Podcasting Is Easier Than I Thought!

I can't believe how easy it is to play and record podcasts. This is a very good feeling, considering I had no idea how to manage a podcast until a week ago. In my opinion, which could very well change by tomorrow, I believe that podcasting can be one of the most important tools in the classroom.

I really appreciate the introduction to Podomatic.com as I had a lot of fun setting up an account and perusing the site. I have spent an excessive amount of time in the last week becoming more familiar with the capabilities of this site. In fact I have figured out how I'm going to incorporate this site into several lesson that I already teach. For instance I have a social studies piece surrounding culture where my students are asked to create media presentations. I found an absorbent amount of podcasts that my students could use to pep up their presentations. Through Podomatic.com my students could also create their own podcast for their presentation.
Another thought for this website would being able to post students giving each other mini lessons in math through the use of a document camera. I have found that my kids enjoy teaching each other multiple strategies that their group has identified through inquiry based lessons. If I were able to post these mini lessons to my class blog, students would be able to view these tutorials from home while doing homework. I know that those select students who listen and trust their peers more than their teachers' opinion would really benefit from this type of media.

With practically 90% of every kid owning an I pod in my school, I feel like podcasting during instruction could really grab a lot of these kids attention. I know that I am a complete amateur when dealing with most of this tech stuff right now. However, my learning curve in the last 3 months has grown exponentially. I feel very fortunate to be able have the resources and time right now to be able to become technologically literate before next school year. So in closing, I have the sneaking suspicion that podcasting will become a regular thing in my classroom this upcoming year.

IT 5710

I'm excited to report in my first post that there is a whole new meaning of free. This past week has provided me with a plethora of free resources that are incredibly applicable to my classroom instruction. I have really enjoyed being able to converse with my classmates and colleagues about all of the amazing web applications out there. It was great to initially watch you introduce and guide us through some of the apps in class last Tuesday. I really have to admit that I felt like a giant sponge trying to absorb all of the information. After only being in this program for one semester so far, I really feel your class is doing a great job making information easily transferable to my classroom.

After reflecting upon all of the web applications that were introduced to me in the past week I realized that there were 3 of these that really stood out to me. Dipity, Zoho, and Gliffy seem like they will be the most helpful web apps to me this Fall. I mostly appreciate these sites because of their high level of user friendliness to both the teacher and the student. All three of these web apps are really going to spice up lessons that need more interaction. I'm finally to the point in my career where I can reach into the filing cabinet and grab a lesson that I know is solid. However, there are so many lessons that I have that need to be updated with the ever growing pace of technology. With the easy management of these applications, making stagnant lessons exciting with interaction will be a breeze.