Podcourse

Reader Theater--The Sequel

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:35:08 -0500

This unit is an extension of Readers Theater activities. Readers Theater is a popular instructional approach in which students read a scripted version of a book or story. Readers Theater is characterized by minimal props, costumes, or sets; reading as opposed to memorizing; an inclusive approach to student participation. Readers Theater motivates students for engaging in texts and repeated readings, and improves fluency and comprehension. By adding creative elements of digital audio, you can simultaneously enhance the fluency and comprehension of the students as well as introduce new creative and meaning-making skills. This is an audio play based on a Grimm Tale, The Ungrateful Son.

Click here to listen to student example.

Poetry Walk Remix--City

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Sat, 17 May 2008 13:35:01 -0500

In the project "Poetry Walk (or Run) Remix" kids remix music and poetry to help walkers or runners enjoy their environment. It is based on the most downloaded podcast on iTunes, Podrunner. Kids have to select, record, and share lines of poetry about cities and nature. They then have to edit and remix these spoken lines with music (from ccmixter). It gives kids an authentic and engaging activity that helps them slow down and appreciate poetry, music, and their environment. Below is an audio sample.

Here’s an example of the finished product of the Poetry Walk Remix Project.

Poetry Lines Used:

I am the workingman, the inventor, the maker of the
world’s food and clothes. (“I am the People, the Mob” by Carl Sandburg)

Come and show me another city with lifted head singing
so proud to be alive and coarse and strong and cunning. (“Chicago” by Carl Sandburg)

Bragging and laughing that under his wrist is the pulse.
and under his ribs the heart of the people (“Chicago” by Carl Sandburg)

This is the city and I am one of the citizens,
Whatever interests the rest interests me, politics, wars, markets, newspapers, schools. (“Leaves of Grass” by Walt Whitman)

Music Used:

gmz Otra_Vez_(sight_mix)

Liscensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial License

Sample of Poetry Walk Remix (city) mp3

http://chrisshamburg.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/poetry-walk-remix-city.mp3

Historic Interview

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 13:15:32 -0500

For this project students interviewed someone they knew about experiences during an interesting time period or place or during an important or historic event.

This interviewee doesn't have to have been directly involved in an historic even. His or her indirect experiences--as a bystander or witness--can be just as powerful. Also, it doesn't have to be a single event. For example, living in the south during segregation or growing up on a farm can be extremely powerful interviews.

This example is a son's interview of his father about his father's political experiences in India and the United States. It was part of last semester's Podcourse (forgot to post it here), and I'm using it as an example for this semester's students.

Click to play

More on Memoirs

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:58:30 -0600

Another good memoir here (see Memoir Posting for more). I've been experimenting with different ways to comment on the students' audio work. I've interjected my comments in the media reviews, but that seemed a little disruptive to the flow of their work. I'm going to stick with adding comments at the beginning and and of their work, both as a feature at this site as well as for most feedback for them.

Click to play

Cinna the Audio Play

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 22:48:48 -0600

William Shakespeare - Text Portrait
Originally uploaded by Yelnoc

This project allows you to create an original audio drama of a scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. You can create an original audio interpretation of the scene and distribute it in a legal and ethical way on the Internet. The project uses text from the public domain, Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, and music and sound effects with Creative Commons licenses.

I have included directions, the text of the scene, and links to audio files for music and sound effects. There are four parts to this project--the 1) The Overview, 2) The Scene, 3) The Production and 4) The Resources.

1) The Overview

For this project you will create an audio play from a scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. You must enact all of the voices and add music and sound effects. If you are working alone, you should decide how many Citizens there will be and create unique voices for each one. If you are working in a group, you can edit and increase the number of Citizens to accommodate your group.

You can use a variety of audio editing software to do this project. I would recommend the free software Audacity. If you are unfamiliar with Audacity, the following tutorial can get you started in ab out 1/2 hour. Here's a link to my Audacity tutorial and here are some student examples of the finished tutorial project.

At the end of the post is an example of sample of a student project.

2)The Scene

Read the following scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.

It is the one that you will be turning into an audio play. Caesar has just been assassinated and the Roman citizens are rioting. There are very few stage directions in this scene. You must figure out and then act out in audio what is happening.

From Julius Caesar, Act 3, Scene 3

Enter CINNA the poet

CINNA THE POET
I dreamt to-night that I did feast with Caesar,
And things unlucky charge my fantasy:
I have no will to wander forth of doors,
Yet something leads me forth.

Enter 8-12 Citizens (only 4 have speaking parts)

First Citizen
What is your name?

Second Citizen
Whither are you going?

Third Citizen
Where do you dwell?

Fourth Citizen
Are you a married man or a bachelor?

