My students need headphones to conduct multimedia research and review digital material including instructional videos, oral histories, and documentaries.
Language Arts isn't just writing essays. In fact, writing is only 25% of what my students do. The other 75% is made up of students speaking, reading, and listening. Practicing our academic listening skills has become more important with the influx of multimedia. Head phones can help my students!
Have you ever tried to listen to the news in a noisy place?
Have you ever tried listening to a Podcast on a crowded subway? If you've experienced this, then you know how frustrating it is to try and hear when there are distracting noises. When my students complete research, often, their research leads them to important instructional videos, documentaries, and sound clips. However, when 27-35 students play that digital content at the same time, it's impossible to focus and the world of digital academic texts are lost for my students.
Because many of my students come from low income families, asking them to bring headphones to school or do research at home is often not an option. But, teaching them how to navigate scholarly sources that include audio elements is a vital skill that we still need to learn!
My Project
My 7th and 9th grade students will use these headphones first, for our upcoming oral history report. They will use the headphones to research and analyze oral history through RadioWest (a section of NPR). Then, they will use the headphones to record their own oral history on our school computers. Throughout the rest of the school year, these headphones will be available when we conduct research and will promote multimedia literacy and an academic use of tools we often associate with entertainment (like headphones).
Students must come out of my classroom being able to read and write, but many forget that students must also learn to speak and listen.
These seem like trivial skills, but they are skills students must practice and hone if they are to rise through college. Through using scholarly databases, I can expand my students research options and guide them through research that includes audio media and empower my students from low income families.
Half of 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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