Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2007 / St. Joseph students find their 'voice' on the Internet
St. Joseph students find their 'voice' on the Internet
Joe Kohn of The Michigan Catholic
Published November 16, 2007
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Jack Lyons and his seventh-grade classmates enjoy St. Joseph’s newly-equipped computer lab. Students at the school post podcasts on the school Web site to hone their verbal presentation and technological skills. |
Trenton — Nowadays, it's typically a hard-and-fast rule at grade schools that students and teachers stow their cellular phones during class time.
But last year, St. Joseph technology coordinator Patricia Sattler blew that rule to smithereens, pulled out her pink Motorola Razr, and let every student in the class check out one of its cool new features — podcasting.
"That was a big experiment," says Sattler, who got the idea while pursuing her master's degree at Madonna University in Livonia.
Podcasts are audio recordings that can be accessed over the Internet, and have become increasingly popular in U.S. households thanks to devices such as the Apple iPod. Sattler's phone could record podcasts and send them directly to the Internet, where students could then edit them.
As it turns out, the "experiment" evolved into a regular lesson plan for the school, which has a full schedule of podcasts to be created throughout the year. Only now, instead of using a simple cell phone, the students — thanks to a supportive administration and fundraising efforts by parents — have a newly equipped $33,000 computer lab to work with.
The podcasts are posted on St. Joseph's Web site, on a page called Radio STJOE. Various classes from the fourth grade up created presentations for the site, including a Christmas performance and poems; a presentation on hermit crabs, the fifth-grade class pet; a Halloween radio theatre; and an audio tribute to Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Patricia Sattler, technology coordinator at St. Joseph, Trenton, used her cellular phone to teach her students about podcasting on the Internet. |
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Ben Geierman plugs headphones into one of the new computers at St. Joseph school. |
The Web page also includes photos of each class creating their broadcasts.
The idea is to combine, through technology, several of the lessons students already are being taught. Students use their English skills to write scripts, their presentation skills to voice them, and their computer skills to edit them and put them on the Web.
"There's more digital stuff that's happening in the world," says seventh-grader John Gonzalez.
John's class last year made an audio presentation, accompanied by pictures, in a program called Photo Story. He says learning how to present his work through audio streams and visually on computers will serve him well both in high school and in business.
"It's good to do it at an early age," he says.
His classmate, Julia Augustyniak, agrees.
"When you get older, you might have a job and you might need to do that a lot," Julia says.
She was excited last year to create a presentation on how to draw a picture of her favorite animal.
"I showed how I draw my version of a cat," Julia says. "You got to pick out all kinds of colors and everything that you wanted to do. You got to hear your voice, and it was fun."
Keeping it fun is a main objective when it comes to technology, Sattler says.
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Joe Kohn | The Michigan Catholic
Seventh-graders Rachel Sattler and Ben Geierman work in the new computer lab at St. Joseph School. |
While students are getting involved in more complex computer programs at younger ages, she says the podcasts are something the students got behind and took pride in.
"It's just amazing to see how they pushed themselves to make a better product," Sattler says, adding that the students overcame some initial embarrassment about having their classmates hear their recorded voices.
Principal Wanda Rovenskie says having students present themselves well is an important part of learning — and having them do it through technology is ideal.
"Technology is here, but you still have to communicate with people at times – so you have to be good at doing that verbally," says Rovenskie.
Plus, she adds, the students get excited when it comes to computer class, and that helps learning.
"What's nice is that when they know they're going for computer lessons, they get excited," she says. "The more excited they are, the more they can absorb."
Accordingly the school community has put its hard-earned fundraising dollars into technology.
Their new computer lab cost approximately $33,000 and is equipped with 26 computers, a new server to connect them on a network, audio equipment, and software such as Adobe Photoshop photo editing software and Microsoft Front Page software to create Web sites.
Sattler says the students are impressive in what they can handle and, as fun as the technology is for them, it's also important to learn.
"I have found it's fun to teach them the technology," she says. "But it is true that they really need to apply it."
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