Second Citizen
Answer every man directly.

First Citizen
Ay, and briefly.

Fourth Citizen
Ay, and wisely.

Third Citizen
Ay, and truly, you were best.

CINNA THE POET
What is my name? Whither am I going? Where do I
dwell? Am I a married man or a bachelor? Then, to
answer every man directly and briefly, wisely and
truly: wisely I say, I am a bachelor.

Second Citizen
That's as much as to say, they are fools that marry:
you'll bear me a bang for that, I fear. Proceed; directly.

CINNA THE POET
Directly, I am going to Caesar's funeral.

First Citizen
As a friend or an enemy?

CINNA THE POET
As a friend.

Second Citizen
That matter is answered directly.

Fourth Citizen
For your dwelling,--briefly.

CINNA THE POET
Briefly, I dwell by the Capitol.

Third Citizen
Your name, sir, truly.

CINNA THE POET
Truly, my name is Cinna.

First Citizen
Tear him to pieces; he's a conspirator.

CINNA THE POET
I am Cinna the poet, I am Cinna the poet.

Fourth Citizen
Tear him for his bad verses, tear him for his bad verses.

CINNA THE POET
I am not Cinna the conspirator.

Fourth Citizen
It is no matter, his name's Cinna; pluck but his
name out of his heart, and turn him going.

Third Citizen
Tear him, tear him! Come, brands ho! fire-brands:
to Brutus', to Cassius'; burn all: some to Decius'
house, and some to Caasca's; some to Ligarius': away, go!

END

3) The Production

To produce the audio play you will need to do the following steps. You need to:

a) ENACT THE PARTS--Create unique voices for each of the five characters with speaking parts (Cinna, First Citizen, Second Citizen, Third Citizen, and Fourth Citizen). Speak all of the lines with credibility and emotion. The “voice” you use for each character should be consistent for that character throughout the scene.

How will you make each character sound unique?
How will you change their voices?
How will you remember what voice goes with what character?
How can the audio editing software help with this part?

b) ADD BACKGROUND MUSIC--Add some background music and put it where it’s appropriate (the whole scene does not need it).

Will it be fast or slow? Modern or classic?
Will the music stay the same or change over time? When will the volume be low? When will it be loud? You decide.

c) ADD SOUND EFFECTS--Add sound effects (including “sounds” of citizens without speaking parts in the scene).

What kind of street is it? Noisy?
Quiet? What kinds of sounds can give the feeling of quiet?

d) CREATE A SINGLE FILE--Create a single mp3 file with all of these elements.

4) The Resources

If you want to search yourself for sounds, you should only use audio from the sites Creative Commons Mixter for music and the Free Sounds Project for sound effects. The audio from these sites are on sliding scales of copyright. The have unique licenses that allow you to use and distribute their work that are broader than standard copyright law.

At the end of your show you MUST briefly give credit to the source of your music and sound effect. Mention the name of each audio file, the creator, and the site where you got it.

I have included a zipped file with the 6 sound files below. Download them, listen to them, and begin creating your audio play.

Background Music

You can browse yourself and use music from the Creative Commons Mixter (http://ccmixter.org/media/tags)

Fourmi 2 by Noelkay at http://ccmixter.org/media/files/noelkay/12926 Licensed with a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License

Natchoongi by Code at http://ccmixter.org/media/files/Mixro/11243 Licensed with a Attribution Non-Comerical 3.0 License

You Asked for It (World is Different Mix) by DJ Blue at http://ccmixter.org/media/files/DJBLUE/10756Licensed with a Attribution Non-Comerical 3.0 License

Sound Effects

You can search yourself and use sound effects from the Free Sound Project or use one of these audio files. I have downloaded them and put them in the accompanying zipped folder.

street sounds.mp3 from ERH at http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=42974
licensed with a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.

Turkish market.mp3 from Donalfonso at http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=43459
licensed with a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.

Cricket-2007-10-12.mp3 from Monterey2000 at http://freesound.iua.upf.edu/samplesViewSingle.php?id=43827 licensed with a Creative Commons Sampling Plus 1.0 License.

Here's an example of a completed student project

Click To Play

New Semester, New Media Reviews

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 23:22:22 -0600

We are starting a new semester with Podcasting and Creative Audio 1 and the new Podcasting and Creative Audio 2. We have some new projects as well as some new approaches in teaching and with the technology.

One thing that we will be doing is collaborating more on the audio projects--more student and student and more student and teacher collaborations. I'll also be using the audio editing software to give students feedback in their projects.

The students' will have rss feeds for their original podcasts, but I'll also be remixing their audio files with my feedback.

Click To Play

Turning your mp3 into a bona fide podcast

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 15:16:46 -0500

A few people have asked how I use blogger for podcasting. Here's a video that goes over the basics.

