1. If you’re going to alter people’s voices to make girls sound like guys and guys sound like girls, subtle changes are best. If the changes are too dramatic, they just sound silly. Don’t change the pitch of the voice too much.
2. Subtle changes in the speed someone talks at change how you perceive their voice. A slighter faster voice sounds higher (and more feminine) and a slightly slower one sounds lower (and more masculine).
3. Audacity is limited in how many different tracks you can have in use at once. It seems to handle ten to 20 just fine, but some kids had more and we had to trim that down. If we didn’t the program would crash repeatedly. That was quite frustrating until I figured it out. None the less, considering the software is free and pretty easy to learn (and also comes in a portable version you can take with you) it’s pretty hard to complain.
4. This assignment was fun. Though it took a few weeks from beginning to end, the kids were usually pretty motivated. Even the kids who are often unmotivated didn’t complain. I either have an unusually eager bunch of kids this year, or researching and “interviewing” famous late, great Canadians is actually something that Grade 9 students enjoy.

Overall it was a great project and it will be repeated next year.

The last part is proving the hardest. Prior to my class, citations haven’t been emphasized so the students thought they only needed a bibliography or works cited and that was good enough. I’ve been pushing that to give credit for all direct quotes, borrowed ideas, or obscure facts by citing specific sources for specific facts.

Maybe we history teachers are a little more picky than language arts teachers, I don’t know, but I feel very uncomfortable if the kids don’t use citations. Is Grade 9 too early to teach them that?

Other than that, the project is proceding well. A few students are starting to record and are quite enthusiastic about everything. This is really great.

The first couple of days are simply a chance for the kids to find a topic that interests them. The real goal of this project is affective, and that is to build an appreciation, admiration and even a love of Canadian history. Consequently, this part of the project may actually be the most critical. To help them along, this year I’ve supplied the kids with several of my own books that relate the tales of great and often quirky Canadians ranging from Louis Cyr to Ethel Cathrwood. I’ve tried to provide suggestions to the students that tie famous Canadians into their own areas of interest. For example, to a basketball loving student I suggested J. Percy Page, coach of the Edmonton Grads.

We’re on the verge of some fun with this project. Stay tuned for updates in the days ahead.