Podcasting

Podcasting

This was one of my first experiences with podcasts. Prior to this time I had listened to a few Disney podcasts about vacationing at Walt Disney World. Other than those podcasts this was the first time I had taken the time to look at what else might be available to me as a teacher. These are the podcasts that I listened to:

Connect Learning
Smart Board Lessons
KidCast
EdTechTalk
MacBreak Weekly
This Week in Photography

I noticed that most of the podcasts were in the same type of format. All the podcasts had an introduction. Most all started with a little music specific to that program, the introduction of the speakers name, and the date of the podcast. Some of the podcasts had sponsor information and advertising. In general the speaker or speaker would give you a little information about themselves, or make conversation with the other speaker on the podcast. They usually didn't start with spouting out information, they tried to bring the listener in with the background information or personal conversation.

Once the backgound information is laid out, the information from the podcast starts to flow. The presenter(s) start to set the format for the podcast. Some are just people conversing on certain subjects. Some seem to be set up in a town hall type format such as the podcast with the 9,000 librarians. One thing I learned was that some podcasts are referred to as "vodcasts", they actually include video. I was always under the impression that podcasts were strictly audio. Those that are in a video format held my attention slightly better. Maybe that says something about my learning style!

Each of the podcasts seem to start closing comments with adding other resources for you to continue on with on that subject. The would offer other podcast #'s, email addresses, or blog spots for you to follow up with. Most of the podcasts closed with the same music they opened with. Some closed with more small talk being made between the speakers. It reminded me of watching the news when you see the broadcasters turn to each other while the program closes and act like they are chatting with each other. I think all these things are done to humanize the speakers you are listening to.

Aside from the format of the podcasts, these are some of the important points that I picked up from listening to each podcast. KidCast reminded me, as a teacher implements podcasting in their classroom, they need to remember to be concerned about privacy issues and children. Children need to understand that they don't want to give out too much personal information while podcasting. Be clear with children about what type of information is ok, and what is not. As teachers we need to allow the children to do the work themselves. Allow them to research and review the information and really work on the project themselves without doing it for them. Sometimes that is hard for parents and teachers to do. The children will learn more if left to do the work for themselves. Start simple and work your way up. One point made by one of the librarians in the Connect Learning video that I thought was such a great thought. At times we aren't the best person to teach on a certain subject. Maybe a child just doesn't "get it" from us. Podcasting is a great alternative for that child. Maybe someone else can present the same subject in a way that makes sense for that child. There is also the aspect of repetition. Maybe the child just needs the reinforcement of hearing a message again.

I think podcasting can be a wonderful resource for the classroom. Most all the edcuational podcasts that I viewed were available for free. It's not often that we have free resources at our disposal. You don't have to be a professional to participate in podcasting. People from all walks of life make podcasts. That in itself is great lesson for children to learn.

Media Rich Posts

Michael Jackson

(CNN) -- The Los Angeles coroner has concluded preliminarily that singer Michael Jackson died of an overdose of propofol, a powerful sedative he was given to help him sleep, according to court documents released Monday. Los Angeles' coroner Dr. Lakshmanan Sathyavagiswaran reached that preliminary conclusion after reviewing toxicology results carried out on Jackson's blood, according to a search warrant and affidavit unsealed in Houston, Texas.
The affidavit outlines probable cause for search warrants of the offices of doctors who are believed to have treated Jackson.
The Associated Press is quoting a single law enforcement official, who says the L.A. County Coroner has ruled Michael Jackson's death a homicide. The Los Angeles County Coroner's office told CNN they had "no comment" on the report. An LAPD spokesman says the story did not come from their department.
The 32-page warrant said Dr. Conrad Murray, Jackson's personal physician, told a detective that he had been treating Jackson for insomnia for six weeks. Murray said each night he gave Jackson 50 mg of propofol, also known as Diprivan, diluted with the anesthetic lidocaine via an intravenous drip.
Worried that he may have been becoming addicted to the drug, the Houston cardiologist said he attempted to wean him from it, putting together combinations of other drugs that succeeded in helping Jackson sleep during the two nights prior to his death.
But on June 25, other drugs failed to do the job, as he recounted to detectives in an hour-by-hour account that was detailed by detective Orlando Martinez of the Los Angeles Police Department:

Next Generation Learning

I viewed the Next Generation Learning video with mixed feelings. It sounds like England must fund their schools differently than we do in the U.S.A. I'm impressed with all the technology equipment they have at their disposal. I'm not sure how their schools are run in comparison to ours. I would love to to have a smart board to use in my classroom.

I can see many benefits to having so much integrated technology in the classroom. I know that these children are exposed to many experiences outside of their classroom. I can also see the benefits of the communication with parents. Obviously everyone would have to have access to the online sections in order for everyone to be able to do the homework assignments. Parents could not use the excuse that "they didn't know about the assignment".

There are parts of the video that I do have issues with. There was a section in the video that the boy refers to sitting in his seat and learning as boring. He can run around and operate his IPhone, but doesn't know what his Dad does for a living! His job must also be...boring! Maybe I'm a little old school, but part of me feels that there is a certain amount of self discipline that needs to be learned. If I can't jump up and down and make something entertaining, does that make it not worth learning? Do we need to perform a circus act at school to teach our children? Do we really need Wii's in the classroom? How about we actually get up out of our seats and go outside and get our exercise that way. I guess out of all the videos, this one probably bothered me the most. I just couldn't agree with everything that was said in this one.

Harness Your Students' Digital Smarts

Vicki Davis has done a wonderful job in her classroom. It seems like she is really empowering her students to find answers on their own. It seems as if it is even more exciting for this class of students since they are living in rural Georgia. Can you imagine their excitement in being able to travel the world for their class. I'm sure the impression left on them will last forever. They are able to connect with other students all over the world. Some are even able to work internationally to complete projects together online.

