Podcasting will change the media specialist from being
viewed as the book keeper to being one of the coolest faculty members on
campus!
Podcasting is digital recording accessible via the
internet. There are endless opportunities
for using this tool, and anyone can do it.
Begin with a short, simple recording.
As you begin to add additional features to your podcasts, I’m sure
teachers and students will suggest innovative ideas and opportunities for
everyone to become involved in many aspects of life on campus including
academic and extracurricular topics.
The following ideas can be as simple or complicated as you
are comfortable with.
A radio show can feature a host and various news anchors
from the school and/or community.
Imagine students summing up a social studies unit on World War I with a
report on location of a major battle.
Students will integrate social studies with writing, fluency, and research. Other ideas may include highlighting school
and community events, news, and weather.
Booktalks recorded by a media specialist and other guests
can be about three minutes, summarize books and include a recommendation. The media specialist can highlight award
winning books in addition to popular seasonal books including books about
holidays and topics being taught in the classrooms. Students may record book talks about their
favorite books or series to entice their peers to explore new titles. Students will be eager to tell the main idea,
sequence events, and determine their recommendations.
Read alouds can be exciting for any age level. You can read a portion of a selection to
entice readers to check out a book, or you may want to read the entire
selection on podcast(s). This can
promote fluency and ignite a love of reading.
Do-it-yourself podcasts can give instructions on ways to use
the online research library or the online media catalog. Online tutorials can be made available and explain
steps in the process of long division, rounding, determining elapsed time,
etc.
Podcasting live programs such as parent workshops can
parents with transportation or scheduling conflicts the opportunity to attain
the information presented at a time that is convenient.
The prospects for the use of podcasts by students, teachers,
and community members are infinite.
Beginners should start with a small manageable podcast, and then advance
to podcasts with more features, sound effects, and even images. Have fun!
I think podcasts are a great way to get students and teachers interested in the media center. I love the idea of doing book talks about new, or award winning boks. The studetns could even get involved and create podcast for book recommendations. I also really like the idea of doing a radio show for the school. Many schools do a morning news boradcast, but having a podcast show could give teachers freedom to play it at a time that works best for their class. Podcasts should really be utilized more and are a great tool for commecting with the faculty and staff.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. I love how you focused on book talks. Every time I hear podcasts, I think of using the technology for book talks and promoting more reading in the classrooms. As a reading teacher, I see more and more students needing to focus on their fluency, but having trouble because they don’t like to read. Perhaps if you dangle the “technology carrot” in front of them they would be more apt to embrace reading. My goal is to be in a media center within in the next five years. I can only imagine how the technology that will improve or emerge between now and then. It’s exciting to see more and more teachers embrace technology in the classrooms. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteOur freshmen have to do a book talk at the beginning of the school year based on their summer reading book. I taught freshman English one year, and their presentations left much to be desired. However, if they are given a more techno savvy way of presenting the information, such as a podcast, they might put more effort into it. This way, they can get up and present their book by introducing the podcast while not being shy and fidgety as much since it is the first couple of weeks of high school for them.
ReplyDeleteI also like your idea of recording instructions for assignments such as research via podcasting. That would cut down on handouts that students never refer back to and keeps the teacher from repeating over and over. You can simply say, "listen to my podcast!"
Thank you for listing different ways that students and teachers could use podcasts. I always like to read about specific examples of things especially when it is something that I am not very familiar with. I love the idea of having a radio show using a podcast. Like Emily my school has a morning news show broadcasted on the television on Friday mornings, but I like the idea of having students on a radio show instead. As a person who often needs to read directions several times when it comes to technology issues especially, I think recording instructions for assignments would be particularly useful. Students who are auditory learners would benefit from being able to hear the instructions. The media specialist or students creating podcasts for book talks sounds like an exciting prospect. I know that my kindergarten students get excited about anything that is new or "different" and I am sure this applies to all students as well. Instead of simply telling them about a new book face to face, it would be neat to include the book talk on the morning news or radio show for all students to hear. Having students record themselves reading a portion of a book would also be helpful to increase fluency and understanding.
ReplyDeleteUp until this course, I have never had much experience with podcasting, but I know that my husband enjoys them for his political shows when he is driving. Reordering my podcast was fun, and I really enjoyed adding pictures of my boys, so I know my students would enjoy doing that. They are such a technology-driven generation.
ReplyDeleteYour list of various podcasting opportunities was great! Our media center is wired with a LED projector, and our SLMS has talked about collaborating with English teachers to have the students create podcasts or book trailers for a project so that she can feature those on the projector as students are in the center, checking out books.
These would even be great to post on a media center website. Teachers could show them from the classroom and then take the class to the center for book check out. Unfornantely, I know none of us really has the technology in our classes to accommodate everyone, which makes progressive things like this harder to do.
