Podcasting
It might be a good idea to start off by letting everyone
know what podcasting is. A podcast is a
recorded audio file, which is saved and then made available for sharing with
others. A media specialist by the name of Kristin Fontichiaro brought up the
correlation between podcasting and an activity that we children of the 80’s and
90’s used to do frequently. What was
this activity? Well, we used to record
our voices on cassette tapes and play back to others. I particularly like to make my parents suffer
through my attempts at singing but the idea is still the same between this type
of recording our thoughts on a cassette tapes and today’s high tech use of
podcasts. Now, we do everything digitally and are able to share to a wider
audience.
Today’s podcasting capabilities allow students to venture
into new ways of learning and delivering materials. Students can now easily record their voices
on hand held devices in classes and be able to share their project with others
via email or other electronic methods.
How neat is this for a classroom teacher or a media specialist? Think of the projects that could be
done. With the audio editing
capabilities allowed, students and educators could add sound effects or theme
music to their podcasts. Students in a
classroom could perform lines from a play and add their own soundtrack to it or
students in a media center could record their thoughts on a book and load it to
the media center’s website. There are
many uses for podcasting in today’s classrooms!
Schools are now using podcast to let their communities know
what is going on in the school. My local
high school, middle schools, and elementary schools record weekly podcasts as a
group and present this on YouTube. It is
a good way to unite the community. Some
schools use podcasting as a way to share lessons that are happening at the
school. An example is from Willdale
Elementary School in Omaha Nebraska that uses students to cover lessons. The podcast on this site are a great use of
the material and the student’s thoughts and opinions. And this site has a ton of podcasts! If you haven’t checked out what a podcast
sounds like, this would be a good site to experience one. Check out http://mps.wes.schoolfusion.us/ and
click on the “Radio WillowWeb” tab. You
won’t be sorry!
As mentioned earlier, media specialist could use podcasting
for book reviews or booktalks. This
would be a great way to get students involved in the media center and possibly
getting students excited about what their fellow students are reading. It is an easy way to keep a school up to date
on what the library has to offer!
I teach at a middle school and at this age (and most other
ages) kids love to hear themselves and have endless amounts of things to say
about topics. Podcasts would great way
to get students involved and to get them talking about what they’ve
learned. Maybe you have a shy student
who would feel more comfortable doing an oral assignment on a podcast and then
share with the class. Ideas like that
could give students confidence when it comes to public speaking by getting used
to hearing their voice out loud with their peers.
If you want to get started on podcasting, there are plenty
of sites available. Some of the software
is free, like Audacity or Podifier but others require payment so
research the sites to make sure what would be the best option for your
school. Help bring your classes into the
world of podcasting by making sure to check out the different website available
and using them to improve student learning!
Yes, Layla, I remember recording on casette tapes, also. In fact, I have an ancient one of my sister and I goofing around in the 70's. Unfortunately, I tried it about 10 years ago, and it would no longer play. What I would give to hear that again! It is so awesome to think that podcasts that are made today, will be preserved forever.
ReplyDeletePodcasts are definitely a great way to keep parents informed (and entertained) by what is going on at their child's school. I loved your idea of having a podcast of students performing a play. In my elementary classroom, I loved using reader's theater with my students. Many times I thought about inviting parents, but that seemed to make it too formal, and a lot more work, not to mention the upset students whose parents were not able to make it to the school during the day. It would have been a wonderful option to make podcasts of reader's theater performances, and make those available for parents on a class website. I think that it would also help students tremendously to hear themselves reading, and that it would prompt them to work on their fluency and expression. Come to think of it, having a podcast of a student reading would be a great asset for a parent conference. This could be used to showcase a student's reading proficiency, or to point out where they need improvement. I have definitely been enlightened about the wonderful world of podcasts!
Great idea to record a student reading! It would be a visual tool for a parent/teacher conference, and also helpful for the librarian teacher to review & refer to, to pick up cues that may be missed in order to identify areas of reading difficulty.
ReplyDeleteLayla, I appreciate your comment about having a shy student utilize a podcast as a bridge towards confidence in public speaking. Wonderful idea!
ReplyDeleteI also teach in a middle school and you see the number of readers decrease through their middle school years. At our school our Language Arts teachers have to teach the ELA portion of the CRCT as well as the Reading standards. Not a lot of time is left for pleasure reading and AR points. Students are now more into technology than ever! I loved a lot of Layla's ideas and that made me think of QR codes and podcasts. What if the media specialist has new books labeled with QR codes? Students can use their device to check the QR code and it will take them to a podcast about the book. I think this would be a great idea for teachers to use in the classroom as well. The teacher's podcasts can go over a particular lesson the students are studying that day. This will get the students motivated by using technology and get them reading and learning at the same time!
ReplyDeleteYour blog gave me so many good ideas and made me think of things that I had completely forgotten about (such as recording myself and others on cassettes). During undergrad I used to take a digital recorder to class with me to record the lectures just in case I needed to go back and listen to something again for a better understanding. Podcasts would be a great tool for our teachers to use to do this for our students. Teachers could create podcasts of their lessons in maybe a condensed “cliff notes” version for students to refer to when they are at home and need some extra help. These podcasts would also be useful to parents who are trying to help their children, but are unsure of the methods that are being used now in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI also really liked the community podcast idea and thought maybe we could do a school podcast (like a school radio show). We do not have a morning show in our elementary school due to time just not being there, but if we did a podcast we could do it once a week and students could listen to it whenever they had time during the week. We are fortunate to have some iPods and iPods available to each classroom teacher and this would be a great way to utilize them without spending lots of money (thanks for the free apps).
Finally I absolutely love the book talk idea. This is an idea that I have been pushing around my brain for a while trying to figure out how I would like for the students to complete it. I am now thinking that we could possibly put QR codes on the backs of books that have been reviewed and then link them to the podcasts. When students see the QR codes they will know that they can listen to other student’s reviews on that book and decide whether or not it is a good choice for them.
Great resources and ideas!