How to Make a Pop Screen For Podcasting

For the past six months, I have been co-hosting a weekly podcast called The Tightwad Teacher. In addition to getting the opportunity to speak with all kinds of cool folks from around the globe, the experience has given me a chance to reflect on my own speaking skills. After each show is published, I listen back and grimace over every "um," "ah," and other lapses in good diction.

I also focus on the audio quality of the recording. Much of this is out of my hands as the sound is only as good as that particular Skype connection, but I recently became aware of the dreaded popping P and hissing S sounds that seem to plague some recordings. Keeping with the tightwad ethos of the podcast as well as some of my recent posts (like this one and this one), I decided to see if I can make a pop screen to remedy this recording problem.

Below is my easy tutorial for making a pop screen with junk you may have laying around your house.

Materials:

• Plastic coffee can (I used Folgers, but any will do)
• 1 Pair of women's nylon stockings (I bought a pair at the Dollar Store, but an old ripped pair will work just as well)
• A few rubber bands
• 1 magnetic clip
• 1 stand (I used an extra microphone stand, but you can get creative and use whatever you have that can serve as a base)

Step 1: Using a knife or sharp pair of sheers, cut the lip off the plastic coffee can. This will serve as the frame for the pop screen.


Step 2: Cut both legs off of the stockings. Slide the coffee can frame into the stockings and then twist both ends to make the nylon taught over the frame. Rubber band each end and then trim any remaining nylon.


Step 3: Attach the magnetic clip to your newly assembled pop screen. My base was metal, so the magnet held it firmly in place without much need for adjustment.


Alternative construction: If you do not have a magnetic clip or microphone stand handy, you can easily fasten the pop screen to a box using a few safety pins pushed through the nylon and into the cardboard. It won't look as pretty as mine, but it'll do the trick!

Once your pop screen is fully assembled, simply place it between you and your microphone. I've tested mine out, and there is a noticeable reduction in pops and hisses - I can't wait to try it out during my next podcast interview!

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How to Create Soundboards Without Flash

I just finished an annual expressive writing unit with my 7th graders where they studied old time radio plays to learn about the importance of description, details, and imagery in dialogue. After listening to several examples, students are put into groups and then collaborate to write their own authentic radio play. To add to this authenticity, students also integrate sounds effects to help enhance the imagery of their plays.

In the past, I've struggled with how to handle these sound effects. There are plenty of sites with free wav and mp3 files, but the actual method for playing these can be difficult to coordinate with a live performance. But this year, I had an idea. What if it was possible to create soundboards for each group?

Soundboards are (usually flash) web applications with buttons that link to brief sound clips. They are typically the weapon of choice for juvenile prank phone calls, but I decided they would also be great tools for our radio play performances. My first instinct was to coerce my super-tech brother into creating a customizable flash file for each group. This would have gotten the job done, but with far more effort on my part than necessary. Fortunately, I then had a much easier idea – PowerPoint.

I personally despise PowerPoint as a presentation tool, but it turns out the program makes a great soundboard. The performances were a success and the sound effects flowed seamlessly. This tool can be integrated into any kind of performance, oral reading, or skit – even schools where students run morning announcements could find use in this simple method of adding sounds to a project.

Here are directions for creating a soundboard in either OpenOffice or PowerPoint. Feel free to use my template – download it here.

1. Open a new file.


2. If you're not using my template, use the shape tool to create “buttons” that students will click to trigger the sound.


3. Right click on the shape and choose “action settings” in PowerPoint or “Interaction” in OpenOffice.


4. Browse for the file that you wish to add to the soundboard.


5. When all of your sounds have been added to the soundboard, view the slideshow and your buttons should now be able to be clicked to play the correct sound.

The Interaction menu in OpenOffice Impress

Action Settings in PowerPoint

A Few Hints

• Create a small wav file with a few seconds of silence (Audacity can do this quickly and easily) and add to the soundboard as a “stop sound” button. This way students can control how long a clip is played.


• Wav files can be embedded in the file. This makes it easy to manage the soundboard, but it can also make the file very large. MP3 files do not embed but create relative links within the presentation. This means the actual file is small, but must remain in the relative location to the sound files. (If all of this is confusing, you may just want to stick with using wav files. Free software like Format Factory can convert mp3 to wav for your soundboard.


• There are tons of websites for free sound effects, but I've had the most luck with Wavcentral, Soundjay, Soundzabound, and Freeplaymusic. When in doubt, google works wonders.

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Create a Podcast Studio in the Classroom for under $200

A few years ago, I created and ran a short range radio station at my middle school. In the most basic of senses, it was just a series of podcasts that were programmed to play on an empty FM radio channel. The experience taught me a few valuable lessons:

1. The power of audio is extremely powerful when used correctly. It is captivating and engaging.


2. Students take producing audio very seriously. After the initial “do I really sound like that?!” comments, they buckle down and focus on important aspects of oral reading such as inflection, meter, and pronunciation.


3. The broadcast over the radio was not nearly as popular as the mp3 uploads for each show. Students preferred listening to each other on the computer or through an iPod or MP3 player.

It is because of the last lesson that I don’t run the radio anymore, but I have certainly taken the wealth of experience I gained from the radio station and use it regularily in my classroom. Considering their educational value, student interest, and relative ease of creation, it’s amazing that podcasts are not part of every classroom. The reason for this is most likely because teachers get caught in the details of the equipment before they ever have a chance to publish their first podcast. Sometimes technology is its own worst enemy.

