C4T #4 Mr. Miguel Guhlin

For my final C4T I had “Mr. Miguel Guhlin”. The first post I read by him was entitled “Podcasting Tool for K-3 Students with the Easi-Speak Microphone”. This post was about Learning Resources Easi-Speak digital audio recorder.
Here's a quick video overview of the device from Mr. Guhlin’s blog…
• Has 4 hours of "battery" power stored up by connecting to USB.
• You have 128 megabytes of storage space on the onboard USB drive
• Records directly to MP3 instead of WMA like other digital audio recorders, eliminating the need for audio conversion.
• The microphone comes with an introductory audio file and
• Includes the Windows version of Audacity free open source software
• You can get an Easi-Speak charging hub for multiple microphones
• Audio-playback immediately lets you hear what the recording was like
• Easy recording and playback buttons make it easy for 5 year olds to use

This new technology seems like a great tool to use in a classroom. It is a great way to get kids interacting and learning more. It is also great for kids to be introduced to kids at a young age.


The second post a read was entitled “Demotivating Staff-How to Avoid it”. In this post Mr. Guhlin posted a “video” by Mr. Jim Collins that outlined three ways to avoid de-motivating workers. But What demotivates workers? Mr. Collins says:
“Hype: a failure to acknowledge the real difficulties the organization faces.
Futurism: Always “pointing down the road” at distant goals and not at the tangible results of employees’ recent efforts.
False democracy: Inviting people’s input when you’ve already made up your mind.”

Mr. Guhlin states three ways to avoid demotivating your staff:
“1) Confront the brutal facts.
2) Disagree and Commit prior to making the decision
3) Show people what's working as it's happening.”

Even though this post and video was driven towards employers and employees, I feel it could also be used for a classroom setting. If a problem arises in your classroom, you should confront it when it happens. Teachers should stick to their first decisions and not change them, if possible. Also, as a teacher it is always important to let your students know they are doing a good job.