Blog Post #4

Why Podcast? How do we podcast?

When I first began to research what "podcasting" actually was, I started by viewing Langwitches Blog . This blog was an excellent resource for teaching me what podcasting was all about in the classroom. In this blog, Ms. Tolisano taught her students how to make an audio book by creating a podcast. This project was collaborative and allowed the students to have a hands-on experience. Allowing the students to make an audio book through using podcasts also created a project-based learning style. This learning style is one I will use in my own future classroom. The students brought the characters to life by working as a class to project perfect pitch and correct pronunciations. Many students repeated the characters they were portraying into the recording numerous times. Ms. Tolisano’s first graders finished their audio book. I had the privilege of listening to the audio book, which was an absolute thrill! When listening to the story displayed by the first graders and the music Ms. Tolisano placed in the background, it honestly was like magic. You could hear the excitement in every student's voice as the story revealed the characters and immediately the children brought the story to life. I was so excited at the outcome of the first grader's audio book that I commented on Ms. Tolisano’s Blog myself!

I then decided to read another post on Ms. Tolisano’s blog, which can be found by viewing Langwitche's Blog "Listening and Comprehension". In this post, the teacher chose to teach a foreign language to the students. The students began to read a book known as the story of "Purim.” I later discovered while listening to the audio book the children put together, that the story was from the Bible. It was the story of Esther. The children learned vocabulary words in Hebrew by listening to the sound of their own voice. Hearing their own pronunciation of these foreign words, and knowing how the language should be spoken, gave the students a guidance to use to correct their own selves. Students recorded themselves numerous times, to ensure a quality of the recording of the book. When I listened to the story, I literally could not believe how well the students pronounced sentences in another language other than their own. Learning a foreign language using a podcast teaches listening, collaboration, comprehension, and speaking skills. Children are much like sponges and absorb what is around them. Listening to a foreign word repeatedly allows the child to learn the word, and figure out how to pronounce the word correctly. If I had the opportunity of learning by making an audio book using podcasts as a child, then I most likely would have enjoyed reading more!

I also viewed The benefits of podcasting in the classroom by Joe Dale. While watching this video I took several mental notes in how a podcast could be beneficial in my own classroom. Ms. Tolisano chose to use the podcast in her classroom for her students to record and create their own audio book. What else could I use podcasts for in my own classroom? In this video, I learned that podcasting could easily be designed for teachers to record the lectures that take place in the classroom on a daily basis. Granted, I will use a project-based approach as much as possible if not all the time. However, this tool could help students accomplish the work missed when the student is unable to come to school. For example, if a student is sick he or she can pull up the podcast of the class lectures that day and begin completing their work. This gives the student a beautiful resource to provide the review they could possibly need for a test coming up. Even if a teacher does not necessarily lecture, the teacher is still likely to be giving important instructions that will guide the student in what he/she should be working on. I believe podcasting is very effective in the classroom. This decision has been reached because podcasting is a form of learning that most children are familiar with considering that technology is part of everyday life. Podcast's also open doors for student's creativity and innovation.