Blog Post 4; Podcasting

Prior to this assignment, I couldn't have told you a thing about podcast. I have never really heard much about them, and I have never been exposed to them. However, after watching some of these videos and reading the Langwitches blog, I have discovered that they can be very useful and fun classroom tools.

Langwitches - Podcasting with 1st Grade

Langwitches Podcasting with 1st Grade was really interesting to me to read. I would think that podcasting would be something to do with upper elementary students, or even middle and high school students. I would never think to podcast with 1st graders. It is so great to me to think that even at 6 years old, students would be that excited for a podcast. The first graders that he taught a group of students so excited to read for people to hear their voices. I think he did a great job at incorporating every student into the podcast by letting them take turns being the voices of Annie and Jack. I also think that is a good way to get students excited about reading in general. Podcasting is another way to assess listening, reading, cooperation, story telling, comprehension, and so much more without giving regulars tests and assessments.

Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom
The video I watched was Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. This video showed me all the ins and outs of podcasting. It really helped me see everything that you can do with podcasts. I think it is a great tool to have, especially when children are out sick like showed here. They can be uploaded straight through iTunes and accessed from a computer anywhere. This way students never really miss anything. They can just log onto iTunes and hear the same information given in class that day. Podcasts can also be posted for parents, this way they can help their children learn, or study for a test.

Flat Stanley 
I also read the blog Flat Stanley. This is just an example of another way podcasting can be used in a fun way with elementary students. After they read the book Flat Stanley, they wanted to know what it would be like to be mailed and travel from place to place. Their podcast was each student describing where they would travel to, what it was like to be mailed, what it smelled like, what it looked like. This is a great way to incorporate podcasting into elementary classes. They get to do all the talking, and it is a learning process since they read the book first. They all got to pick their own place, and read a book about the place they chose. They then got to share their "experience" in their place of choice with everyone across the world via their class podcast.

What I Learned About Podcasting
Like I stated before, I never knew much about podcasting prior to this assignment. It was very educational to me to read all these blogs and watch the videos. I never would have imagined all the benefits there are to using a podcast with lower elementary students. I really want to teach first grade, and this gave me so many great ideas. Hopefully I will be able to come up with cute ideas like these to incorporate into my teaching when I finally have my own classroom!