If a teacher were to approach me about developing a podcast for his class, I would readily admit that I don’t have any experience in the development of podcasting, but that I do have experience with using tools to create audio files, which is a great starting point. I would be willing to help the teacher start a podcast by finding out what I can about the process and steps involved. Additionally, he and I should meet to decide what format he wants the podcast; in other words, does he want a blog set up on the class webpage or school website, does he want the files simply to be attachments on these pages, or does he only want to record the files for download to a CD?
As the media specialist, I feel I should be the primary person staff and students come to for help with technology needs, and if I am unfamiliar with the request, I should definitely offer to find out so I can not only learn, but also take the burden from the teacher. Teachers don’t always have time to learn more about technology that can enhance the classroom experience. By educating my self about podcasting, I not only help myself, but also the staff and students at my school. Once this particular project has been designed, implemented, and completed to the satisfaction of this teacher and his students, I want to develop an in-service to teach other staff members how to utilize podcasting for their classroom needs.
For the media center, I think podcasting could be a fun tool for promoting books and the media program. Podcasts could be available on the media center blog or webpage that discuss new books, popular series or other series with similar themes to popular titles, award nominees, and teacher and administrator favorites. The media staff at my current school is instrumental in the success of the school’s tech and science fairs – podcasts could be used to introduce projects to judges and visitors, and recordings of winners and runners-up could be posted to the school’s website after the events. In the classroom, podcasts could be developed around assignments and projects, and students could design podcasts of themselves reading a book for students in younger grades to help demonstrate good fluency. The possibilities are endless for classroom use.
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you in that we, as media specialist, should definately be the ones that assist teachers with their technology needs. Through podcasting teachers could actively involve their students. Media specialist should always be willing to learn any new technology advances.
I really liked the idea of the media specialist using the podcast to share science fair projects and popular books. Students are always wanting to know who is reading what or who has the best science projects. I believe it creates a safe place for enhancing the communication between adults and students. Many students like to give ideas and have others share their comments; this is why texting is so popular as well as twitter. I also liked that you acknowledged taking the burden from the teacher to learn something new; I firmly beleive that the more support media specialist can give to classroom teachers the more technology is going to be accepted and used. I might even go as far as helping the teacher set it up, so that all she or he had to do was show the students how to use it. then, as more requests came in you could give an inservice for students and teachers.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Raina Dupree
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your ideas about podcasting. What a great idea to use it to assist with science fair project introductions and reading fluency. Podcasts have the advantage of being able to be easily archived so that future science fair participants and readers have a place to go to for ideas.
I can also see some applications in the area of writing. Students can organize their prewriting ideas with podcasts. Students would love this approach, because it doesn't involve having to write it all down and they love to talk about their ideas. The podcasts could serve as a way for the teacher to teach a lesson on finding ideas and have students write after the mini lesson once they've had a chance to verbalize their thoughts.
I also like the idea of archiving inservice or faculty meetings for those who had to miss. I know that our board of education puts podcasts of the board meetings on the county website so that people can watch and see what was discussed and decided on. I think we're going to see many applications of podcasting in the future.
Linda D.
Honesty is the best policy especially when dealing with our colleagues. I think letting teachers know that you are not familiar with a topic but are willing to find out about it in order to help them goes a long way in building working relationships. Also, setting aside a time to plan out the podcast is important to the success of the project and will help you as you learn right along with the teacher.
ReplyDeleteYour idea of using podcast to promote books and the media program is great. You could introduce students to books that they may not look at on their own. I love the idea of introducing science projects to judges and visitors. This made me think about using them for student presentations for parents that are not able to attend. Nice blog!
I mentioned on another post that my co-teacher came to me between classes (only 5 minutes and a multitude of students encircling me) and asked how you make a podcast. And, oh yeah, how can I distribute it too!
ReplyDeleteNothing made me feel better than to be able to tell her to go see the media specialist. Not because I didn't want to help (5 minutes, 100 students?), but I knew she would get exactly what she needed with our media specialist. Confidence that we are at the cutting edge of technology is definitely important as a media specialist. For most schools, we will be the IT person.
As mentioned, there is no way we can know everything. I think what is most important is that we keep our curious spirit, and always embrace new technologies, maybe not embrace EVERY new technology, but at least review!
Thanks for all of the great comments and ideas on my original post, everyone! I can't wait to write down some of your ideas and keep them on file for when I get to be a "real" media specialist!
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with all the comments made about how popular podcasting is going to become. I actually used a podcast in my Writer's Workshop class this semester. It was called "Why Grammar Matters". Essentially it was the same information I could give in a lecture, but it was a way to reach the students in a different manner. Instead of hearing notes/lecture, they heard a podcast, which is way more cool! HA!
ReplyDeleteLisa, I like your idea that it should be the media specialist who places focuses on finding new ways to use technology. As you pointed at, the majority of times, teachers just don't have the time. I like the idea because as a future media specialist, I look forward to learning about new technology and finding ways to help teacher incorporate it into their everyday classrooms.
Linda, I also see how creating podcasts can be beneficial in teaching writing. I mentioned earlier that I am teaching a Writer's Workshop class this semester, and it is almost impossible to have them writing an essay every single day. I think having them create a podcast will still have them organizing ideas, working on grammar, etc. and they will enjoy this a lot more than just a normal essay.
I would also immediately admit to not having much experience in podcasting. I would share what I do know by doing what Rob suggested. I would help that teacher by helping them set up a Camtasia 30 day trial. Once I helped that teacher, I would send out a survey to the staff to see if there were more teachers interested in podcasting. Then I would have an in-service for those teachers on how to use Camtasia. If I found that teachers were still interested in creating and using podcasts in their classrooms after the 30 day trial, I would approach my principal about purchasing Camtasia or a software that is similar for the school.
ReplyDeleteI do like your idea about having students create podcasts to introduce science fair projects to judges and visitors. I would expand that idea to assist with some things we do at my school for displayed student work. We have to do "quality work" at my school. In doing this we have to create a document explaining the level of Bloom, description of the assignment, and teacher commentary for each posted product. At the end of our units, we have a gallery walk where teachers, administrators, and other district personell come to our school to see the products students created during the unit. Many times students are asked to explain their products to guests. Having podcasts set up in the hallway during gallery walks would allow those “higher ups” to view the student’s podcast to get a better understanding of the products they created without having to constantly take students out of class to discuss their work.
Lisa, I completely agree it should be the media specialist job to figure out technology needs that will help teachers in the classroom. This scares me just a little, I am afraid that I am a little technology deficient, but eager and willing to learn whatever I can. As a classroom teacher, I do not have time (or monetary resources) to spend researching and reviewing technology that can help me make my classroom more 21st century. I am eager to become the media specialist with the drive to help every teacher achieve those personal goals that they have set for themselves in the classroom.
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