Lessons Ideas with Recording Tools

Grade 5 - Social Studies - Webquests

• As part of an introduction to the various First Nations groups present at the time of first contact with the Europeans, the teacher will design a Webquest. In order to differentiate for students with different learning preferences, the teacher will use a variety of recorded audio (e.g. recording short excerpts from the Nelson Education series using Soundcloud), videos, links and games found online. In order to further differentiate, students could also record their findings in short audio clips, as opposed to being written/typed, which could be combined into one file afterwards. 

Grade 5 - Social Studies - Podcasting as Review

• Throughout the same unit, students will produce a weekly review podcast of their learning. Students will rotate so that as many students are able to be featured as possible. This could be shared either through Soundcloud, via student/teacher blogs, or on Youtube. At the end of the unit, having now researched the groups, students could produce a summary podcast either in groups or as a whole class. Related to this, teachers could use podcasting as a review for the day/week, communicating to students and parents. 

Music - Creating audio to ‘silent’ movies

• As part of a Blended Learning environment, the teacher will introduce students to Garageband, the tool they will be using for this mini-unit, through recorded instructional videos. These will be posted before the lesson takes place and, wherever possible, students should review the videos ahead of time. 
• I found some of the videos from The One Academy such as the one embedded below to be quite well suited for this activity

• Students will chose a video from a teacher-created Youtube playlist. This playlist will consist of 30 second clips of animated videos, with the audio removed. Using these videos as inspiration, students will create dialogue and music to match the story. Students must take into consideration the emotional content of the video, as well as the action taking place. 

Language Arts - Digital Storytelling

• Students at all levels can create digital storybooks using websites like Storybird. Whether tied to a unit, or for more open creative writing, these sites empower students to become authors and share their work with the world. 
• Students in junior classrooms are often Kindergarten ‘buddies’, and I’ve often taken my class down to read with these students. For this assignment, I would ask that the students create digital audio recordings of the books so that the Kindergarten teachers are able to let students listen to and read these books even when my class is not there to help them. Either Soundcloud or Garageband, if students would like to add other musical effects, would be helpful for this assignment. 
• Once completed, the teacher could compile these stories into one file, narrating an introduction and conclusion, which could be shared as a keepsake for the class. 

Social Studies - Audio Penpals/Audio Tours

• Whether with students in other towns, provinces or countries, penpals offer students an introduction to different types of communication. Bringing this into the 21st century classroom, creating audio recordings instead of/in addition to written letters adds an oral language and technology competency component. 
• I thought of this idea in conjunction with the idea of creating audio tours for particular places, or to go along with the penpal letter, of the student’s neighbourhood. Whether done live, or digitally with the help of Google Tour Builder, students could describe different locations. Teacher models, and a how-to for Google Tour Builder, would certainly need recorded.