You've given me such great ideas for cross curricular use of podcasts. Because I'm at a high school, there are so many extra curricular activities going on. With a busy spring and the start of spring sports, the anticipation of prom and graduation, there could be a variety of uses for podcasts. I would love to see Cartersville High School use podcasts for daily announcements, instructions about dress code and buying prom tickets, or even instructions for how to order graduation announcements, etc. So many times, we have assemblies, and students cannot attend because they are absent or are off campus for college classes or our work study program. By using podcasts, students could find out first-hand information rather than relying on their 'friends' who weren't really listening in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you mentioned the podcasts could be used for step by step instructions. How relevant this would be to a science classroom or a lab experiment. This way, students could go at their own pace and work with their podcast as their guide rather than a teacher who constantly has to repeat instructions. With the implementation of common core standards, more and more teachers are going to have to relinquish control of the classrooms and allow students to take an active role in learning. With the use of podcasts, this transition to common core standards could be an easier one.
After reading your blog, I think that using podcasts will create less work on the classroom teacher overall. You've just given me so many ideas!
I loved your first statement about the media specialist going from being the book keeper one of the coolest faculty members on campus! Unfortunately in some schools that is all the media specialist seems to do...keep the books.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading your blog they would change their minds about what they could be doing to liven up their media center. All of the suggestions that you made were ones that could be easily implemented into any media center and they would not be time consuming to create. I especially liked the ideas of the Booktalks and Read Alouds created by both the media speciaist and by students. Many times students will ask me if a book is good. Wouldn't it be better if they could listen to a brief description of the book and recommendation by a fellow student. Have your best readers create them throughout the year and the students can access them when they are in to check out books. I belive it would increase circulation.
I also loved the idea of Do-it-yourself and Online Tutorials not only for students, but also for the faculty. There are times that I show the same thing a dozen times or more because they forget how to do it. It would be so much easier for them to just watch a podcast to refresh their memory.
I enjoyed our post and feel it has given me a lot of ideas to take back to my media center.
I love your comment about the media specialist being the coolest faculty member. Utilizing the latest technology really can help you connect with your students. I have used book talks before and I also like your other ideas too; however, the one that stuck out to me was the do-it-yourself podcast. I think this could be used not only to instruct your students how to complete a task (such as math as you suggested), but could also be used to explain something or instruct the faculty in your building. Media specialists are often responsible for delivering or redelivering certain information every year to the faculty, so instead of just getting up in front of the faculty to discuss something, you could create a podcast. This would be a fun and interesting way to keep the attention of the other teachers, who are notoriously bad listeners at meetings. Thanks for sharing your ideas with us!
ReplyDeleteAs soon I read the section discussing the use of podcasts in connection to reading alouds, I immediately thought about an event that occurs at our school each winter. The cafeteria has a Winter Wonderland Breakfast for students, parents, and teachers. Each year, the cafeteria manager reads a story to the students without showing the pictures in the book. The students then draw pictures of the story (plot, setting, characters) from the information given in the book to decorate the cafeteria. Prizes are given to the students who best represent the book. It is always very hard for the students to hear the book being read because it is played over the closed circuit television. Instead, she could create a podcast which could be viewed in the classroom by individual students on the computers. She could create an archive of the videos from each year. Teachers could use videos from other years to help students practice listening comprehension skills. It seems like such a simple solution that surely over the years someone should have thought of it. I guess it just goes to show that sometimes until we are forced to explore the world of technology around us, we will continue to use what is comfortable to us. It reminds me of the saying, “Out of sight, out of mind.” As media specialists, we must continue to research what technology is available and how we can use technology to enhance student learning.
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot of great ideas in your blog about podcasts. My favorite is of course being the coolest faculty member on campus! I think this is actually a very improtant point. As media specialist we neeed to keep up with technology, because if we are seen as out-of-date we loose our credibility. I love the idea of having students do book talks to promote thier favorite books. It makes me think of the end of an old "Reading Rainbow" movie where the kids do little book talks about topics related to the main feature. I bet every kid in school would read five extra books to get the chance to be featured in the podcast of the week! I also like the idea of podcasting live parent workshops and meetings. My school is a Title 1 school and is always trying to find ways to improve parent communcation and this could be one more alternative we could offer to our parents.
ReplyDeleteThe ideas that have been posted are great! I think podcast are a really great way to connect with our students. Students can use podcasts instead of the tired old worksheets and projects that have been given in the past. It is really great for our auditory learners. Students can create and listen to podcasts as centers or as part of the lesson. I use podcast for book talks on the morning announcements along with a picture of the book. I also like to have my 5th graders read books and create podcast for the kindergartners to listen to.
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