Blog Assignment #4

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom The benefits of a podcast in a classroom is a new idea to me. I really was not sure what the purpose was, until I watched this video. This video shows that a podcast can be used in the classroom in two different ways. One way is the teacher records the podcast and makes it available to the students for review. I think this is great if a student were to miss class due to illness, then they would be able to listen to the podcast and not be too far behind in their studies. Another way the podcast can be used is student learning approach. This is where the students were able to get hands on and wrote their own scripts for the podcast. I think what I'll take from this video, for my own podcast, is knowing the capabilities of making my podcast creative and entertaining. No one would want to listen to a monotone podcast. It needs to be interesting!

Podcast Selection If you are new to the idea of podcast, like I was, this is a perfect place to start. Judy Scharf does a tremendous job on explaining what a podcast is, as well as giving examples on how to do it and how to assign a podcast to your students. There is a link to a video on TeacherTube that is a great podcast about podcasts! The best thing that I got from this video is that when you are recording your podcast, remember that you are not just recording a lecture, make it interesting and make the listener want to finish the entire podcast.

 1st Graders Create Their Own Read Along Audio Book The detailed explanation of the experiment is great. A classroom of first graders were divided up to create a script for a chapter book that they were reading. The best part of this podcast, that the students made, was how excited the students were to do this. I've never really thought about how they would enjoy it until now. The post explained how excited the students got and how creative they got when it came to how their voices sounded and how they wanted to edit their scripts on the SmartBoard. I am a huge fan of hands on activities, so this sits well with me! Anytime a child is excited about learning is something that should be repeated. It looks like podcasts are the way to go. When doing my own podcast, I want to play around with some of the same effects that these students got to do. I want to get familiar with Garangeband. Now I am looking forward to do my own podcasts!