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!
Tools and more

capturing_sound_for_students_artifacts.docx |
Feedback tools
- 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?