How Do We Do a Podcast?
By: Heather Smith
Podcasting with First Grade:
After reading Podcasting with First Grade on Langwitches Blog written by Silvia Tolisano, it was apparent that skills that are being taught are what are important, not the technology that is being taught! Langwitches encourages podcasting with younger elementary students. She writes about first graders listening to a podcast about animals and being thrilled that the second graders from the podcast had received so many comments from around the world. They were eager to record their own podcast and have their voices put "into other people's computers and iPods". The class read a chapter book called Vacation Under the Volcano from the Magic Tree House series by Mary Pope Osborne. They pretended they were interviewing Jack and Annie (the two main characters) about their adventure. They read one chapter at a time, discussed what they were reading, and came up with a script of questions and answers. They then began to record. The students were rotated as the interviewers, jack, and Annie. She was amazed at how cooperative and attentive these first-graders were. Several students took an interest in editing the podcast. These students were really coming out of their shell. They began to emphasize words, demonstrate different sounds of their voices, and agreed not to read off the script- to use different acting voices. Lastly, she added music and sound effects and let the students listen to their podcast. I was amazed at how informative this post was, but even more at how many skills this assignment/podcast addressed: listening, speaking, presenting, comprehension, storytelling, performance, voice acting, oral fluency, media, and technology!
Tolisano, the creator of the blog Langwitches, hits on Podcasting with First Grade (as summarized previously) in her blog post First Graders Create Their own AudioBook . In this post, she more thoroughly describes her end of the process of creating a read-along. She pulled students to record while their teacher read one chapter at a time out of Vacation Under the Volcano and created the interview script to be recorded by the students. By the time the last chapter was recorded there were ten written scripts that she decided to create a little booklet for the students to be able to follow along while they listened to their podcast. She even added a special sound in the podcast to indicate a new chapter. Once they listened to the podcast, she asked them to write down a few sentences about their experience. It is so amazing how students can be so engaged and be perfectionist's.They experimented with their inflection, pitches, emotions, volume, and speed. Tolisano lists several steps she would like to take in order to make the podcast/word document streamlined into a mp3 file with an attached word file in order for the children to scroll through the chapter readings at their own pace as they are playing and pausing the audio file. This would be amazing if this could be accomplished cost-effectively, or even for free.
I also read Flat Stanley Podcast on Langwitrches blog, in which she writes about a first grade class that read the book Flat Stanley by Jim Brown and sent paper Flat Stanleys to their relatives around the country in order to receive images and stories back. The six-year-olds then wanted to create their own recording of the book. They brainstormed a storyline and they were flattened by their SmartBoard to be mailed around the world. Each student picked a location and researched it in order to write a short script which included: The location (city, state, country, and continent), how they got there (transportation), what they done at the location, and how they got back home. They were also reminded to think about senses and sound effects that could be used to help portray the mood in the recording.
After reading Langwitches blog, I have realized that there are several reasons to podcast. By the way, if you are wondering what a podcast is- it A is a digital recording of someone talking and giving instruction. They're downloadable through the internet and iTunes. People of ANY age can reap the benefits of contributing to a podcast. Share your creativity. Let the world hear your voice. Give yourself the opportunity to be heard! Learn from others. Use podcasts in lesson plans. All you need to start your podcast is a computer, a microphone and an internet connection. It doesn't get any easier than that, right? You're only limited by your imagination. And it is easy, even if you aren't technologically savvy! You basically just plan what you will be discussing/ recording, then talk into a microphone, and last publish. It is a little more advanced than that, but this is basically how you create a podcast! Please read Langwitches Blog and search for more information regarding podcasts so your voice can be heard across the world, too!
Heather,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog. You were very detailed in each summary and you also included pictures of the books that the students read. As the reader, I could visualize what the students were doing and how they reacted to the podcast by reading your blog. Overall you did very well at summarizing what you read! I would suggest putting "Why Do We Podcast" at the beginning of your blog so that readers will have a better understanding of what podcast are and why are they used. Also, consider putting a link in the Flat Stanley Podcast summary.
I hope you find my comment to be helpful!
Shakeya Andrews
Good job.
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