MULTI-MEDIA AUTHORING TEMPLATE

Name: Ana Isaac

Grade Level: 4th
Content Area: English Language Arts

Technology Used (check all that apply): Movie Audio Podcast Vodcast Other: (list)

Content Area/Grade/Standards/Topics Addressed: (Fourth Grade)

ELAGSE4W1: Write opinion pieces on a topic or text supporting a point of view with reasons
Brief Description of Learning Experience:
This activity ties in with the multimedia (blog) lesson plan, previously created. The students will take the writing
pieces (aligned with the 4th grade opinion writing standard), they have created for their blogs, choose their best opinion
piece writing, and then read it through the podcast that they will create. This is a summative assessment, previously
introduced at the beginning of the "Blog Unit." It will take a few weeks to complete the entire unit and a week to finalize
the students' podcasts with editing.
The audience will be the class and their parents. This is a small audience, careful to follow the privacy guidelines for
students and teachers. Their work will be assessed by me, the educator. Throughout the editing process I will have the
students finalize and edit their work as a peer activity. Towards the end of the unit I will have brief conferences with the
students to provide feedback. Their podcasts are a tool and final product for the student to hear and have their work
published. Their "published" work will be posted on the class blog (private) for the students to share with whomever they
please.
Student Engagement/Higher-Order Thinking:
This would be a LoTi Level 4: Integration. Technology is being used, students are using the technology for content related
activities that are both monitored and assessed by the teacher. The students will be using higher levels of Bloom's. The
learning experience is student-centered and real-world applied. Students are assuming a professional role by reading
their own work as a podcast. They will be reading their opinion writing. By reading their edited work they will be able to
hear themselves read, (fluency,) and have their work published in a creative way that they can share with their families.
Students are creating a product (podcast), sharing their work, and collaborating with their peers and the teacher for
editing purposes. Their products are a means of assessing their comprehension, fluency, critical thinking (through their
writing), computer literacy, and overall understanding of the Blog unit.
Importance of technology:
Since this project is part of a unit (in accordance with the blog unit), students will be using the website creation tool for
the blog, and then use Audacity, to record their podcasts, reading their finished opinion piece writing. Technology is
critical for the completion of this assignment. If the students were not to use this technology others would not be able to
see or hear their work unless it was read in person. The entire aspect of this assignment would be lost without
technology. During this learning experience students can use Microsoft Word for their drafts, Weebly as their blog, and
Audacity in order to record their podcasts for the class blog.
Internet Safety and Student Privacy:
With privacy in mind it is important for students to work on the blogs during class time (ideally). This will make it easier
for me (the educator) to monitor their actions on the computer. If the blogs are private and there is a closed audience (the
parents and administration) there should not be any issues with privacy when accessing the podcasts on the classroom
blog. This assignment will follow all copyright laws regarding audio since it will be a recording of their own original work.
This assignment will follow common Internet Safety/ Acceptable Use Policies.
Other comments about your proposed student multimedia authoring activity:
The educator is the one who knows the classroom best. This is a difficult assignment, but can be modifies to fit the needs
of all students.