Podcasting is something totally new to me. I have a friend that always talks about listening to the podcast belonging to the Reduced Shakespeare Company while she made her commute to school. To me that sounded too much like listening to a book-on-tape. I just couldn't see myself getting into something like that.
Little did I know there is so much more out there. I never really took the time to search. We did this once in a professional development meeting but we were given about ten minutes to explore such a vast field of information. It's kind of exciting to see everyone who wants to share their loves and knowledge with strangers.
The first podcast I looked at was entitled IRDA Classnotes. The one that listened to was called "The Pitfalls and Promises of Interactive Notebooks". This podcast introduces how science notebooks can be used to enhance what they are learning in class. This is especailly good for the ELL kids. The notebook can be used as a simple journal or respsonses to questions given in class. The podcast suggests that the notebooks contain structure but also leaving it open for some design in part of the students. I use notebooks in my classroom but we call them S.A.L.L.s (Student Activity Learning Logs). The SALLS are collections of notes, activities and questions of the day. Going 1:1 next year, I'm trying to find a way to incorporate the Ipads into an interactive SALL.
The second podcast I listened to wave from NOVA. Their podcasts are short and highlight science concepts. The one the listened to was called "Galileo and the Telescope." It talked about who Galileo was, his thoughts, and his history. The podcasts ended in February (which is a shame), but NOVA moved to vodcasts located here.
Science Magazine started podcasts at the end of 2011. These podcasts are fairly long (30mins+) but there are a few shorter ones. The one that I chose was over a multiple topics like comedy in science, rise in cavities in youth, and family classifications. If you wish to listen, you can find it here. The podcast is more of a interview/radio type show than someone lecturing about a topic. They come out weekly and I'm going to add this one to my playlist for my long commute to school.
Well, we received our iPads from our tech gals this week so we could start playing with them. I have to admit, this little toy has gone a long way with me already. I thought I was going to go nuts with a new macbook this year and the iPad for next year. The school board (I believe) is voting on the 1:1 initiative tonight. That being said, I thought I would do some research into some blogs to follow that might help me down the road. Here are some of my findings.
http://www.edutopia.org This site offers more than just a 1:1 section. It has a whole list of blogs relating to education. At the bottom of each blog, it has a "you might like these" section that I found very handy.
http://appsineducation.blogspot.com/ This guy here pretty much ended my random searching for blogs. He has a whole list of blogs on the left side his blog.
Even though I love playing with new toys, it's great to see someone focused enough to put their thoughts down for people like me.
This I'm teaching both middle school and high school classes. My freshmen (and the rest of the high school) were fortunate enough to be part of the 1:1 initiative with MacBooks. This was a blessing and a curse. What started out as a privilege for them seemed to become more of a right as the school year went on. We've had some time to work out different forms of management styles to keep kids on focus and to do the "right thing." Hopefully next year, we'll be able to make this happen.
Speaking of next year, the middle school is looking at going 1:1 with iPads. I'm not sure how I feel about this. If we're having issues with the high schoolers, it could go either way with the younger crowd. There are so many things that iPads can do, but we also have laptop carts for every middle school room. These carts were the left overs from the high school and, besides battery issues, they are in great condition. I just hope that we're not moving too fast in the forward direction.
