Last Few Weeks

The last few weeks are upon me. Time to plan out my summer edu "to do" list.

Water rocket launcher build
Build wrestling room weight class board
Treasure chest with items
Plan or help plan physics class
Develop Classcraft quests
Get more stuff for game club
Read books

All I can think of for now. I will probably tack on more after attending USM Summer Spark and after reading more books.

Podcasting About Sound

Last week my physical science students had to complete a podcast on one of several topics relating to sound. The stuff they came up with was pretty good. Some exceptional. Of definite benefit was that they already knew how to use Soundtrap thanks to the music teacher. The bumper music was great. Next year I will try doing this again but give students much more time to schedule recording time in Studio M308A and the music room. The enthusiasm for the assignment was refreshing but they struggled to plan their time and get things recorded. I also need to provide more time for script development.

Studio M308A

Starting the project at the beginning of the unit with a sign-out sheet for the entire two weeks should give students plenty of time. Completion rate of long term projects is always a struggle,but this one in particular students seemed really stoked about and came in outside of class time to record. I would like to use a more social platform to share their creations as well and will need to look into how to best do that.

Podcasting Thoughts

First time doing podcasts in class. Ever. The music teacher approached me about a collaboration involving Soundtrap. Students already have experience with it from music class and I figured I needed a year end challenge to liven things up.

Nervous about this though. I have never done this before. I worry students will run out of time, have huge technical glitches, and not get students learning the content I need them to.

Ordered a mic to work with their chromebooks and set up a recording studio in my prep room. Will need to make up a sign out sheet for the studio. Getting a class of 29 recording and keeping them on task may be my undoing. Great stuff may happen or complete chaos.

Wouldn't be the first time.

Blogging More

I've decided to blog more frequently for several reasons. The main one being that doing something is better than doing practically nothing. Most of my past posts have been very thought out and developed reflections. I still plan on doing those. Just blogging more will be of more benefit to me and possible benefit to others. I'm not thinking daily is an option, but some kind of routine needs to happen. Once a week perhaps? Maybe when I have a down moment in my creative lesson planning endeavors I can spit out a few reflections here.

In general I feel the posts will be shorter. Getting on a soapbox can make for just as large of a post too. The writing and rewriting part, though, is often where I my reflection happens and I worry I might lose some of that. Even now this seems more stream-of-consciousness writing with little reflection.