Podcasts in the Classroom

How can podcasts be effectively used in the classroom?

            I believe that podcasts are fantastic tools to use in a classroom.  Podcasts and other forms of virtual learning have become more and more popular as of late and educators are now thinking of creative ways to use them to enhance their curriculum.  In 2007 Bard Williams published the Educator’s Podcast Guide, a guide with probing questions educators should ask themselves before using a podcast in their classroom to determine if it is actually appropriate for the students.  Some of these questions are: Is the content appropriate for your current area of study?  Does the podcast add to or enhance your current lesson plan?  Is the content of the podcast compelling enough to hold the attention of your audience? Was the podcast produced by a source you consider credible?  After describing how to judge the answers to the probing questions, Bard also includes examples of podcasts that may be appropriate for a wide range of ability levels. Bard agrees that podcasts are excellent tools to use in one’s classroom but each podcast must be individually scrutinized for content and appropriateness.

Shepard (2009) stated that “podcasts can be used in the classroom for things like lectures for students who were absent, who need a refresher, or for students with hearing impairments.”  Podcasts can also be posted on a classroom blog so parents can stay more informed about what their children are learning or a teacher can recommend podcasts parents can listen to so they can help their children with certain subjects at home.  Creating podcasts in your classroom also allows you to easily share what you are doing in your classroom with other educators.  Along with enhancing a lesson plan, podcasts allow educators to collaborate with other educators, their students, and parents and students can collaborate with classmates, their teachers, and their parents. 

Apple has a website called Apple in Education ( http://www.apple.com/education/podcasting/) that allows one to download an App to record and distribute their own podcast.  I think this is a great tool because educators can use this to make podcasts specifically for their students based on their current needs and abilities. 

Radio Lab (http://www.radiolab.org/) offers many different ways to listen to podcasts.  One can choose from a number of stations offered in many different cities, choose an individual podcast to listen to, or find episodes of podcasts.  These podcasts are based around a multitude of subjects and from my short search it seems as if there is a little something for everyone. 

NPR (http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast/podcast_directory.php) offers podcasts on-line of segments they broadcast on their radio stations.  They also have a section on their website where one can record their own podcasts, like the Apple website I discussed above.  I feel that podcasts from NPR and Radio Lab can be used more to influence curriculum and lessons for elementary students rather than having the students listen to them because I am not sure how much they would actually understand.  However, as educators we can use these sites to create our own podcasts that are at our students’ developmental and cognitive ability levels. 

Shepard, Nina. (2009). Chrome Chalk Monster: Podcasts in the Classroom pp 61.University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. http://education.uwsp.edu/chrome_chalk_monster_2009.pdf#page=60. Accessed on 6 November, 2011.

Williams, B. (2007). Excerpted from: Educator’s Podcast Guide. International Society for Technology in Education. http://www.breitlinks.com/podcastsforlearning/PodcastPDFs/EducatorsPodcastGuide.pdf. Accessed on 6 November, 2011.

1st Technology Lesson Reflection

Liz Barry

26 October, 2011

            I taught this lesson on basic formatting in Microsoft Word to about 28 third grade students with varying cognitive and developmental abilities.  I began the lesson by telling the students that we were going to be learning about how to format a short paragraph about what they are thankful for in the Microsoft Word program.  I asked the class if any of them had used the Word program before to see how much background knowledge I would need to teach.  The majority of the students knew what the program was a few had used it before.  I showed them step-by-step what I expected them to do once they received their lap tops.  I first showed them what the Microsoft Word program symbol looked like on the tool bar.  I stressed that they only need to press the “W” symbol once to open the program.  I showed them how to make sure that the “blank document” option was highlighted and to press the “open” button to open a new blank document.  I think showed them how to make sure that the text style was set to “Times New Roman” and how to change the font size to “18.”  The last step was to show them how to press the “tab” key once to indent the first line of their paragraph before they start typing.  To review what I expected them to do, I had the students help me write the steps on the board before they received their lap tops.

            While the students were working independently I roamed the room to help with any issues.  Some of the lap tops did not have the Microsoft Word program on their bottom toolbar so I had to go around and move it from the “Applications” menu to the bottom tool bar for them.  On some of the lap tops the formatting toolbar did not automatically open so I had to go around and make it available for those students.  To differentiate my lesson, I had students that finished their sentences about what they are thankful and why early write another sentence or two, print their work, and help other students with their work.  This allowed me to extend the assignment for some students, have them help struggling students, giving me more time to devote to the ELL and other struggling students. 

I clearly stated my expectations and challenging standards during my introduction to the lesson and reiterated them during the students’ independent work.  We had time to finish this entire lesson and the students met my objectives.  I judged whether the students met my objectives by looking over their paragraphs for formatting and content after the students printed them.

Although the lesson went well and was a success overall, there are a few things I would do differently.  I would have liked to have the students center a title for their paragraph, What I am Thankful For, with their name, By …,  also centered under it.  I feel that this would have made their paragraphs look like more polished pieces.  I also feel that I did not stress the importance of punctuation as much as I should have.  If I stretched the lesson into two days I would have spent more time on revising and editing their typing. 