While I really admire Vicki's classroom, I don't know that I could ever see my second graders learning all of their subjects in that manner. I do think it is great that she readily admits "she doesn't know it all". How can any of us know it all, when we aren't even sure of the jobs that will exist for our students in a few years. We need to remember to let our students know that we don't have all the answers to every question, but we can help them find ways to seek out the answers to their questions. That's a great lesson in itself from this video.

I also took the time to check out Vicki Davis' Cool Cat Teacher Blog. I enjoyed looking around at her blog and reading some of the information there. I would like to take the time to see more of her early childhood and elementary ideas. She seems to have a good grasp of what the younger age groups are capable of. I know that sometimes we sell children short. My six year old has no problems operating my iPhone and she doesn't read all that well. I know that we have to be careful not to sell these younger children short.

Sir Ken Robinson: The Importance of Creativity

I thoroughly enjoyed this video. I feel that Ken Robinson had some wonderful things to say about creativity in the classroom. Do we value it like we should? Judging from recent years, no. The arts are the first thing to get cut when we feel like our tax dollars aren't going to stretch far enough. We (or should I say those people in education making the decisions with our tax dollars) don't see the value in the arts. I think we are doing our children such a disservice by cutting these programs.

Having recently made my classroom schedule for my 2nd grade classroom, I can attest that the State of Alabama is right in line with the thinking of the rest of the world. We are required to give 2.5 hours a day to Language Arts, 60 minutes to Math, 30 minutes each to Social Studies and Science. They also throw in some minutes for character education, P.E., technology, and a whopping 10 minutes for Health. I don't remember seeing any requirements for music, art, and foreign language. I consider myself lucky to be teaching in a private school where they do value "all" the subjects to some degree. Our budget is somewhat limited too at times. My co-teacher came from a Mobile County public school where she felt that she would be in trouble if an administrator walked in her room and "caught" her teaching a science experiment! They weren't even furnished with texts or materials to even teach Science and Social Studies. All of their time was to be devoted to Reading and Writing. Those things are very important, but they aren't going to take care of the whole child.

We have to be careful as educators not to try to put all children in a box. Sure the kid that sits in his seat and does everything that we tell him to do is "easy" for us to deal with. We love that kind of kid in general. In fact, if someone doesn't fit in that mold, we push drugs on them at times and try to mold them into that perfect student role. We all have to remember that we are there to teach all types of children, not just the easy ones. It may be that the ones that challenge us the most, get the most from us. These might not be things that we can see at the time either, it may take years before we see the impact we have on these children. There are many lessons to be learned by us all, hopefully before we have completely ruined our education system.

Did You Know? 3.0

I'm not sure what to think of these type videos. I guess my first reaction is to panic. Is our country headed down the tubes? Is the USA not on top of the game anymore? I also took the time to read some of the comments that followed the video in the discussion section. Some of those comments made me think twice about some of the things I read.
First of all, how do we know these facts presented in the video are true? Who monitors this type of thing? Can't anyone stick a video on You Tube? I'm sure some of the things presented are true, but I'd like to know where they get this information. But true or not, it really makes you think. Are we keeping up with other countries? Or is it that we were just ahead for so long, and now we are stagnant and others are catching up to us. In some cases, they are passing us by because we have become complacent.

I also wonder about the motives about those that produce this type of video. Do they have an agenda? If so, what do they want to accomplish by these type videos? Obviously from the comments below the video, some people feel really threatened by some the information. Some of those just question the accuracy of the information. "How can humans produce a computer that is going to be capable of what they claim, if humans are the ones producing it?" I personally wouldn't have thought about this on my own, but the comments of others made me question it too.

I guess as an educator the implications of this video mean that we just need to teach children critical thinking skills. Encourage them to think "outside the box" so to speak. Challenge them in each of their subjects. I see public school phasing out so much Science and Social Studies in favor of more Language Arts time. I've never understood that. Isn't the technology of the world found more in Science and Social Studies? Can't language skills be taught in a Science book too? If we aren't even aware of what the top jobs will be in the next 5 to 10 years, than we need to teach students in a way that will expose them to as many subjects as possible. It will be interesting to see where our country is in the next 20 years. I don't think we are in danger of becoming extinct!

First Post

My name is Erin Chupek. I am married and have three daughters ages 13, 10, and 6. Our family lives in Fairhope. I teach 2nd grade at Mobile Christian School. My husband stays busy with our three family owned collision repair facilities. In my spare time I am a middle school cheerleading coach, and Bible class teacher. We attend the Eastern Shore church of Christ. I'm taking this course to get my Alabama teaching certificate reinstated. My certificate expired while I was busy being a mom. I have completed all the other requirements to have my certificate reinstated except this last course! I also hope to use the technology knowledge I gain here, in my classroom. I do maintain my own classroom website through Teacher World. I try to duplicate many of the documents that I send home to my parents on my website. I still feel as though I have much to learn about technology in the classroom.

My first experience with computers was in high school. If I remember correctly we had Radio Shack computers in our lab. My Dad always referred to them as trash 80's. I don't really remember what they were called because I have heard him say that so many times. My parents were never "afraid" of technology which has been a blessing to me. My husband on the other hand, had parents that were very afraid of using a computer. He had to bring their family business up to speed or be left behind. He was up to the task. He deals with technology everyday in the automotive industry. Almost every aspect of collision repair uses modern technology everyday. If you don't keep up to date on your training, you will fall behind very quickly. I love to tease him about being a "techno geek", but he's the one that I rely on when I have a question about something. He has the patience to sit and figure it out if he doesn't know how to do something. I get frustrated easily and need to learn more patience!