Blog B

The podcast assignment was a lot of fun. All my podcasts were of made by children and they all did such a good job!

My first podcast was from Willowdale Elementary School and it was done by 5th graders. It was done on 12/21/05 and the topic was Life in the Colonies. They set up the podcast with different sections. The first one was "Did you know?". Student #1 talked about the how easy it was to get the death penalty back then such as stealing a silver spoon, all the colonists loved corn and kids could not talk at the dinner table. Student #2 did "Vocabulary Theater" she gave a definition for a couple words and put the words into sentences. Student #3 said a couple riddles about the colonies. Student #4 did "Holiday Spotlight" she talked about St. Nicholas Day and how the colonists celebrated it because they didn't want to celebrate the British Christmas. Student #5 pretended to read from a newspaper that would have been written back then. Student #6 did jokes. Student #7 read a poem she wrote about how harsh the winters were for the colonists. Student #8 talked about a website he really liked to go to. You can play games, get history about the colonies, live life like they did, read diaries or make your own plantation. The last student, #9, said what he would change about the colonies if he could. This podcast was amazing and I really enjoyed listening to it. It kept my attention and all of the students did a really good job with each of their pieces. Whoever helped them publish it put a lot of great music in between the segments and really good special effects such as a echoing part in the end.

The next podcast I listened to was really short, it was recorded on 9/21/07. It was done in Mrs. Bradley's Kindergarten Class and it was the 7 days cheer. The whole class sang and sounded really good. This is a good one for the students to go home and listen to it with their parents. I could hear all the kids sing so maybe they could hear themselves.

The last podcast I listened to was another class from Willowdale Elementary only this one was a second grade class. These topics were very assorted and random but worked well together. The class set it up sort of like the 5th graders did. The first one was random "Did you know?" done by student #1. Student #2 did a website called www.nutritionexploration.org/kids and he said it was a really interesting website to learn about the food groups. Student #3 read a poem about cupid. Student #4 talked about what she would do differently in the school such as be able to chew gum, and talk on the phone. She also wished that candy was good for you. Student #5 and #6 did jokes and talked about the food pyramid. This podcast was a little unorganized with the topics but for 2nd graders they did a fantastic job! Again, there was a lot of music and good sound effects. Willowdale Elementary really knows how to do podcasts!

The Websites Are:
Willowdale Elementary
Mrs. Bradley's Class

I think that doing podcasts with students it such a great idea. The kids are doing a new/exciting activity and they also get to listen to it for years to come! I feel like students would feel important to be online and hearing their voice will make them feel happy. Podcasts are such a good idea for kids. Also, listening to podcasts in the classroom give students ideas for their own projects or just learning about a topic. Sometimes it is better for students to learn information from another their own age vs. a teacher. I have started working with a group of students on publishing a podcast of a play they are reading in my practicum. It is really fun and I can't wait to do it in my own classroom.

Podcasts help literacy in a couple ways. Students are reading off of paper/script when they do podcasts so they are getting oral reading help. For students who have a hard time reading in front of their whole class podcasts are a great way for them to practice because no one is watching them. For students listening to the podcasts and learning this helps with comprehension. Listening to podcasts is very different than reading a book but it is a good skill to have.

Ways to use podcasts in my practicum:
1.) Reading of a play, with a couple students each having a different part
2.) As a teacher, I could post a podcast online of a lesson I teach so parents could see what I was doing with their children
3.) Students working with inventors could pretend to be their inventor on a podcast and explain how they came up with their invention.
4.) Students could sing their songs they sing about different units so their parents can hear them. Mostly for younger students.
5.) Each student could pick a invention and make it better. They could explain it in a podcast.

Five ideas for a unit

Option 1: The first option I was thinking about doing would be geared towards kindergarten. I would take the program frames and have them make a movie about colors. I would have them write down all the colors of the rainbow and have them come up with objects that are that color. They would use a new frame for each color and find the objects online. Then they would say a sentence for each page while it showed. This would have to be used as a whole unit because the students could explore a different color every day. Eventually they would have this really cool video. This would help them with their color associations and using technology to do it.

Option 2: The next idea I had was for second graders. The topic would be inventions. I would have the students come up with something they think could be made better. For example, making the toaster better. Each student would pick an invention, come up with a couple ideas on how they could make it better. They would have to research the history of this object on the computer. Using a paint program they could go on and draw what they feel it should look like or the changes they want made. If they couldn't use the paint program well, they could always resort to drawing the new product. This would help them see how hard it is to create a new invention and be creative in doing them.

Option 3: The third idea I had was for first graders to make a clay video about their favorite winter activity. Depending on how many students like the same activity this may work better in groups. For their specific activity they would create clay people, a clay setting and a paper background and then take digital pictures (many of them) to create a film. A story would eventually be added to the pictures and together as a group they would have made a video.

Option 4: This would be a unit for first grade. They would be doing a project on weather. Everyday there would be one student who would go online to look up the weather. The students would be keeping a blog online explaining what they weather website said, what it actually looked like outside, what they thought it would be the next day and what they wished it could be. This would go on for about a week, then the students would look back and see if there was any pattern to the weather or why it was constantly one kind of weather. This would help students become aware of weather and would be a good project to do at the end of a unit.

Option 5: This last option would be for second graders. This would be a writing project. Every class usually does a daily journal for writing. Instead of having them write in a journal all the time for two weeks they could type online. This could be put on the teachers website as a portfolio of children's writing. As second graders they could be given prompts, or topics to write about. The students could draw a picture of themselves and that could be on their own page so their parents can go online to see what their child has been writing about.