Blog Post #4

Why Podcast?
For my blog four assignment, the resources that I used to complete my assignment was Langwitches 1st Graders Create their Own Read-Along Audio Book, Listening- Comprehension-Podcasting, and the Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom by Joe Dale. For starters, before starting this assignment I was unaware of what podcasting was and how to use it. Although after watching the videos I have a better understanding of what a podcast is and how to use it in a classroom. What I really liked about the first video, Langwitches 1st Graders Create their Own Read-Along Audio Book , was that the first grade students were eager and excited to create a podcast. They started reading a book from a series from the Magic Tree House, Vacation Under the Volcano. After each chapter read, the class wrote a script with an interviewer, Jack and Annie. Then the students would record themselves reading the scripts for the podcast. The scripts would involve questions from the interviewer to Jack and Annie about their discoveries of dinosaurs. Once the recording was complete there were ten chapters of scripts, so the teacher created a booklet so that the students could follow along when they listened to the podcast.

The second resource I viewed was Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting , it made an interesting point on how recording a podcast is a great tool, especially for language learners. Allowing students a chance to play with the mechanics of languages, it gives opportunity to see, hear, and manipulate their voices. The activity that went along with this podcast was a second grade class, they were learning about a story of Purium. Their teacher wanted to create a podcast to be shared with their parents. The Jewish Studies teacher worked with each student to write a part in Hebrew. Collaboratively everyone came together to record and edit the podcast. When editing the teacher connected the SmartBoard so the students could come to the board and edit. However, the lesson here was not all about making a podcast, but about writing a script, listening, comprehension, collaboration, speaking skills, and fluency in the target language.

My last resource, Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom , in this video it describes the benefits of podcasting in a classroom. Some of the benefits include: being an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom. An example for this would be that you have a student that is really sick, if the teacher had a podcast the sick student, while at home, could view the podcast and not fall behind in the class. Podcasts allows for project based learning,promote creativity and innovation, providing a way for parents to see what their child is completing in school. As a mother of a first grader, I would love to see how much my daughter is growing in her education.