Podcasts

Do your students need to work on their speaking skills? Do you have any auditory learners or learners with a high level of musical intelligence? Then podcasting is for you! Any assignment that involves speaking skills and many assignments that involve writing can be turned into podcasts. Allowing your students to create podcasts is another great way to broaden the audience for their work.

Podcasting ideas . . .

• Biography research: Do your students research a famous person or historical figure? Now they can pretend to be that person in an interview! Of course, there will need to be an interviewer and an interviewee, so this is a perfect opportunity for collaborative script writing as well as historical research.
• Debate: Do your students need practice supporting their ideas with evidence from their reading or research? They can prepare for a debate that will be recorded for a podcast. This debate could be about characters from a novel, about an event in history, or about a current event. The possibilities are endless!
• Creative writing: Now your students can practice oral storytelling as well as writing skills.
• Who said this had to be for students only? . . . Teachers and librarians can use podcasting, too! Booktalking via podcast allows the booktalk to be saved for students to peruse later or to peruse from home on a school Web site. Do you have any ELLs in your class? Record yourself reading a few key books so that they can listen as they learn to read English. Getting information through two senses may provide needed scaffolding.
• Sharing work: Share your podcasts by giving out the Web address for listening or allow your podcasts to be aggregated with an RSS or Atom feed.

Notes on implementation . . .

• Script writing and storyboarding: It is a good idea to have students write a script before they start looking for sound effects or working with the podcasting tools. After they have an idea of what they are going to say, they can create a “storyboard” that matches their words with any sound effects or background music.
• Remember to get parental and administrative permission before allowing students to post their work to the Web.
• Sound effects and background music: An Internet search for “free sound effects” or “free music” will turn up a good deal of audio information that is in the public domain. It’s a good idea to remind students what they can and cannot use before beginning podcasts.

Useful tools . . .

• PodBean.com
• GoogleReader (for listening to aggregated content)

(This is not an exhaustive list. If you know someone who uses a different tool, you might want to use the same one so that you have a local “go to” person.)

Equipment/software needed . . .

• computer with Internet connection
• microphone attachment/built in microphone for computer
• sound recording/editing software (If none comes free with your computer, try Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/.)

I would encourage you to read the post entitled “Getting started . . .” before diving in.


If you have had success with a lesson involving podcasting, please share your pearls of wisdom through a comment to this post!

Angela CMG

Blogging

Blogging in the classroom is versatile and easy to implement. Almost any assignment that involves writing can be transformed into a blog. Although blogs may seem technical at first glance, they are simply writing online for as big or as small an audience as the writer wishes to have.

Blogging ideas . . .

• Reflective writing: Do your students write reflections on what they’ve read? Do they reflect on their research? Instead of turning in a paper, have them post a blog.
• Creative writing: Now their stories can have a wider audience.
• Promote discussion: Do you have students partner up and share ideas? Are your students ever asked to comment on at least one other student’s work? Then have your students submit that work as a blog. The commenter can post his or her ideas below the original work.
• Who said this had to be for students only? . . . How many newsletters have you sent home only to find that they never made it there? The backpack wasn't zipped. The dog threw up on it, etc. Now newsletters can be easily accessed in one location . . . your blog!
• Share work: Do you need a more authentic audience for student work? Do you need a better way to share work with families? Share your blog by giving out the Web address and password for viewing or by allowing your blog to be aggregated with an RSS or Atom feed. (What is that?) Watch this helpful YouTube video from The Common Craft Show: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0klgLsSxGsU&

Useful tools . . .

• Blogger
• Edublogs
• GoogleReader (for reading aggregated content)

Equipment/Software needed . . .

• computer with Internet connection

(This is not an exhaustive list. If you know someone who uses a different

tool, you might want to use the same one so that you have a local “go to” person.)

I would encourage you to read the post entitled “Getting started” before diving in, and remember to get parental and administrative permission before beginning any endeavor that places student work on the Web.

If you have had success with a lesson involving blogging, please share your pearls of wisdom through a comment to this post!

Angela CMG

Getting started . . .

For those of us who didn’t grow up in the world of Web 2.0, incorporating technology into our lessons can seem daunting if not impossible. Do any of these thoughts seem familiar? . . .

"Where will I find the time?”

“The students know more about it than I do!”

"What if I get stuck?”

"I just don’t know where to start.”

“I have too many other things to teach!”

There’s good news! The small time commitment on the front end is worth it. While the students may know more about technology in general (which may mean they can help you if you get stuck!), they don’t know how to use it properly without guidance (which is where you come in). Technology does not have to be “one more thing,” and it may even make some of those “one more things” seem a little simpler. Use the lessons you already have, and start small! Rome wasn’t built in a day, and this doesn’t have to be an overnight transition.

Tips for the beginner . . .

• Make sure you have permission from parents and administrators.
• Make sure your students and their parents have read and signed a technology use agreement. (These can be found online, and your district or school may already have one that you can use.)
• Explain online etiquette to students. (Respect other people’s opinions. Don’t use all caps. Use appropriate language. Etc.)
• Explain copyright law/fair use to students. (If you are uncomfortable with this, get your librarian to help you. Also, a good rule of thumb is, “If you didn’t create it and you can’t easily find a Creative Commons license on it, don’t use it.” To see what the Creative Commons license symbols mean, follow this link: http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/.)
• Make sure any accounts that you set up online allow you to monitor and approve posts/uploads before they go public. (There will be a setting for this that you can see.)
• Make sure any accounts that you set up online allow you to password protect access so that you have the option of sharing student work only with families and school personnel. (There will be a setting for this that you can see.)
• Check with your technology coordinator to make sure the Web 2.0 sites you wish to use are not blocked in your school. (Keep in mind that many sites have educational versions that are free and “school safe.”)
• Set up an account and commit an hour to playing with the new Web 2.0 tool. There’s nothing like using it to learn it; and once you know it, you’ll have that tool forever!

Here are two books that I found helpful when getting started with Web 2.0. Click on them to find them on Amazon.com:

• Using Web 2.0 Tools in the K-12 Classroom by Beverley E. Crane (published in 2009 by Neal-Schuman Publishers)
• Grown Up Digital: How the net generation is changing your world by Don Tapscott (published in 2009 by McGraw-Hill)

If you’ve had success with a tool or technique for using a tool, please comment so that others can benefit from your expertise! I am by no means the guru, and I welcome any comments on this blog that may help others.

Angela CMG