This is a good video to use if you have already created an mp3 file and want to make a podcast. If you're not sure how to make an mp3 file, use my Audacity Tutorial.

Maps for Audio Tours

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 08:41:17 -0500

For our next project we will be creating audio tours of public places. We will be working with Google Maps to complement our podcasts. To begin, the students need to share the links to their places on our discussion board. Here are directions to do that.

Click To Play

Memoir Project, Part 1

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 20:07:15 -0500

This is the first batch of the students' memoirs. Very impressive.

When I started this class I emphasized to myself and the other people involved that the student podcasts weren’t supposed to be polished, professional-sounding work. In fact, when I had seen student plays and student newspapers that looked professional, there was often an overzealous teacher doing a lot of the work. I always felt that a focus on the professionalism of the final product took away from the students’ learning because it usually meant that the teacher was hijacking the work.

Then, as irony would have it, these audio memoirs come to my drop box. They are extremely polished, creative, and professional sounding—much better than I’m capable of. Listen to the first two memoirs that were submitted, “I’m a Good Boy, I Tell Ya’” and “The Day I Met Codie”

Click To Play

Audio Theater 1

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:41:29 -0500

Here are some of the students' audio plays from the Audio Theater 1 project. They each had to create an original story using the SAME dialogue.

Person 1: I’ve been waiting for you.

Person 2: I’m sorry I’m late.

Person 1: That’s OK.

Person 2: Thank you.

Person 1: I have something for you.

Person 2: What is it?

Peron 1: This.

They had to write some brief narration and then add music and sound effects. The music and sound effects were from Creative Commons licensed material from CCMixter and the Free Sounds Project. The students created a range of characters--from gangsters to a married couple; from cops and robbers to a student and a principal.

Besides a focus on creative writing and audio editing, this project also introduced students to copyright, fair use, and the ethics of citing sources.

Enjoy the following five very different, short audio plays--all with the same dialogue

Click To Play Audio

Media Reviews

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 06:04:28 -0500

This episode shares some of the first drafts of the students' media review projects. For this project each student chose and reviewed a piece of media. It could have been a TV show, video game, book, CD, song.

The students did prewriting activities to get them to consider their audience's prior knowledge and interests and what to include in their reviews; the ultimate goal was to inform and engage their audience as they shared their tastes and interests.

I was very impressed with the quality of the students' work, and I was also surprised by the variety of their topics.

The four segments in this podcast are:

A review of Hana Kimi, a Taiwanese Drama available on YouTube

Two book reviews--one review of a contemporary novel, Walter Dean Myers' Somewhere in the Darkness and a review of a modern classic, John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.

Finally, a review of a video game, NBA 2K7.

Click To Play

Audacity Tutorial

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:30:42 -0500

Audacity Tutorial

The Audacity tutorial was a hands-on way to teach the students the basic features of the Audacity software. The rest of the projects incorporate student choice and interest, but this one was strictly designed to focus on a variety of features and procedures of the software, so they can get started doing other projects with it. As I described it in the online course, we will use multitrack audio editing software in this course as a word processing program would be used in a writing course. All of the student projects were excellent. I used the first version that was submitted as the sample.

Here is the tutorial with a rubric and here are student samples of the finished product.

Click To Play

Course Rules

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 09:16:54 -0500

Below are the course rules for the podcasting course. They are in addition to your school rules and policies.

1) Appropriate Language—no profanity or obscenities in the most general sense of the terms will be allowed in any format in this course—in projects or in communication with other students or the instructor.

2) Safety for Self and Others—you are not to mention personally identifying information about yourself on any audio broadcast or accompanying document that is intended for use outside of the Blackboard course—this includes last names, screen names, school name, home address, or any other unique information about yourself or others.

3) Respect for Others—you should communicate with other students in the course with courtesy and respect. Disagreements are allowed, but must be communicated in respectful language.

4) Respect for Intellectual Property—you may not use the intellectual property (audio, text, video, images, etc.) of another person without permission.

5) Consent—You need to get the permission of any person you intend to record and put on a podcast. This person should be informed that the recording is for the public and for your podcast. You cannot use deception or record a person before you get his or her permission.

6) Reciprocity--You should also expect others—inside and outside of this course—to treat you according to these rules. It’s not just about being nice—most of these rules correlated with state, federal, and international laws. For example, no one should record you secretly or take your original material without your permission.

For more information see the Podcasting Legal Guide at Creative Commons.

Click To Play

Welcome

cshamburg@gmail.com (Chris Shamburg) — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 08:52:08 -0500

Welcome to this site. I will post the podcasts for the course here.

Click To Play

Music from Dreamsound