Ideas for Podcasting in the Classroom
 
Podcasting is a way of easily distributing a series of audio or video files on the internet. (It can also be used to distribute PDF documents.) How can you use podcasting in education? Here are some ideas: Book Talks Research shows that students often choose books to read based on the recommendations of their peers. A book talk is a brief overview of a book designed to raise the interest of potential readers. In many ways, it is a sales pitch for the book given by someone who has read it. After your students have read their books and prepared their book talks, make an audio recording of each student delivering his or her book talk. Make each one an episode in the book talk podcast series from your class. Your students will be able to share their work with their families, with other classes in the school, and with readers anywhere. Literature Circles Cooperative discussion groups can be an enriching and rewarding way for your students to interact with literature and each other. Consider extending these Literature Circles by recording and podcasting them. Separate small groups can have concurrent discussions and then exchange recordings to see how other groups thought about the same topics. Exchanges can also be made with other classes. Let’s say that your class recorded a series of Literature Circle discussions about The Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell. Later, a student reading that book independently could listen to those discussions to see how others reacted to the same material. Process Drama Many forms of process drama, including writing in a role, reader’s theater, mantle of the expert and role playing, can easily be extended by recording the end product. We know that process drama works because it helps develop imagination, builds voice in writers, creates authentic experiences, and helps students see the world from multiple perspectives. Podcasting the results adds an authentic audience and a real world connection by allowing collaboration and communication with a much broader audience. Meet the Author Many teachers have students prepare “Meet the Author” reports to deliver to the class as a way of sharing author studies. Recording them as podcasts allows the classroom community of learners to construct a library of peer-produced author biographies that could be used in a variety of extension activities after the fact. Such a resource would lend itself to comparison of different authors, study of genre, and discussions about how culture and time period affect an author’s work. Science Logs Using digital audio to record field notes or experimental observations can supplement or precede written notes. Podcasting observations throughout the course of an experiment allows another level of reflection on the experience. For any experiment that involves sound (examining how the length of a vibrating string affects pitch, for instance), using digital audio recording improves the quality of observation. Art Critiques Record a series of podcasts that model art critiques for students. For each, take a piece of art and discuss elements of composition, light, and color. Have the students record their own. Historical Audio Diaries Have students who are studying a period in history write and record journals from the perspective of a person living in that time. By choosing different people on many sides of a conflict or event, the resulting series of podcasts could provide a rich tapestry of perspectives on and reactions to historical events and people. Oral Histories Teach your students to be recorders of history. Use digital audio to record the stories of family members or others from the larger community. A podcast series of oral histories could easily be tied to service learning and helps students make authentic connections to the world around them. These are just a few ideas for podcasting in the classroom. Really any activity that involves oral presentation can probably be adapted to create a podcast series. Please feel free to post more ideas here or email questions or comments. References Daniels, H. (2002). Recent Research on Literature Circles, excerpted from Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in Book Clubs and Reading Groups. Available at http://www.literaturecircles.com/research.htm Elementary Science Integration Projects. Available at http://www.esiponline.org/classroom/foundations/reading/booktalks.html Johnson, D. (2003, June). Web watch -- Book talks. Reading Online, 6(10). Available: http://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=webwatch/book_talks/index.html Schneider, J. , & Jackson, S. (2000). Process drama: A special space and place for writing. The Reading Teacher, 54(1), 38-51. Tompkins, G. (2003). Literacy for the 21st century (3rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill. Photo credit Photo by Joe Zachs, shared on flickr under a Creative Commons license, some rights reserved. Please refer to the licensing information for this photo by clicking here.http://www.literaturecircles.com/research.htmhttp://www.esiponline.org/classroom/foundations/reading/booktalks.htmlhttp://www.readingonline.org/electronic/elec_index.asp?HREF=webwatch/book_talks/index.htmlhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/joezach/http://www.flickr.com/http://creativecommons.org/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/shapeimage_1_link_0shapeimage_1_link_1shapeimage_1_link_2shapeimage_1_link_3shapeimage_1_link_4shapeimage_1_link_5shapeimage_1_link_6
Thursday, September 14, 2006