DCHS Clips- Edited by Students

I think that De'Ontae is finished editing his story.  He seems satisfied with what he has and I can sense that he feels that he is finished, but would still like to explore recording himself more.  I feel that some of his edits are not exactly perfect, but I think that they work well enough in the piece.  If anyone listens to this and thinks that I should give him more coaching in trimming the piece, please let me know.

Robert just began editing his piece with ten minutes of class to go, and this is where he ended up with it.  Seeing that his piece is different than the others because it is a poem. I had suggested to him that he might play around with pauses, volumes, and possibly repeating clips.  In my Planetarium piece, I've been doubling tracks and using it to create an echo, in order to create a more reflective sort of mood.  I've heard this done in other pieces as well, and I really like the effect it has.  I explained it to Robert as a possible way that he could play with his piece.  In his beginning edit, he began to play with this and decided to overlap two different takes of his poem being read.  The problem is that, we have done probably five different takes of him reading this poem, but we have yet to find a place in the school where we could record without any distracting noises in the background. But Robert seems to be having a lot of fun now that he's editing, and what's important really is his exploration of the medium, so I think I'm going to let my worries over the audio quality go and let him get creative with what he has.

Bria wasn't there this Wednesday, so I don't have a clip for her.

This week has been harder than other weeks.  It has been hard for me to figure out a) what I could suggest to the students to make their pieces better  b) whether I should push them in a certain direction or ust sit back and see what happens  c) how much they are going to be capable of doing within the limited time that we have together, and d) how to instruct them on Garageband, a software that I do not have as much experience with as I would like.
I think overall, it has helped me to remember that what the goal of this project is; to introduce a new creative medium (sound), and to give the students the tools to create something in this medium that they are proud of.
Despite my worries, I can se that my students are engaged in the learning process and are proud of what they are making, and so I think we are nearing our goal.
I've really enjoyed the time at DCHS, I've had a lot of fun and have gotten a little taste of the joys and challenges of teaching!