Blog Assignment 4

Langwitches
This first blog post I read was about podcasting with first graders. They created their own read along audiobook for a Magic Tree House book "Dinosaurs in the Dark." As the teacher read the book to them another teacher was having students record from a script that followed the book. I listened to some of the 15 minute audio and though it was very well done. The students were talking in an interview format and used neat sound effects to go along with the story. Another podcast produced by second graders was also highlighted on this blog. The second graders were recording a story "Purim" and they were talking in Hebrew for some of the story. The blog post said that in order to internalize a new vocabulary word you have to hear and comprehend it at least 70 plus times. Through creating the podcast and editing it this helped the students to better understand the language. From the little bit of the podcast that I listened to the 7 and 8 year old students were speaking very clear and well pronounced Hebrew. I think they made podcasting very effective in the classroom and helped to keep the students engaged in the learning.

The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
I didn't know a whole lot about podcasting and had never listened to a podcast until this assignment. When I watched this video it really taught me a lot about podcasting and its benefits. Most students in todays world fall under the generation know as millenial, which is anyone born after 1980. This term just simply means that everyone in this age has never had to live without technology. Podcasting allows for differentiation in the classroom and project based learning. It also focuses on Bloom's higher taxonomic level of thinking. If a student is home sick and is missing important classwork like review for a big test then they could go online and listen to the teachers podcast of the classroom review. I think that is a really great thing about using the podcasting because then students wouldn't fall behind. When they were going over what students thought of podcasts one of them said they make stories come alive. The first grade students did this with the Magic Tree House book they recorded. Another great thing about podcast is that parents can see what is going on in the classroom and help their child with learning and understanding material that may be difficult for them. Podcast is still somewhat foreign to me but the more I learn about them the more interesting and exciting they sound.


Judy Scharf Podcast Collection
I leaned the definition of podcast and where the name podcast came from when I visited this blog. Podcast is a cross between the terms "broadcast" and "iPod" and it means a radio-style talk show. I found this very interesting how the name podcast came about. Ms. Scharf was showing how easy it is to implement the use of podcasts in the classroom and broke it down step-by-step. Some of her tips to success were to get comfortable with the podcast software you are using and to also have a exemplary podcast to listen to as an example. She also included example topics and what kind of questions to ask for different topics. I think that podcasting is something that can easily enhance the learning in any classroom.