So today’s post has a simple purpose – remove the technology from the equation so that podcasting can be used in the classroom. For under 200 bucks, you can create a podcasting studio that is equipped to handle multiple students recording conversations, plays, oral readings, book reviews, etc.

Assumptions:

• That you have a computer or laptop


• You have some general understanding of Audacity (If you don’t, here’s a tutorial)


• You know what to do with the podcast after it is created

What you need:

Everything on this list can be found at Musician’s Friend. By ordering it together, you will be eligible for free shipping. This setup will accommodate three students recording at the same time (it is better to have a microphone for each student so you can control their individual volume levels).

1. Behringer Eurorack UB1202 Mixer $79.99
   This connects to the computer through USB and will allow for each microphone (or channel as it’s called in the “biz”) to be controlled separately.
   
2. Musician's Gear 5 Pack Windscreens $9.49
   These windscreens fit over the microphone and will help keep students from “popping” their Ps and breathing heavily while recording. These screens will greatly improve the quality of the recording at very little cost to you.
   
3. Audio-Technica M4000S Microphone 3-Pack $49.99
   Are these the best microphones? Not really – but they’ll get the job done and are ideal for podcasting. I would suggest upgrading to something in the Shure line if you plan to record instruments/music.
   
4. Musician's Gear Lo-Z Microphone Cable $4.49 (x3)
   The length of cable will depend on the physical location of the computer and where you expect students to be sitting during recording. The 15 cables are less than 5 bucks and should be long enough for most situations. Don’t forget to buy three of them!
   
5. Musician's Gear Tripod Desk Mic Stand with Clip $12.99 (x3)
   Mics are suprisingly sensitive and often put up the sounds of hand movements and vibrations when held during recording. The easy solution are these cheap microphone stands. Buy three!
   

There you have it – your very own classroom recording studio. All for the low price of $191.91.

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Introduction to Podcasting for Teachers

A colleague and friend of mine pulls double duty as both a literacy specialist in my building and a professor for Niagara University, which is located a few miles down the road. Every semester she convinces me to come in to give a guest presentation on something related to technology integration.

I've flirted with the idea of teaching at the college level, so I take it as good practice. It's a good opportunity for me to pass on some of my own experiences to folks that can hopefully benefit from my trials and tribulations. What can I say? I also love being the center of attention.

I'm planning on presenting early next month on Web 2.0 tools that promote literacy across all content areas (if you have some good ideas, please leave them in the comments!), but while hunting through my old presentation files, I stumbled upon this one. Several years ago I presented on how to use podcasts in the classroom. Before getting into the why, I wanted to make sure everyone understood the what and the how. I made this handout as a resource for teachers looking to explore the possibilities of podcasts.

Hopefully it's valuable to you.

Introduction to Podcasting for Teachers

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Audio Books in the Classroom

Last night @nbteacher sent out a tweet alerting his followers to Lit2Go – an audio book repository created and maintained by the University of Southern Florida. It's a collection of famous poems, short stories, and larger works that have fallen into the public domain and therefore free to use and share without the fear of copyright infringement. Lit2Go took these works and had them recorded as downloadable MP3 audio books.
I find audio books to be much less interesting than real books. It’s just not the same, like having someone retell a movie. Sure, you’d know what the movie was about, but few will dispute that it’s not the same thing as experiencing the feet-sticking-to-the-floor, greasy-popcorn-fingers joy of really being there first-hand.

Regardless, I can't help but think audio books have a place in the classroom. But where?

The mp3 recordings found on Lit2Go can be readily downloaded in printable, PDF format from popular public domain sites like Gutenberg.org. I spent much of the summer browsing this site and found a few good titles, but I wasn't sure what to do with them. Lit2Go gave me an idea.

Wouldn’t it be cool if students created their own repository of audio books similar to what USF has accomplished with Lit2Go. Not only would this transfer a sense of ownership to students, but it would give them real, authentic cause to practice reading fluency.

Good idea?

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How to Create a School Radio Station

A few years ago I created a descriptive writing unit using old time radio plays. They're great because events and actions have to be specifically explained for the listener to visualize what is happening. The only problem is that resources are difficult to come by – the heyday of radio is about 60 years past.

One evening while hunting for 40s-era broadcasting information, I stumbled on a hobby website that sold recreational short-range broadcasting units. The description said they were ideal for drive-in movie theaters, college campuses, and small communities. They were interesting, but irrelevant to what I was looking for, so I moved on.

I happened to run into my principal in the hall later that week and mentioned the transmitter to her. She emailed me a few hours later with instructions to order the equipment – I was now the advisor for the new school radio station.

The radio station is really nothing more than a glorified podcasting club. Everything is pre-recorded using a basic microphone/mixer setup and Audacity. The daily schedule is programmed into Zara Radio (a free auto-scheduling program) and then plays throughout the day. Students seem to enjoy it in the mornings during homeroom, and during free periods such as study hall. Teachers like it because they know it is safe in terms of content and language – something not guaranteed on regular top 40 radio.

The only difference between our radio station and your podcast is a $270 transmitter. A captive audience, student accountability, peer engagement – well worth the money if you ask me.


Of course, there's more to our radio than what I wrote about here. This post is more of a taste for those eager to look into the idea for themselves. The topic will likely come up in future posts, but for those wanting more info now, feel free to say so in the comments. I'd be happy to help out.

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