Blog B

From the Mayflower to Thanksgiving

This podcast is posted by a teacher whose fifth grade student wrote a presentation about her Great-to-the-eighteenth-power grandfather who was on the Mayflower. She talks about some of his experiences and a few facts about the trip and settling of America.

The Photosynthesis Song

Here is a song written by a teacher to teach his class about photosynthesis without using a boring lecture. The song has a bluegrass background beat and is very catchy without being overly repetitive. He gives a lot of kid-friendly facts that are not too technical while making photosynthesis seem like a lot of fun.

Ecological Footprint

In this podcast a few students from Mrs. Clancy's class as well as her student teacher talk about what an ecological footprint is and ways we can reduce our footprint on the earth. The students did research on ecological footprints and, with the help of their teacher, created a presentation to post online for other students to listen to and learn from.

A Tale of Mrs. Olson

Here a class is learning about the subject and predicate of a sentence. They are using Mrs. Olson as their subject, creating a sentence where she is doing something, and then stating what the predicate of the sentence was.


I think using podcasts in the classroom could be a lot of fun for both myself and the students. While browsing I found podcasts on different subjects that are usually covered in late elementary and early middle school that would be very useful in the classroom. For example, there were podcasts of famous speeches that would allow the students to hear from first hand from people like Eleanor Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr. There were also podcasts of individual lessons and tips for teachers that might be useful for me when planning lessons.
I really liked how the teachers in the podcasts posted above involved their students. They created something that could be viewed by their friends and family and would make them feel accomplished. If the students have a final product to show for all their work that they can go back and look at or show to other people they feel good about themselves and their work. I also enjoyed the songs that were written by Mr. Rojas for his class on various topics. When students get to listen to songs about what they are learning they get a new perspective on the subject. I am not personally musically inclined so having songs like these available to me that I can play for the students is a great idea.
Using podcasts could support literacy in the classroom because students can get more involved with the topic. If they are able to integrate technology and what they know about computers with what they are doing in school it becomes more meaningful for them. In elementary and middle school kids are excited about using computers, so involving them with the curriculum has the potential to get kids excited about their work as well. For students who have more trouble reading on their own you can find podcasts of what they are reading (or make one of your own) and let them listen to that while reading along. If you create podcasts of homework instructions or whatever material the class is working on they can listen to it at home and it is also available to the parents who might be able to help the students understand it better. Podcasts would also provide a way to improve students ability to read out loud by allowing me to listen to them on my own time as well as letting the student listen to themselves.

5 ways I might use podcasting in my classroom

1. Find songs to get students interesting in a subjects and provide an alternative learning strategy for diverse learning. They could listen to the song anytime at home either just for fun or to help them study.
   
   
2. Posting students reading their own reports so that they can listen to each other and share their work with their parents and family at home.
   
   
3. Post collections of short stories written by the students or have them each read a chapter of a book created by the class.
   
   
4. Post verbal instructions for projects and updates on what the class is doing for students and parents to listen to at home.
   
   
5. Have the students read the reviews they write of books they are reading so other students can access them easily at home.