I don’t pretend to be very Internet
savvy and I have to admit that my children probably know more about podcasting
than I do, including my fourth grader. It
has only been recently that I have had much experience with any type of
podcasting since I became a media paraprofessional. However, I have learned a few things that
would make podcasting useful in a school library media center.
There are a variety of ways to
incorporate podcasting into a school library media program that would enhance
both student and teacher experiences.
Some beginning projects that were suggested by Fontichiaro’s “Podcasting
101” article would be great ideas to try in my school. In particular, I think creating class CDs,
audio tours, interviews, and newscasts would be easy podcasting projects to
do.
My media specialist just finished a
project with the third grade called “Where I’m From.” Each student wrote a poem using a specific
format and then they recorded the poems onto the grade level iPads. The media specialist then posted the poems on
the media center blog for each class.
This would be a great project to turn into a class CD with each student’s
individual poem. I think parents would
enjoy having a copy of the CD for themselves.
At my school, we have two book
fairs every year, one in the fall, and one in the spring. Creating an audio tour of the book fair would
be a great idea to advertise and market the book fair. We could have students talk about the theme,
the most popular books, teacher wish lists, and contests. Then the audio tour could be posted to the
media center blog, the book fair website, and even the school blog. I know how important it is to market the book
fair so that we can meet our sales goals.
Utilizing audio tours would be something different that students and
parents could both enjoy.
I also love the idea of doing
podcast interviews. We could do
literature-based interviews where one student is the reporter and the other
student is the author, illustrator, or character from the book. I think this would be a great idea to extend
the lesson from reading a class book.
Students could write out scripts and do the recordings themselves. The media specialist could have the class
vote on their favorite interview and post that to the blog.
We currently do a live morning news
show in the media center three times a week.
It can be very hectic in the mornings because we only have a few minutes
to rehearse and sometimes our students get nervous, misread the teleprompters,
or miss their cues. Doing a podcast of
the news show would be a good alternative, especially for those students who
are shy to be on camera or uncomfortable about doing the show live.
Lastly, my favorite idea is from
Nancy Keane who does podcast booktalks.
This is probably the easiest use of podcasting in the media center and
one that could potentially be very effective for students. We always get students who want
recommendations for books but we don’t always have time to spend more than a
minute with them when the circulation desk is busy. I would love to have booktalks for the
majority of the books in the media center, sorted by genre, and age
appropriateness. I would just send my
students to one of the catalog computers, have a link to the booktalk index on
the homepage, and tell the students to “browse.” That is definitely one idea that I can get
excited about.
I’m sure there are many other uses
for podcasting in the school library media center, even for a complete newbie
like myself.
Judith,
ReplyDeleteI liked how your introduction was very real and down to earth. I think a lot of educators, media specialists, and people in general can relate to how you feel regarding being "tech savvy". After reading your post I get the general idea that you work in an elementary school media center. Adding on to your great ideas on how to use pod-casts and possibly doing book talks, maybe putting on a puppet show using pod-casts would be a great tool as well. This would be a great activity for you or the media specialist to do by visiting a Pre-K/Kindergarten room. Figure out what book is being read, or a book that is a class favorite, and record yourself reading the book via pod-cast. Visit the classroom, use the puppet center, play your podcast so the students can hear the story, while you re-enact the story with puppets. I used to teach Pre-K and sometimes we wore a CD out so much that went with the big books that I needed another way to play the story while my assistant and I put on a puppet show. I didn't really think about how a pod-cast would have saved us so many times! Also, you or your media specialist could record pod-casts of different books, and if you have a media center website, create a link with all of your pod-casts and students can access and listen to them while looking at the book at home.
I think your idea on creating an audio tour of the book fair is BRILLIANT! I did think Fontichiaro’s “Podcasting 101” idea of student interviews to be a great idea as well. You could do an entire session on these interviews and how they help build and enhance the students vocabulary and communication skills. I feel like those two things are sort of "a lost art" because of technology and texting. Students don't really know how to communicate with one another, let alone hold an interview. If we find a way to really incorporate these ideas, our media center would be on FIRE!! :)
Judith,
ReplyDeleteI'm not very tech savvy myself so I really appreciated your bog which included many down to earth ideas on how to use podcasts. I think it is so easy to become overwhelmed with technology and run from it rather than embrace it.
I agree that podcast would be a fantastic addition in media centers and would be something that the students would love. The idea of an book fair podcast is a great one. In my experience the students would be the most excited about the non book items for sale and wouldn't pay enough attention to the books. A podcast could help tremendously by giving recommendations of great books and get students excited about them.
When I was a media specialist I did many book talks and had students complete recommendation forms for books. I think videoing these recommendations and broadcasting them to the school is a wonderful idea. The students would enjoy being on video and students would get a wide variety of book ideas.
Thanks for some great ideas!