Blog Post #4

First Grade Podcasting

I have never made a podcast before, and I would never think it was something to be used in a classroom. In 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook and Podcasting with First Grade, I learned exactly how it can be used in a classroom. This seems like a project which allows the students to learn while they enjoy themselves quite a bit. I found it very interesting that the “shy and quiet students were coming out of their shell.” I was a very shy child, and still am, but I love to break quiet and shy children out of their shells. Podcasting, according to these articles, seems to be just the trick!

The Flat Stanley Podcast was my favorite. I love Flat Stanley and enjoy making them too. Listening to the children talk about different places around the universe was awesome. Of course, I loved hearing about Alabama, although I think they should have learned to say “War Eagle” instead. This shows an amazing way to use podcasts and fun activities to teach children about other places.


Podcasting Language

While reading Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting, I couldn’t help but think of my senior year of high school. My friends and I were taking our fourth year of Spanish with the same teacher. I loved our teacher, and loved the language. In my third year of Spanish I was pretty good at speaking Spanish. Then because there wasn’t enough room or time in the day, our class was combined with Spanish 3. Our teacher would have to spend one or two day with Spanish 3 and the next one or two days with us. It got to be very confusing. At the end of the year I had given up on Spanish, and ultimately lost the majority of my Spanish-speaking abilities. This article talks about using a podcast to teach language through listening- comprehension, speaking skills, and fluency. After reading, I think that if we had spent our year of Spanish 4 creating podcasts and editing them, I would have been able to practice and keep the language easier.


Education: Podcast Style

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom taught me many different ways that podcasting can be used in the classroom. This generation of students is very technology based, “they haven’t experienced life without technology.” Joe Dale proves this with some shocking statistics. 10,000 hours are spent playing video games, 10,000 more hours spent on the phone and 20,000 hours spent watching TV. Students today need a technology based learning which they will be familiar with. Podcasts can be used in all sorts of ways to help students learn, from them creating their own podcasts, podcasts being used to help sick children keeping up, and parents being able to know exactly what is happening in the classroom.

Judy Scharf Podcast Collection is a very helpful site which covers all the ins and outs of podcasts. First off it explains what a podcast is exactly, which is nice. It also gives some benefits of podcasting in education. For example, podcasts are available 24/7, it isn’t a learning tool which can only be accessed in the classroom during class time, and therefore there are no excuses for missing anything. Podcasting also allows for students to enhance their communication skills. Communication is used in everyday life. Thus, it is pertinent to be an effective communicator. Students creating their own podcasts can help them to learn how to communicate; what to and what not to do. There is also a lot of information on how to start a podcast. This is something that will be very beneficial to me when starting our podcast for EDM310, because I have never made one before.