Looking for ways you can give an interpersonal or presentational communication task without pulling each individual student one by one? It can be a hard decision trying to pick the right tech tool that will give you flexibility and allow you to provide feedback to students.  I am sharing a presentation that I did for some of our teachers around capturing sound in the classroom.  

I always loved giving students the time to talk spontaneously.  As I walked around and listened, I often took notes and an overall completion grade.  While all students were engaged in conversation, I was looking for something more concrete and wanted the opportunity to really give students meaning feedback without pulling each student individually and using up three to four days of instruction while the rest of the class completed an alternative assignment.  

The winning ticket was getting the time reserved in the computer lab.  I would book the lab once a month at the beginning of the school year for all of my classes.  Once there, we would work on a variety of materials including time to record themselves speaking.  I have tried a variety of sound applications and have put together the ones that to me, were the simplest and quickest.  Hope you enjoy!

We have more ideas listed on our technology page under audio and listening.  If you are interested at looking at other ways to capture sound with students, click here.

Students are not going to gain proficiency without feedback that is clear and direct.  Take into account the following ideas as a way to reach your learners:

• Design a way to give feedback to students.  A tool that I really enjoyed that worked well with Google and Education was called Kaizena.  It is a free tool that will allow you to give feedback verbally or written.
• Give students praise for what they did do well.  A simple guide could be something like a Praise-Polish-Ponder.  Click here for template.
• The Can Do statements via ACTFL are excellent benchmark indicators to push students in the right direction.  Letting students know what they are working towards gives them motivation and excitement to stay engaged and strive to do their very best.
  
• What rubric is being used with students?  Are there separate ways to give a grade on the given performance and a way to give a grade for growth towards proficiency?

It seems as though you can find mustaches everywhere these days!  I  jumped on the craze and used them in a professional development activity I created for some middle school teachers.  I thought this activity could also be used with students for either interpersonal or interpretive tasks in the classroom.  The way I used them was for interpreting reading.  Teachers each had a reading selection.  Then they used the must-ache you a question samples to speak with others around the room.  This got everyone out of their seats and talking about the text.

Feel free to download templates in English and Spanish below.  Enjoy!