Moving at the Speed of Creativity by Wesley Fryer

Sound Recording in the Classroom by Paula Churchhill #cmtc10

These are my iPad blogged notes from Paula Churchhill’s presentation, “Sound Recording in the Classroom” at the 2010 Christa McAuliffe Technology Conference. MY COMMENTS ARE IN ALL CAPS.

We are going to address the Why, What and Why for sound recording in the classroom

Why?
– fluency
– alternative to writing
– students hear themselves read
– creating an audio history of reading, instrumental music performance, etc
– writing or retelling stories
– creating podcasts
– creating soundtracks for movies or animations
– creating read along books for younger students

It low end in terms of computer requirement, but very high end in terms of the potentials

Lends itself to works being reused at higher levels over and over

Sound recording fosters creativity
– I let kids record everything they want to say first freestyle, like audio notes

Engages students
– is a great carrot for kids
– they can be required to storyboard and write a script

Let’s not do what we did with PowerPoint with sound recording (over scripting things for students)

Equipment and software – need a sound card for your laptop – get a $15 headset with a mic
– Audacity software is free

http://audacity.sourceforge.net

I love Audacity because a lot of the bells and whistles you see in professional sound editing software is here

Can incorporate science as well as writing in what you do with kids

Success is in the planning and content

Getting kids to synthesize is so important in our internet connected world of facts and information Teach the “I beam” in Audacity first

Audacity tricks:

You can change the pitch without changing the tempo, which makes your voice sound differently
– I usually recommend changing no more than 8-10%, not more than 15%

Can add echo effects to make an “imperial” sound (sounds like you are in a room, .2 delay time, 0.5 decay factor

Be careful of your instructional time! Require students to do effects after their content is done, set those parameters up first

I’ve had 18 different tracks at once in an Audacity project, it’s great to have this capability in the application!

Teach time shifter tool second after the editing bar

Highlight end of an audio track and choose Effects – Fade Out

Demo: read a simple script with multiple speakers, and change the pitch for different character voices
– sharing a Little Red Riding Hood example

Using Edit – Split tool to open space for a “knock at the door” sound effect
– showing how to have students create their own sound effects

Now showing export options, WAV works without downloading a CODEC (required for mp3 export)

THIS IS SO FUN! I WOULD LOVE TO SHARE A WORKSHOP FOR STORYCHASERS THAT IS FOCUSED PURELY ON IDEAS AND EXAMPLES (AS WELL AS PRACTICAL TIPS FOR CLASSROOM FACILITATING / PBL) OF JUST AUDIO RECORDING IN THE CLASSROOM!

Sharing examples of student projects another clas in the same Give time limits, we want it clear and succinct
You must submit your idea You write and share your script
They create a production timeline
Share it with another student, check for comprehension
Then and only then let students record!

Older elementary students talk fast, quiet and slur their words

Saved projects have lots of orphaned files, exporting as a WAV is great to simplify Great demo, record “I really don’t like choc

Americanrhetoric.com has full downloadable mp3 speeches and other audio clips, also have text of the speech
– my kids the out their own recordings of questions and insert the voices of famous people giving answering

http://americanrhetoric.com

For copyright I tell kids they can never bring in commercial CD music and rip it

We use http://freeplaymusic.com

All instrumental, goes by feeling or style

Great resource for sound effects: Free Sound Project

http://www.freesound.org

It is amazing to see how the words in narration can be used to create setting and context with the same audio clips – save audio on a folder on the server, save time for kids and address content filter / blocked websites

Give kids some choice but limit the choices, otherwise some will just waste all class time and not get anything done

Partners In Rhyme also great for sound effects

http://www.partnersinrhyme.com

This project is not doable at school if it is completely open ended
– set some limits and boundaries, and kids will amaze you with their creativity!

Paula used a Mobi Interwrite board to present this session – great, effective use of this tool!

http://www.einstruction.com/products/mobile-interactive-whiteboards/mobi-mobi…

Sent from my iPad

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