mic'd up! (schoolife 5)

when i first thought about our project, i though about video and pictures and images of our students and teachers. i thought about personal and public moments that could show our subjects crossing and passing. that could show their excitement or anger or sadness in the bodies and faces.

i feel like radio is a little harder that way. for example, you can't show characters or connections in the same way. believe it or not, you can see silence more easily than you can hear it. you can hear direct
silence: one person asks a question and there is no answer. but how can you hear a distant student tuning out? how do you hear the long spaces of silence in our full day?

our sound (and how we develop our sound) is the thing. we've been trying to research and test different
equipment that will give us a strong, quality sound that reflects our authentic environment and is consistent across subjects and situations.

to help test our sound, i've recorded my own life the past few days.  i'm definitely down for the project.  still, you notice how things are different.   how the sound is different on microphones and speakers than it is in our ears.  how you're different, too.

you're much more aware of what you say, at times.  for sure, you forget a lot, and most conversations are mostly natural.  but you can see, still, that you make subtle choices in language that are different.

i have to be more aware, i guess.  in ways, i think that's good.  it reminds me to be better than i am. it's like a student teacher in that way.  because i know that i have to lead another teacher, i try to sharpen my ideas and my lessons.  i make all of my choices, but i know that the presence of a student teacher helps me make better choices.

although, it also reminds me that it's artificial.  i mean, it's not a completely authentic account of what every day is like.

of course, there is no everyday either, right?