Sunday, February 19, 2012

Blog Post #4

globewithheadphones

I started this week's assignment with The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by: Joe Dale. In this video some of the benefits of podcasting in the classroom are described. Podcasting delivers radio quality instruction and content can be listened to any time and any where. Students now are what are known as Millenial students, or students born after 1980. These students have never experienced life without personal computers or technology. Innovative technology is part of their every day life. Podcasting is a form of learning students of today are familiar with, therefore making it relevant to them. Podcasting focuses on the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy and allows for creativity and innovation in the classroom. Teachers can use a project based learning approach where students are writing and then acting out the scripts, or teachers can record a lesson and students can play it back for review later. You can also use visuals to enhance student learning and this is called a vodcast. I really like the idea of using podcasts to help students not fall behind in their work when they have to be absent for school, or as a way to review material they aren't quite getting. It also allows for parents to hear and see what their children are learning at school.I think podcasting is a great way to challenge your students and can make learning fun. Another great thing about this video is the links at the end for tutorials to help you get started with podcasting.

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
I liked how Ms. Scharf started with the terms, told us what podcast meant, how it came about and what sites and software we could use to start our own . Then she gave seven tips to success on using podcast in the classroom. She told us to start with making sure we learn the software which in theory is common sense but can be over looked by thinking on the lines of learning as we go. She also provides some terrific tips for allowing students to create their own podcast and making it a success. To let students make the decisions on, who they want to work with, their topics, and giving them a time frame. Then Ms. Scharf broke down a time frame of how to teach students how to make their own podcast.The You Tube video "How to Create Your Own Podcast" was very helpful and I will be using this as a reference when I make my podcast. Ms. Scharf provided an abundance of information from topics to project formats for when I have my won students one day!

Podcasting with First Grade
On the Langwitches blog A first grade class had really enjoyed listening to a second grade podcast on animals. They loved that the second graders had received so many comments from teachers around the world.They were enthusiastic and eager to record their own voices to get them “into other people’s computers and iPods” too. Their teacher had started reading a chapter book called Vacation under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne from the Magic Tree House series with them.The idea was to pretend that they were interviewing Jack and Annie, the two main characters, about their latest adventure that had taken them to Pompeii. They read and then discussed each chapter as a class. The teacher then took the questions and answers the students came up with in the discussions. They used this as a script and then recorded the questions and answers. She rotated all students to be either the interviewer, Jack (boys) and Annie (girls). Then had them record several segments as a class chant together (ex. gasping, “no children allowed”), which they seemed to enjoy very much. She would let several students at a time come to the back of the class and record directly into Garageband, while the other students were silently working or reading a book.
The teacher was astounded at how engaged the students were with this activity, even going so far as to ask to edit and re-record parts of their recordings so that they were perfect. Furthermore, the students loved listening to themselves while following along with the script. This is a great activity to engage students and encourage them to be creative. This also helps students gain a more in depth learning experience because they are teaching concepts to others.

3 comments:

  1. Tina,

    Good, detailed post. However, be sure to proof read your blog post before publishing because I found a few grammatical errors. Otherwise, keep up the good work!

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  2. Hey Tina,
    I enjoyed reading your blog this week and look forward to more from you. My only suggestion would be to proofread it before you post it and add some clickable links, so that I am able to explore them for myself.

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  3. Hey Tina!

    I am really impressed with how thorough of a job you did with this post! I especially liked what you said about the podcasts... I really enjoyed that article because it helped me understand what a podcast is and gave real life examples. It is definitely something I am going to use in my classroom because I know how excited my kids will be when they show their parents and other students around the world. You did an excellent job! I like how you explained what each post was about as well. My only suggestion is you might want to give more of your opinion about the things you read rather than just summarizing. But it was so nice to meet you and I enjoyed reading what you wrote! Best of luck on your journey through life!

    -Sarah Clever

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