Maybe Low-Tech is What We Need

"I don't have time to learn something new." "I don't have time for my kids to use the computer." "How can I have my students use the computer for projects if I don't have one computer per child in each group?" These are all issues/ideas that get in the way of teachers integrating more "technology" into the curriculum.

Hopefully some low-tech projects will help. We have begun using simple recordings. The first recordings were of the sight words students need to assist with reading and writing. Audacity was used to record the word lists. The recordings were then exported into Windows Media Player so they could be played via computer or burned onto CDs. CDs can be used on portable CD players in the classroom (we just received some) or sent home for practice. Parents were happy about this possibility because many felt uncomfortable with their own English pronunciation skills.

So where to from here? I'm hoping teachers will now begin to record student stories to include with written copies in classroom libraries. Programs such as Photo Story and VoiceThread would also be great tools for recordings.