a speech teacher come in and teach microphone etiquette. It was very surprising to me how many clips we had to redo because students did not know how to hold a mic or speak into it, and why would they?
These are all things I plan to address next year during our mock trials to make the lesson more time efficient and worthwhile for the students.
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Eric,
ReplyDeleteSounds like you have learned a lot from trying new things this year! I was surprised, as well, as to how little my students knew about the little things, like how to hold a video camera correctly, and how to speak toward the camera to sound right, etc. Here we are trying to teach new technology, and really we need to be teaching the old skills as well. My students tell me they know more than they really do. I will need to spend some time right at the beginning of the school year, next September, really assessing their skills before I begin with new projects. Do you have them fill out a questionaire? Do you find that they are pretty honest about their skills?
Kim
Great idea to ask a speech teacher to help with mic etiquette. I never would have thought of that! What age do you work with? I am pushing my district to make a vertical alignment for technology skills that outlines specific equipment and specific standards. Sometimes I find that the ISTE standards are so vague, the students could not reach mastery. I work in an elementary school. If we focused on these basic skills, then by middle and high school, teachers could focus more on the application of the skills as there would not be as sharp of a technology learning curve. It almost feels like there is not as much communication about technology vertical alignment as there is core subjects. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of highlighting a students blog in each class throughout the year. I think students will really respond to that. I also agree that there seems to never be enough time in the school year to get the things done that we plan. I am really excited for you and how much you have learned from your lesson so far. I hope that it continues throughout the summer and into next year.
ReplyDeleteKim,
ReplyDeleteI don’t have them fill out a questionnaire, but I think that is a great idea and they will now so thanks. I have found that almost all of my students are honest about their skills if they think it is going to be for extra credit, but not as honest when they think they are doing work for a grade. They always seem to forget how to do things or don’t know how to do things when it is expected of them and they are assessed on it.
Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteThank you! I have been trying to work with my triad (what our district calls the elementary schools, junior high and high school that all share the same students) to get the exact same thing going. I work with Freshman who come in with all sorts of different skills sets in technology. I too find our tech standards vague and kind of floating. I am trying to get our elementary schools to at least give my students the ability to used the keyboard proficiently before they get to junior high school. I just sat with a student who was a peck typer that took three weeks to finish a major paper with me. He is a great kid and came in religiously every day after school to type his paper, but I can’t help but feel we failed him technology wise because he still can’t use a basic keyboard proficiently. Thanks for the post. I guess if enough of us push for alignment, it will happen someday.