I have been subscribed to several different types of podcasts for about a decade. I love to cook and I have a small obsession with Martha Stewart. I also listen to several of the NPR-type shows in a podcast format. I rarely have the time to listen to a three o’clock show during the week. This format has introduced me to a great deal of information that I my have never found without them. I discovered one of my favorite pedagogical writers, Alfie Khon. I heard an interview with him while he was promoting his book, The Myth of the Spoiled Child. I found his positions on testing, homework, standards based learning, and basically everything he has written on, aligned well with my opinions and experience. I usually listen to these as I’m cooking dinner or driving in long stretches. Podcasting for new biological information is a bit more difficult. I find reading scientific information much easier to understand, but there are a few video podcasts that I have used in my classroom. One of the types of podcasts I have made were recorded lectures. These were made very early in my career and Paul Anderson, Sam Kahn, and Hank Green do a much better job than I ever did. I no longer even share those with my students, but they do still exist on the Internet, pitiful as they are. The most useful option I have found for creating my own podcasts has been to record the interactive reader that accompanied my textbook along with pictures and questions from the larger textbook. This recording served two purposes. First I didn’t have to read and re-read the same paragraphs over and over every period and second, I could send these to the pull out group teachers so they could focus on what students were writing, not reading and assisting the reading. This was very successful, however not available to post here because of copy write issues.
1 Comment
Shari Amonett
3/3/2015 04:49:59 am
Like you, I am a fan of the Crash Course series! While I am not always able to use the entire piece for my middle school students, there are several bits and pieces that they can connect with easily. I have also found they work well as extension resources for my advanced level learners. You mentioned using the podcasts to record yourself reading the interactive text for your sub-groups. What do you think about pairing up with the literature teachers or the support staff that directly works with these students to record them reading the material? This would allow for a cross-curricular tie that would help the students’ reading, as well as reinforce the science content you are covering. I was not familiar with Paul Anderson’s work so thank you for sharing that resource! Leave a Reply. |