Just Dig In

How many of us read the user manual before digging into a new software program? I confess that I do not. I usually work through the program, and then go to the user manual to clarify and extend my knowledge.

Recently I used Audacity with students for the first time, and of course did not read the reference material ahead of time. Third grade students wrote news stories that they recorded; sixth grade students wrote and illustrated stories in HyperStudio and used Audacity to record parts of the stories.

Recording was intuitive for the students, but they ran into a few snags when they came back to listen to their recordings. When students opened their file, many inadvertently went to the project folder and panicked when they discovered bits and pieces of their recording rather than the entire piece. I quickly realized that when you save an Audacity project, the program automatically saves the Audacity project file with the .aup extension AND a project data folder which contains small segments of the recording. Users should look for the .aup, Audacity project file, which contains the Audacity icon when editing a recording.

Yes, this information is in the user manual, but I would still be perusing the guide and not using the tool if I had not been willing to dig in and try it.

Aha Film Festival

The video production class Joe Fatheree and Craig Lindvahl developed and co-teach in Effingham, IL is more than curriculum, it is a culture in which high school students feel comfortable to express themselves creatively and openly through film making. I had the opportunity to attend the fifth annual Aha Film Festival highlighting the top 29 films the evening of March 31. My favorites included a documentary on “Plow Day;” a deeply moving film on the life of a man after killing a young child in a drunk driving accident; a young teen dealing with her mother’s diagnosis of cancer; and a stirring interview with a student who shares her obsessive compulsive disorder of pulling her hair out.

The day of the event Mr. Fatheree, Mr. Lindvahl, their students, and guest speakers shared ideas in a variety of workshops. I attended a workshop by Apple and another with Mr. Fatheree in which he shared the growth of his program from a few outdated PC’s to where it is today. Joe Fatheree is passionate about the program, would like to see other schools embrace it in their curriculum, and is willing to help in any way he can.

Read about the festival and films here: http://www.effingham.k12.il.us/aha/.

Collaboration

Our sixth grade is participating in the “Square of Life” collaboration project sponsored by CIESE (http://www.k12science.org/curriculum/squareproj/index.htm) this spring. Students will work in groups of three to identify living and non-living things they find in their “square” and share their findings with member schools. The project addresses many curricular standards, is not time consuming, and connects students to others around the world. I am anxious to see the impact world-wide collaboration has on learning.