Blog Post #4

Why Podcast? How do we do a Podcast?

I've never really thought about how podcasts could be used in the classroom, but after this assignment I feel like it's mandatory that I utilize this in my classroom. In the Langwitches blogpost, 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook, it gives a great example of how to get student's involved in the classroom by making their own audiobook. The teachers recorded the students reading, and also they recorded the script so the students could read along. The students got so involved through this method that they even wanted to re-record their voice when they didn't like they way they sounded. The recordings also lead the first grade student's to experiment with garageband. It impresses me that by combining the printed scripts with the audiobook the students followed along with their fingers. The student's learned reading skills, writing skills, and on top of those two they learned how to utilize technology.

The second Langwitches blog I read, Flat Stanley Podcast, continued to show the amazing benefits of using podcasts with a class. One of the first grade classes at Silvia Tolisano's school read the book Flat Stanley, by Jim Brown, and sent their own versions of Flat Stanley to their relatives and friends around the country and received images and stories back. The book is about a young boy named Stanley who get's flattened by a gift bulletin board his dad gives him. Stanley utilizes his flattened state by being mailed in an envelope to visit his friends.

The students were inspired by their fellow class that made the audiobook for the Magic Tree House and wanted to make their own recording for their version of Flat Stanley. The class had to brainstorm a storyline so that every student could have a segment. The students also had to choose a location they wanted to be mailed to, and they had to use the internet and library books to research the location they chose. The student's weren't spoon fed information by the teacher, instead they took the initiative and did the learning on their own. Brainstorming with fellow classmates will be vital for every student when they get into their profession and this assignment did a tremendous job of preparing them for that.

The third blog I chose to summarize was the Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale. The first thing to note is that podcasts provide a way of interacting with your students outside of the classroom. This is important because there is a limited amount of time you have with your students in the classroom, and podcasts can be listened to at any time and anywhere. Podcasts are also something students in this generation are familiar with due to the popularity of apple products like iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks. If I wanted to include visual effects I could do a vodcast, which is simply a podcast with video. Another benefit of using podcasts is that when students are out due to illness they will still have access to the lecture material from class. One of my favorite benefits would be the ability to put my podcasts into my blogs when I begin teaching. The benefits of podcasting are numerous and there aren't any negatives so I believe it's a no brainer that podcasting is something we as educators need to utilize.