My students need a GoPro camera to easily record speeches, performances, and projects, so we can watch them later, and so they can self-assess public speaking skills.
FULLY FUNDED! Mr. Coyle's classroom raised $301
This project is fully funded
Celebrating Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month
This project is a part of the Hispanic & Latinx Heritage Month celebration because
it supports a Latino teacher or a school where the majority of students are Latino.
My Students
My students are creative, but often lack the ability to express that creativity. One of the hardest things we do in English class is public speaking and performing. I hope, by the end of the year, to push creativity and lessen anxiety about performing and public speaking.
My students are awesome high school students, living in the big Southern California sprawl.
They are virtually all free and reduced lunch kiddos, so their opportunities are not as easy to grab as they are for the more privileged children. My students have the same spirit and curious creative gusto as any other teenagers, but a thing like a classroom camera would inspire them to try new things and make them feel a part of the 21st century.
My students often don't like literature, because they have yet to learn to turn on the movie in their minds. I believe that projects, based on our books, that involve our Go Pro camera, will help to turn them into lovers of reading and learning.
My Project
I first thought of using a camera in class for my Academic Decathlon students. A big part of AcaDeca is public speaking, and the students are afraid of it. Recording them giving presentations, and then watching them later will be a huge benefit to their confidence and their overall skills as speakers, interviewees, and performers.
In the classroom, I'll use the camera for a type of Project-Based Learning. Students will be teamed up, and have to create some kind of creative response to the literature or article we are reading when it is their turn to check out the camera. Ideas include anything from writing out and acting out a scene, doing a dramatic reading of a poem or scene, writing and performing a song, delivering a lecture, or anything else students can think of to interpret, elaborate upon, or come to a deeper understanding of our material. They will have a week to create their project, and then we will watch it as a class.
I think a camera will lessen anxiety about performing, because students can record things on their own time, and with less pressure, then they can re-record it and make it better before submitting it.
This will build their confidence, and lead to less anxiety about being creative. It will also give them the opportunity to discuss, share, and go deeper into texts than they normally do.
Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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