Blog Post #4

Podcast Collection

Judy Scharf's article Podcast Collection offered a lot of helpful information on creating your own podcast. First, what is a podcast? A podcast is a radio style talk show that may include music. You can access it through an MP3 player or an iPod from iTunes or a podcast hosting service. Podcasts can provide information about any topic to be shared with millions of people over the internet.

Mrs. Scharf also lists several tips to succeed when creating your own podcast. Of course first you should make yourself very familiar and comfortable with the software you will be using. Next, you should give your students a choice of topics and let them choose who they want to work with. Third, provide each group with examples of other podcasts to listen to for ideas. Finally, include a list of criteria for research and allow plenty of time to complete the project. Keep in mind that it will probably take longer than you expected.

After all of that is completed you a sure to have several podcasts that you should present to the principal and other school faculty. I will be sure to keep these tips and tricks in mind when helping my future students create a podcasts. I plan to have a class blog to post the podcasts so that parents and other people can see the progress in our classroom.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom

Joe Dale starts his video, The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom, by saying that podcasting is an effective way of interacting with students outside of the traditional classroom. Mr. Dale offers several benefits of podcasting that I will briefly discuss. Podcasting allows for differentiation in the classroom. You can record a lesson and students can play it back and listen to it. This is helpful because if you're like me you don't always catch everything your teacher says the first time. Students can also write the scripts and act out the podcast which encourages creativity and innovation.

One very helpful benefit to podcasts is that you can listen to them anytime and anywhere. For instance, if you miss class because you are sick you can easily stay on track with class by listening to the podcast lessons. This way you won't fall behind. It is very easy for a teacher to upload a podcast to a website or blog for parents and students to listen to and generate responses. Students in Mr. Harry Dell's class at L. Douglas Wilder Middle School say they enjoy the podcasts for many reasons. A few of these reasons include: it is exciting and they love the sound effects of their stories, and because it is fun keeps the attention they learn more.

Podcasts allows for project based learning and encourages students to use their higher order thinking skills which is what teacher strive for. Also, it is an opportunity for parents to communicate, be more involved, and know what is going in their child's classroom. I will definitely introduce podcasting in my classroom when I become a teacher. It seems like a great tool to get students motivated and more involved.

Podcating with First Grade

I found the post Podcasting with First Grade on the Langwitches Blog to be very interesting. It discusses how to get children involved and what motivates them. According to the post, the students are "enthusiastic and eager to record their own voices to get them into other people's computers and iPods." Come on, who wouldn't? It kind of makes you a mini celebrity, right? Children love that kind of attention.

This post describes the students' involvement while making a podcast of the book they were reading at that time. After reading each chapter the students discussed what was happening. Their teacher then typed up their questions and answers and the students used this as a script to record their podcast. The teacher said that many students took a real liking to editing their podcasts and became quite picky about making sure it was perfect. Also, it helped the shy and reserved students to come out of their shell and interact with the other students.

The teacher said she could see a huge improvement in the students' confidence levels and voice expression as they got further in the book. When they were done, the students couldn't wait to the finished project. As a plus, podcasts help to improve skills like listening, speaking, storytelling, comprehension, technology, and oral fluency. I found this post inspiring and gave me many ideas on how to incorporate podcasting into my future classroom. I can't wait to try it out!