Podcasting in the Classroom

Using new techniques in the classroom I think is a great way to keep your students interested in the material. One of these is podcasting, which provides an entirely new way of delivering educational information through voice recordings. After thinking about what kind of podcasts I will use in my classroom and browsing around, I have come upon a few that I feel would be effective in a lesson plan.

The first is the 'Poem of the Day' podcast. It can be used to supplement a poetry unit or a writers' workshop. The link, which can be found here: www.sonibyte.com, contains audio recordings of many famous poems, such as works by Emily Dickinson, Ezra Pound and Langston Hughes. Once on the website, you can browse to find a poem that would be suitable to your class.

The second podcast that would be ideal for an ELA middle years classroom is 'Bookwink'. This podcast, found here:  www.bookwink.com, contains video booktalks that are designed to get your students excited about reading new books. The booktalks are 3 minutes long and vary in grade level. You can choose a book talk designed for Grade 6's or you can choose one that is designed more for older students in Grade 8. As you browse the site, you can also find lists of books that are similar to the ones talked about in the videos.

Besides the idea of podcasts, voicethreads are another resource that intrigue me. I had never heard of a 'voicethread' before I began this program and I first heard about it in our Info-Tech class. The reason it really hit me as a good idea is because it's so interactive. The kids can create their own voicethreads in a story they made up, and this will definitely cause them to become much more engaged since it's themselves who are their own work, essentially.

If I was doing a unit on storytelling or story writing, I would use this voicethread as an example of what I wanted: http://voicethread.com/#u13101.b125699. It's an example of a seventh-grade class creating stories about their year, with pictures. I would show the voicethread to my students and then ask them to write a story about something memorable in their year, complete with characters, setting, plot, etc. This would encourage the students to use their imagination and create a story from real-life experiences. Finally, they would produce a voicethread of their own to show the class on the final day of the unit.

The last link I came across that looked interesting from an ELA-perspective is the 'Great Book Stories' voicethread, found here: http://greatbookstories.pbworks.com/w/page/10034606/FrontPage. This is a wiki space designed to access voicethreads about books, and give users a chance to share their stories and books they really liked. The website is a great resource for people to learn about new books that would interest them, and to provide a communal dialogue around the world of literature. The reason I think this would be so great for students is because the website also provides voicethreads about book reports. So my students could find a fun new way of doing a book report that was assigned to them by creating a voicethread about it and sharing it in class.

I think we have only scratched the surface in how technology such as podcasts and voicethreads can help teachers and students alike. The idea that both of these advancements can help breathe new life into the world of English Language Arts is one that is both exciting and refreshing.