Show 1 r f rel yh S 4 Camilla Gagliolo helps her students at Jamestown Elementary In Arlington Va edit their voice recordIngs recordings recordIngs record- record Ings for the schools school's site is one of the interactive technologies like and held hand-held computers being used to motivate students nationwide I i Pods becomes teachers teacher's pet Fern Shen The Washington Post At some ome schools the rules are clear Kids can chill out to downloaded music on portable players but once they're inside and other learning distractions distractions distractions must be stowed in backpacks or lockers and kept there At Jamestown Elementary School in Arlington Va Camilla Gagliolo took another approach Rather than fighting the fad she's capitalizing on it by giving giving giving ing students and re-imagining re them as a learning tool It just makes so much sense They a are re so drawn to this technology They as are areso so excited i 1 by it comfortable comfortable comfort comfort- able with it said Gagliolo the schools school's technology coordinator Using little more than an and a school computer Gagliolo and her students students students stu stu- dents have been making online radio shows that can be downloaded downloaded down down- downloaded loaded to an or other portable player Avidly discussing their favorite colors and models while they made recordings of their poems and book reports the other day the graders fifth-graders bubbled with ideas fo for r future subjects We could read parts of books t to show why we like them We could do d interviews If theres there's a field trip w we e could make a recording of it and posit post pos t it said Mohamed El Sayed 10 Kids Kid s anywhere will like to hear about us is just one of the interactive interactive interactive tive technologies like an and d held hand-held computers being used t to motivate students nationwide It too took k off across the country last year an o offshoot offshoot off off- f f shoot of the surging popularity o of f A survey of high school st students students stu stu- dents released this month by analysts analyst s with Piper Jaffray Co found th that t 61 6 1 percent of students had some kind land of player up from 40 percent in the their it spring survey This is the kind of technology the they y use for their daily lives If schools w want to reach today's learners they c cant can't t ignore it said Don Knezek chief chi of executive of the International Socie Society ty for Technology in Education based in Washington and Eugene Ore Colleges were the first to embrace the idea giving to freshmen and making of lectures Now pod- pod casting is moving beyond the cappuccino cappucci cappucci- no crowd to the chocolate milk set In a private school near Detroit mid- mid dle performances of student-composed student musical works From East Oakland Calif high- high paint an audio portrait in English and Spanish of their then troubled community Its hard to see someone die in front of you Gunston Middle School in Arlington has a cheeky stu stu- made dent-made that includes poetic commentary on Virginias Virginia's standardized testing SOLs are not your friends they'll bring your life to an ati enc y Teachers Te h say th the l of making are clear trendy The Th fc r nay technology i s i F ogy and the possibility of a wider audience audience audience audi audi- ence motivate students My students research better read more write better and understand the material said Beth Sanborn a grade fifth-grade teacher at Willowdale Elementary School near Omaha Neb where students have been making since last spring at the school on such topics topics topics top top- ics as the Constitution Native Americans and electricity electricity are are not only filled with kid humor and snappy music but they are also loaded with facts Teachers hope they'll be used as supplementary curriculum material by future students We want our to be timeless timeless timeless time time- less said Tony Vincent technology specialist at Willowdale We want teachers to play them for their classes To make a on the Revolutionary War Sanborn had he her r students spend a couple of weeks researching their material in books andon and andon an d on the Int Internet before shaping it into a script They w were re graded on the written an n script but what really motivated them Sanborn said was the hope that their r work would be chosen for the 8 2 1 minute For the t travel time feature another r performed as a town crier condemning g King Georges George's tyranny Sanborn was wa s especially impressed with the way the they y came up with their own jokes on such h topics as the Constitution You really have to understand the material to figure out a joke about it she said Teachers are also finding other uses for portable music players in the class class- room In InCan Carrollton Texas near Dallas kindergartners are taking loaner leaner home to practice their vocabulary words and English as a Second Language students are using them to practice English it turns out is also well- well suited for keeping busy parents in touch with the world their children inhabit all day at school All they have to do is program their computers to capture the which broadcasts could range from school announcements to plays to ll lv gam and and s heye eyB can listen to them their desktop computer uter Mr d download ad them to ful fol a a- portable player This idea is so great I can hear what my daughter is doing and we cantell cantell can cantell tell her grandparents and they can hear hearit it where they are said Alison Pascale whose daughter Kalyn McNulty 10 isone is isone isone one of the Jamestown Gagliolo has found the technology easy to master and simpler and cheaper cheap cheap- er than making student videos For Formost Formost Formost most of the recordings she and a half half- dozen students made at a recent session session session ses ses- sion they used a 40 snap-on snap microphone microphone microphone micro micro- phone accessory plugged into the schools school's The toughest part was getting the best possible sound quality from the youngsters which sometimes meant doing it over and over Dalai Samul 10 spoke in a whisper when he first read his poem stands 1 foot 1 inch He is said to be tall for his age He is as strong as a rhinoceros beetle and is a kung fu master You have to speak up said Mohamed holding the microphone outto out outto outto to Dalai Quiet on the set Kalyn yelled After a few takes Dalais Dalai's voice grew stronger a better match for his poems poem's subject Finally the students learned how to edit on the computer deleting mumbles and dead air air- And with a few clicks of their mouse they made Dalais Dalai's voice stronger still I |