1st Technology Lesson Plan

Intern:  Liz Barry                                    Subject Area:  Technology Grade Level:  Third Grade                      Date:  26 October, 2011 STEP 1 DESIRED RESULTS CORE (standards): Alaska Content and Performance Standards, 4th ed, for Technology: ·         A: A student should be able to operate technology-based tools. ·         B: A student should be able to use technology to locate, select, and manage information. ·         D: A student should be able to use technology to express ideas and exchange information. OBJECTIVES ·         Learn how to open a blank document in Microsoft Word, check that the font style is “Times New Roman,” adjust the font size to 18, and indent with the “Tab” key before beginning to type a short paragraph. ESSENTIAL QUESTION: ·         How do you open a blank document in Microsoft Word and format the document correctly before beginning to type a paragraph? UNDERSTANDINGS: Students will understand: ·         How to do basic tasks in Microsoft Word. ·         How to type a correctly formatted paragraph. Students will know: ·         How to open a blank document in Microsoft Word. ·         How to correctly format a short paragraph. Students will be able to: ·         Open a blank document in Microsoft Word ·         Correctly format a short paragraph. STEP 2 ASSESSMENT EVIDENCE PERFORMANCE TASKS: ·         Students will open a blank document in Microsoft Word and type a correctly formatted short paragraph. OTHER EVIDENCE: ·         I will browse the classroom as students are typing to be sure they formatted their paragraphs correctly. STEP 3 LEARNING PLAN ·         Before laptops are passed out to the students, I will show them step-by-step, using the flat screen TV hooked up to a desktop computer, what they will be doing throughout this lesson. ·         I will first show the students what the Microsoft Word icon looks like and how to click on the icon to open the program. ·         When the program first opens I will be prompted to choose what type of document I would like to open so I will show them that we want to open a “blank document” and what their screen should look like once they do so. ·         I will tell them that before we start typing we need to do a few things to be sure that our papers will be formatted correctly.  The first thing we will check on the tool bar is that the font style selected is “Times New Roman.” ·         I will tell them that another option on the tool bar is to change the size of their font and for this assignment we want our font size to be “18.”  I will show them where this option is on the tool bar and select it. ·         I will tell them there is one last step we will do before beginning to type and that is to indent the first line by pushing the “Tab” key once, just like we do with the first line of a paragraph when we are writing. ·         After I push the “Tab” key once, I will show them what their short paragraph should look like after typing a couple of lines.  This example will be kept up on the TV for them to refer to. ·         To review the steps that I just modeled, I will review the process with the students by having them help me write the steps on the white board for them to refer to. ·         I will then ask my Helper Hats to help me pass out a laptop to each student and tell them that they may begin as soon as they receive their laptop. ·         After the laptops are all passed out I will browse the classroom as the students are working to be sure that they are formatting their paragraphs correctly and to answer any questions the students have that their classmates cannot help them answer. ·         When students start finishing up I will show them how to close the Microsoft Word program, ask them to close their laptops, and ask the Helper Hats to help me put the laptops away.  I will also tell them that tomorrow we will be using these formatting skills that we just learned to type another piece.

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Innovating Technology

What technology innovations are being tried in contemporary elementary schools?

            Meyer et al. (2011) found that 16 Canadian teachers who implemented electronic portfolios in their elementary classrooms experienced growth in their teaching practice and used more pedagogical practices that support self-regulated learning as a result of the scaffolding provided by the software.  Electronic portfolios can serve as a tool for teachers and students to interact and to help students self-regulate their own learning.  Students can organize their work within their electronic portfolios and use them to publish their work.  Teachers can make an electronic portfolio available to students that contains examples of the kind of work they expect from their students.  Electronic portfolios can also be used as a summative assessment tool of each student’s work.

            Warren, Dondlinger, & Barab (2008) felt that two major obstacles to using problem-based learning methods with a digital learning environment in elementary school classrooms were the time it takes to design such a learning environment and the time required for students to interact at their own pace with badly designed problems used to spur student writing.  They conducted a study to explore whether elementary student writing could be improved by using game elements along with problem based learning in a digital learning environment.  They found that students in fact did increase their voluntary writing, improved their standardized achievement scores on writing tasks, and teachers spent less time answering questions.

            Sadik (2008) performed a study that aimed to help Egyptian teachers incorporate technology in their classrooms by having their students produce their own digital stories using MS Photo Story.  Students were introduced to desktop production and editing tools and were able to share their digital stories with one another.  To determine the effectiveness of this activity on student learning, the teachers assessed their students’ stories using a digital story evaluation rubric and interviews were performed with students to judge the extent to which they were engaged in authentic learning tasks using the digital storytelling.  Sadik’s study concluded that in spite of a few issues reported by the teachers, digital storytelling projects can increase students’ understanding of curricular content.

            All three of these are great ways to integrate technology into one’s classroom but I found the digital storytelling activity used by Egyptian teachers to be the most interesting.  I would never think of Egypt as being the front-runner in technology integration in their elementary schools but this just proved that I need to be more open-minded.  Maybe we should be focusing on introducing technology integration to elementary schools in other nations so that we can better interact with them in the future.

Meyer, E.J., Abrami, P.C., Wade, A. & Scherzer, R. (2011). Electronic portfolios in the classroom: factors impacting teachers’ integration of new technologies and new pedagogies. Technology, Pedagogy and Education 20(2): 191-207.

Sadik, A. (2008). Digital storytelling: a meaningful technology-integrated approach for engaged student learning. Educational Technology Research and Development 56: 487-506.

Warren, S.J., Dondlinger, M.J. & Barab, S.A. (2008). A MUVE Towards PBL Writing: Effects    of a Digital Learning Environment Designed To Improve Elementary Student Writing. Journal of Research on Technology in Education 41(1): 113-140.