Blog Post #4

Podcasting

I found all the podcast posts on the Langwitches blog very interesting. I had never put much thought into podcasting before- especially not in the classroom. However, after viewing the blogs and seeing how much a podcasting project benefitted the children, my mind has been changed.

While going through the links provided, there were several things that caught my attention. The Flat Stanley project was the first. I LOVED how the instructor had the students go to the library and check out books about a location of their choosing (call me old timey, but I don't believe that just because we have the world at our fingertips via the internet, we should forget resources that can be found in a library). Once a book was obtained, the child was to go home, write down specific information about the city/country with the help of the parents, and write a script of what it was would like to visit that country. When the students returned to class, they recorded their scripts for their Flat Stanley podcast. I found this to be a great way to teach social studies. Since social studies is one of those subjects that you really have no choice but to teach from a book (unless a teacher has the courage and money to pack up the class and take them to the country being studied), I considered this podcast approach a great way to give the kids a break from the books, a hands on learning experience, and a way to show the parents and get them involved in what is going on in the classroom.

The second point that stuck out to me was in Podcasting with First Grade. The comment was "believe it or not, but having an audience matters... even to 6 year olds." I couldn't agree more with this statement because so many of the kindergarten and first grade students I know are always so eager to show you a project they did or recite something they have learned. This was really the statement that opened my mind to the idea of podcasting with elementary students. Knowing they are working toward something that someone on the other side of the world will see is exciting to a child that age. And when the author stated that the project helped to get the shy and quiet kids out of their shell, I was hooked on the idea. After reading all of the positive feedback provided about how cooperative and engaged the class was, I came to the conclusion podcasting is a great way to help teach all the aspects of learning and social interaction that a teacher hopes accomplish.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom provided me with more benefits of letting my students participate in podcasting. I believe creativity is one of the most important things that needs to be encouraged in young children, and it's something I plan on trying to promote. If podcasting projects will help promote my students' creativity, I will try it no questions asked. Another benefit pointed out was it allows for differentiation and project based learning. Having a different way of learning is very important to students of all ages. If a teacher comes in class everyday and simply reads from the book and lectures, students are going to get bored with learning. Podcasting is a great way to avoid students getting that false mindset of learning. Podcasting seems to be like a good resource to help emphasize learning is fun, and I plan to have podcasting projects an often occurrence in my future classrooms. Maybe one day EDM 310 students will be listening to my first graders' podcasts!