, Bauru, Teacher Poly & Teacher Ulisses Audio Class!

Audacity in the Classroom Competition for kids’ time means many are reading less than we’d like. Know more Not everyone likes to read aloud or perform. Nothing fancy about what we’re doing here... But it is technology infused in ways that support student learning. This particular project is a culminating project that pulls together a number of skills students have been learning all year in both technology and reading. The only way to build reading fluency is to read more text written at the independent reading level (not necessarily the same as grade level).

You want children to read for pleasure and instruction with enthusiasm and engagement. Know more We can’t just put the books into the students head. And yet, only through fluency can students become the readers we hope for their future. What does fluency mean to you? Getting the words right, nice cadence and rhythm, expression, punctuation.

How do you improve fluency to facilitate learning and enjoy reading? Lots of text. How much?

There is excellent research on fluency. Know more What role does scientifically based play in your classroom? What does scientifically based research tell us about fluency instruction? Comprehension is influenced by fluency—when students “see” and “hear” the story in their heads their memory and understanding of text improve. “Repeated and monitored oral reading improves reading fluency and overall reading achievement.” 6 th grade is too early to drop fluency instruction 6 th graders still need exposure to oral text Why not do a typical book report?

Know more Short stories are fun. Students can read a lot of varied text in a short time. Short stories need not be “elementary”. Novels have their place too, but don’t exclude short text. There can be a richness in vocabulary and many are written at higher reading levels than you might think. Folktales provide multiple opportunities for students to make connections to the text and between texts practicing reading comprehension strategies. Provide multiple opportunities for students to make connections to the text and between texts. Art opportunity. Do several read alouds for student response/analysis. Create a print-rich environment, have a classroom filled with books and stories. Students select and read at least 3 to 5 stories silently to themselves (opportunity for differentiation). Students select (with guidance) an appropriate story for their podcast.

Came from Landmark-project David Warlick’s site.

Rehearsal Know more Students read their tale several times, first to themselves, then aloud with an audience. Rehearsal required reading their selected text to a partner, small group, whole class, a teacher or a combination of these. Students practiced telling their stories with expression and using pleasing cadence and rhythm. Students listened to their peers tell their stories while reading along with the text. All of these activities are research-based fluency instruction methods. Guess what—you read an extra story when you listen to your peer!

Know more Audacity was used to create a recording of their tale. It is obvious when students are not prepared—and they end up re-recording. Many students recorded their stories several times before they were pleased with the results. Students returned to the text to check their accuracy. Audacity permits “splicing” of corrected snips which encourages students to polish their product (practice pronouncing difficult words).

Know more Rehearsals! Recording studio. The room becomes a studio with everyone reading and re-reading their stories aloud. Students will partner read via “live reading” or via recording. I’m not a pro—nor am I willing to spend hours getting a video clip to work exactly the way I want. If I felt everything had to be perfect, I’d never make it in ed tech. On the other hand, other projects do matter.

Know more So, how do we get started? What we don’t do is a long “I show, you do” lesson. We almost never do those anymore. Instead, if there’s a “how to” needed, we break it up into small lessons and make videos of how to do these. We also use audio for things such as Quia spelling quizzes. Each student can hear the word/sentence as many times as they like. Powerful because they are hearing my voice, and seeing my screen.

Know more We illustrate after recording Students use a storyboard to plan a visual presentation to accompany their narrative (PowerPoint, Inspiration, or Moviemaker). Original art encouraged, but not required. Students can write and record film their own myths. Musical introductions and backgrounds (freeplaymusic.com). Students can film or stage a dramatic interpretation of a folktale.

Motivation

Unexpected Benefits

Know more Sound Control: headsets with microphones ($12 at CDWG) Crowd Control: you’ll need more adult bodies in the classroom, pull in your media specialist and tech people. There’s nothing wrong with starting small the first year. Text: you need lots of texts available, at least twice as many as you have students in your largest class. Single books are better than collections. Magazines and the Internet can be a good resource. Converting to a podcast takes QuickTime Pro and FOREVER. Time Management: about 6-10 class periods. More the first year.

A free download tool to record audio files (voice, music, or both). What is Audacity? Why Audacity? ● It’s free and open source! ● Easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. ● It’s fairly intuitive and doesn’t require a large investment of time to learn. ● It will do 90% of what most people need. ● Most of what you learn in Audacity can be applied to other audio editing programs. ● Popular, updated frequently, and has good documentation and discussion boards online.

● Record make-up work for absentees ● Record mini-lessons for students who need remediation ● Record songs that emphasize skills or rules that need to be remembered ● Record short stories for struggling readers ● Record short segments for a VokiVoki Audacity Teacher Ideas Audacity Student Ideas ● Record book or movie reviews ● Practice reading and listening to one’s self for improvement ● Tell personal or fictional stories written in class ● “Teach” mini-lessons on topics they have mastered ● Conduct interviews for assignments

Where Can I Get Audio? Be sure to check out copyright policies at each site!

Where Can I Get Photos? Please be aware that not all gallery sites are appropriate for all age levels. Always look through a site before allowing your kids access.

Uses of Audio A different twist on classroom projects ● Interviews ● Description Clips ● Teacher Audio – Student Response ● Student Audio ● Homework assignment podcast ● Reader’s Theater ● Study Notes ● Summarizing Main Ideas ● Narrate an event from each character’s point of view. ● Class or School Announcements ● Display of Student Work ● Help Sessions for absent students ● New Student Orientation (Walking Podcast) ● New Parent Orientation ● Limited to your imagination

Since Audacity is a free program, using it inside and outside of the classroom is fairly inexpensive. At the very least, a classroom needs to have access to computers, preferably enough for pairs of two to each have one. Also, students have to have access to computers outside of the classroom to benefit from additional instruction and/or practice using the software. There is plenty of additional information and resources on the web about Audacity. Resources range between tutorial videos on YouTube to free PDF manuals created by Audacity.

You finished this slideshow. Review the main concepts and if you don’t have any questions, go ahead to the next activity!

Thank you! , Bauru, Teacher Poly & Teacher Ulisses