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| The Campaign for Visual and Active Classrooms |
| "I want to give my students interesting stuff on CD. Many of my students don't have access to the Internet. Help me get them access to mp3 files and educational videos." -- Steve McCrea Visual and Active teacher and tutor, who needs donations of blank CDs and permission to make copies of mp3 files |
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| Start a CD Give-away program in your school or in your classroom CLICK HERE for suggestions |
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| You are now ready to start a CD Give-away program in your school or in your classroom |
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| Our Book Mentor The Big Picture We recommend Littky's book about "Education is Everybody's Business." especially pages 62-68 |
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| The ON THE MEDIA Compact Disk and the CD Give-away Program Suggestions for using On the Media podcasts in the classrooms Hey, don’t listen to this CD. it has terrible information on it. That’s what I put on the outside of the CD. Of course, some students will actually follow insturctyions, so I put a different label on the same CD: “Some of the mp3 files on this CD are the most inspiring pieces of radio that I’ve ever heard. You will find SAT words and really useful information along with transcripts. Write ten sentences that you hear on the broadcast and then use the transcripts to check your spelling.” IN THE CLASSROOM 1. Use an iPod or mp3 player. HUH!? In many schools, digital audio devices are BANNED. (And yet, in college, many lectures are provided on mp3 files so that the material can be reviewed, an extra study aid for audio learners). Go ahead, teacher – set an example. Put something educational on that iPod. 2. Give away the CDs. If you wait, you can find CDs for sale at $15 for 100 – at 15 cents each, you can transform a child’s experience … why not download some texts from Gutenberg.org and add them to the files that you like from this CD and create your own “Free CD for Extending the Learning.” I call it my “Get Ahead” CD. 3. Carry the CD. Be read to give away and show the kids how you use the CD. IT’s a hot idea. If you see a computer, leave a CD behind. The label can make the project see more important, especially if it reads: “100 books plus Podcasts from OnTheMedia.org – Make a copy of this CD – pass it on.” That’s why this CD isn’t JUST mp3 files. There are important references here, too. As a teacher, it’s helpful to have religious documents and constitutional documents available to double check the literary references. Who says the Bible and the Koran don’t belong in school? How many classrooms have 100 copies of the Declaration of Independence? And just for good measure, 4. Build your own CD. I’ve added a video to this CD to explain just these ideas, just in case some people don’t take time to “READ THIS file FIRST”… 5. Let the students see the transcripts. Let them practice writing dictations and then let them check their spelling with the transcripts. HAND THE CD TO THE PARENT Dear Parent, You can select programs from this CD to put on your child’s iPod or mp3 player. Some of the programs are boring, or aimed at voters who care, so your child might want to skip those. Suggestion: Put this CD on the home computer and just hit play … while you walk around the room and do other chores, let the issues of the day pass in front of you. If you have a segment that is not useful for you, use the computer screen to move to the next article. You can follow along by looking at the You can also get more of these mp3 files by going to the Internet at www.onthemedia.org and click on ARCHIVES. You can download past shows for continued listening. Podcasts can be a way to introduce difficult and complex topics to your home. When you hear a segment that you think your child will find interesting, note the time on the play clock on your computer’s media player software. Take a note of the difficult words and tell a story about each word so that your child has an idea what “disparaged” or “vicarious” means. Then find the start of the story and listen to it again with your child, perhaps with significant or difficult words written on paper in front of you. Now that you have found a cool web site with podcasts, why not download other podcasts? Volunteers are needed to write to the podcast owners to request permission to burn the podcasts onto CDs. On The Media.org kindly allowed these podcasts to be placed on this CD for educational purposes. This CD can be copied and given to friends. Go ahead, spread the information. TO THE TEACHER WHO IS READING THIS WEB SITE If you would like a copy of any of the ON THE MEDIA CDs that I've compiled, send me 4 first-class stamps (4 x 39 cents) to cover the cost of the mailer (60 cents), the postage (60 cents) and the cost of the CD (15 cents). Or just download the files from On the Media.org and Gutenberg.org. Select your choice of texts and mp3 files and feel free to adapt this web page’s wording to your needs. Send me your comments – if you have suggestions, I’ll post them in this space below…. Suggestions go in this space |
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| Don't Listen To This CD IT HAS TERRIBLE INFORMATION ON IT |
| LABELS I've found that when I hand-write a label with permanent ink, the students and parents don't respect the CD much... When I have a printed label on the outside, they say, "ooooh!" The label can be photocopied, 2 cm by 4 cm, but the main idea is that you did not hand-write it. COVERS I spend $1 on a wallet that holds 12 CDs. I found one at Target.com. Put the first CD in that Wallet and you will have a better chance of making sure the parents and students grow their CD library. If you are handing out the CD, fold a typical sheet of paper (8.5 inches by 11 inches or 21 cm by 27 cm) in an attractive way. I have tried stapling corners and it sometimes looks attractive. Trust me, I am NOT fussy about appearances, but there is a greater chance of success in adopting the mp3-CD way of life if the item is attractive. Give the CDs every two months. You know you have success when a child approaches your desk and says, "I'm ready for the next CD -- you give one out every two months, right?" |
| Many thanks to two of my mentors, Dennis Yuzenas (Mr. CD and the FIRST EBOOK ON CD in Florida youtube.com/watch?v =XAYpAvelYLc) ...and Dennis Littky |
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| Well, for students who don't have a problem with authority.... in other words, for students who follow directions, I created a second label for the same CD... |
| LISTEN TO THESE FILES WITH YOUR PARENTS Some of the mp3 files on this CD are the most inspiring pieces of radio that I’ve ever heard. You will find SAT words. Write ten sentences that you hear on the broadcast and then use the transcripts to check your spelling. |
| What is on the "ON THE MEDIA" CD? Anything you want to download. That's the power that the OnTheMedia staff gave to us, teachers and parents. We can download any part of the web site and place the CD in our student's reach, in their computers or even (OH NO!) upload some mp3 files onto their mp3 players... Imagine the horror of finding out that "MY SPACE HAS BEEN VIOLATED! SOMEBODY PUT A NEWS PROGRAM ON MY IPOD!" ahhh, the joys of parenting... Suggested contents A short video explaining why the contents are there (words like "free speech" and "history" and "analysis" and "we don't want to repeat the mistakes of others" and... might be heolpful) Text books from Gutenberg.org Cool photos from the internet The US Constitution and Bill of Rights for quick reference How about some mp3 files from ON THE MEDIA? Label the CD with "OTM" and dates of the downloads. Be sure to download the individual transcripts to help the student read through what might be interesting. Suggestions? write to me at s2314@tmail.com Steve McCrea Tutor Education Specialist Web guy 954 646 8246 |
| WE HEART ONTHEMEDIA.org |