4th Graders Interview Michigan State Representative Al Pscholka

By Wesley Fryer On October 10, 2011 · · Add Comment

Last month 4th grade students in Brad Wilson’s class in Stevensville, Michigan, took a field trip to their state capitol in Lansing and interviewed their representative, Al Pscholka. Students used an older iPod Touch equipped with a thumbtack mic, and the free application Cinch to record as well as publish the 43 second interview.

Thanks to teacher Brad Wilson for sharing this great example of “mobile reporting” and media use by students on the SHARE: Playing with Media blog. Check out Brad’s outstanding class blog powered by Posterous on stewart4.posterous.com.

It’s very important for students and teachers to communicate with elected state officials and let them know about the positive, powerful ways technology tools can enhance the learning process. Brad has set a great example not only for other educators in Michigan, but all of us no matter where we live. Today it’s common for negative headlines about education and schools to dominate, and we need to “tell our stories” as learners with social media tools and technologies. Like the wonderful project, “Nebraska Loves Public Schools,” we need to help shape perceptions in our states and countries about the TREMENDOUS value outstanding teachers bring to our students, our schools, and our communities each day.

Brad was the winner of an iRig Microphone in the September SHARE: Playing with Media promotion. The giveaway in October will be an RCA VR5320 1GB Digital Voice Recorder! To enter the drawing, you simply need to share ONE example of student-created media (with student and parent permission, of course) on share.playingwithmedia.com/contribute. More details are available.

Also remember to check out other GREAT examples of student media projects created with digital text, images, audio and video on SHARE: Playing with Media. This is one of the websites I’ve created to support ideas in my eBook, Playing with Media: simple ideas for powerful sharing. Recent submissions in the past couple weeks include “Notes on Marco Polo” (an “interactive notes” example from Alison Anderson using the iPad app “Show Me”) and Envirofest (a short video by grade two students taught Brette Lockyer about taking care of the environment made with the iPad app “Puppet Pals.”)

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