Partner Practice Synchronous Lesson

Having made the decision to extend my Asynchronous Lesson on a Speech to Persuade for this next unit, I needed to refine my focus. As I see it, the hardest part of teaching online will be helping students in a performance area. This influenced my choice to work with students on employing the 5 Essential Vocal Tools and giving them examples to share aloud with each other. This would give other students the chance to offer feedback to their cohorts and we could model how we give that feedback.

My partner and I picked each other fairly early. We both respect each other’s work and this offered a chance for us to collaborate. I will admit, Jim’s desire to work in Adobe Connect both excited and scared me at the same time. I was pretty nervous about raising the stakes. Jim offered to go first, having used Adobe Presenter for his Asynchronous Lesson and he felt he could at least get us going.

Our first meeting, run by Jim, was pretty impressive. Jim did not disappoint and showed off his lesson while sharing his knowledge of the Adobe Connect platform. Through collective fooling around, we each discovered attributes of the system and we shared freely.

Our subsequent practice sessions were filled with collective sharing of new facets of the tools. We explored using our iPhones and discovered the limitations of that device as well. This particular discovery caught my wife’s attention and she became interested in the project. She wants to use this in her work as her new command is spread over multiple shifts. Having a platform where her staff can attend meetings no matter where they are would prove beneficial.

A former student of mine, Noel Hoffmann, from RJ Reynolds HS class of 88 has offered to be my online student. This student is now an English teacher at the high school level. My wife has offered to be my back up as well. Having Noel has my student will achieve the same as having Jim as my partner. It raises the stakes and I must elevate my game.

My practice link is here.