dcagle

This year for my projects I have tried to do activities that we do in our class on a consistent basis. Because we have a class set of microphones, the students are consistently recording themselves. This activity was done with iTalk. First students chose their story and wrote 3 questions. Their task was to do at least one open-ended question. After writing their questions, their partner had to find the answer in the story and then do the recording together. Each child was able to ask questions and answer a different set of questions. Here are 3 samples from my class of 33.

Questioning: Choosing one of the stories in the "Heroes" unit, the students, with their partner, will record 3 questions they have about their chosen story. Their partner will answer their partners questions and site evidence from the story that support the answer. The finished product will be 2 separate recordings.

Predict/Infer: Working with one of the stories in the "Problem Solvers" unit, the students will preview the story and predict what problem the character has and how it will be solved. They will record those predictions on their iPods using iTalk. After reading and discussing the story as a class, the students will listen to their original predictions and then record what actually was the problem and solution. Finally, they will describe the differences between their original thoughts and what actually happens in their assigned story.

There are still a lot of problems to work out, but it is a start and it will continue to improve as more students finish their project.

The students were SO excited when they heard themselves speaking when they played back the keynote.  The listened to it over and over.  It was interesting to see them recognize when they had made a mistake and say that out loud.  My students have a long way to go to be more independent in creating the keynote, but it is a powerful tool to have them have immediate feedback on their voices.  I am very excited to have them experience this ability to hear their voices with keynote, garage band, and the i-pods.  I created the script for the keynote, but next time, I want it to be in their own written voice too. 

I've only attached one student's project because they all used the same pictures and text.