Workshop 1: Radio Drama from Vision to Product Susan Holbein

eTwinning workshops 30th March 2012 1

Friday 30 th March 2012.

Workshop 1: Radio Drama From Vision to Product – Susan Holbein

In the classroom we can use simple things to produce sounds and elicit imagination in our students’ mind. They can imagine a story. Every student will have a different story, hearing the same sounds, depending on the students’ lives, experiences and upbringing.

Examples of sounds:-  2 dishwashing sponges rubbed against each other from the rough side  striking a belt on a table  rubbing plastic cups against each other  shaking a wheat bag  moving round marbles in a shoe cardboard box  ringing a bicycle bell

During this workshop, Ms Holbein asked us to close our eyes and imagine what we are hearing to form a story in our minds.

The second part of this workshop was a roleplay. She gave us a script with some parts missing to be filled in by the actors. She asked 5 persons to participate. All participants were from different countries. They had to act like one person was traveling around Europe but she gets very hungry and wants to buy something to eat. Every other person is a seller and they answer her in different languages. So every participant is practicing a. languages b. acting c. different money d. different food from the different countries.

Then the lecturer showed us how to edit the recording using wavelab software that is not free but has to be bought for 150euros.

How I would use it in my teaching:

I would use radio drama as a creative and innovative activity in Biology. I would ask them to imagine themselves as different organisms and create a role play talking to each other and asking questions to each other. They would work in groups to write down the script, and then we would record the roleplays and upload them on our wiki.

This workshop was very interesting as it made me think of many ideas how to make my lessons and teaching more interesting, stimulating and creative. I’m sure that if I use Radio Drama in my lessons, the students remember more the content of Biology, enjoy more the lessons and do better in exams! These ideas will surely help me more in my PRIMAS course of “Inquiry Based Learning”. The students can be asked to think, write their own scripts in groupwork and we record it in class. Edit it together and upload it at

Josephine Ebejer Grech eTwinning workshops 30th March 2012 2 the end of the lesson in my wiki to listen to it again at home as revision. I think that this technique will not only be stimulating and interesting, but will also help me have more class control and quiet in class because of the recordings!

Workshop 2: Mobile Technology and Pupil Led Projects – by Paddy Carroll.

Sometimes in technology, students are much ahead of us. Ask the students to find apps on the mobile related to the topic and download them on their mobiles. e.g. The teacher did a topic “Our Space Our Environment” with his students. They talked about pollution, measures how to reduce pollution and care for the environment. The students were asked to find apps and install them on their mobiles to use them for this project. Examples of apps that they used were:

 Our Home – home design – to design the perfect home for themselves  Pottery – simulations of pottery work to decorate their Home  Sculptor pro – to create sculptors  Drawing pad – to draw and create the paintings for their home  Art authority – to do paintings

After that the students designed and decorated their home, they were asked about environmental friendly measures to reduce pollution. In my Biology lessons, such activity would be good to do during the topic “Management of Resources” when we tackle pollution.

There are many apps that the students can use example  Music  Create a car  Morris c.  iFish pond  garden  photocollage  faceshift  photobooth

Then the lecturer described an app called Aurasma. This is pynchonic and used for augmented reality. He showed us how using this app, he places his mobile phone over a twenty euro note and when the app recognizes the flag of the EU the mobile finds the national anthem of EU and starts playing it. We can use this app with students in an activity he showed us: we prepare several photos on the mobile and the students have to play treasure hunt to find from where the photos were taken. Whenever the aurasma app recognizes a photo, the mobile reacts in a different way.

I wouldn’t use this workshop in my lessons as my students are not allowed to bring mobiles with them at school. However I can ask them to bring their mobile when we go

Josephine Ebejer Grech eTwinning workshops 30th March 2012 3 on fieldwork and we can play the treasure hunt with this app when I take several pictures of several flowers / other species, and the students have to find these species and see how the mobile reacts to them.

Workshop 3: Web 2.0 Tools.

Naghmlu ghada ghax ghajjejt 12.05 ta’ bil-lejl.

 good night

Josephine Ebejer Grech