Podcasts

Podcasts are a very unique way to communicate with others. I think that it would be cool to do podcasts with my students, but the question is, will I have the time? I understand the purposes of them, and I am sure it would be very beneficial to have the students create one. My concern is whether there is enough time in the day to do all these activities and get everything else on our lesson plans accomplished. To be honest, I was confused which podcasts we were supposed to listen to, so I listened to one from Willowcast, and one from Coleycast.

Willowcast has a very cute podcast called Fabulous Fish. After Mrs. Wiederholt's first graders read a story in their reading series, they did research and created their own segments in this podcast. The host, Joe, does a fabulous job tying every section together and making connections. This podcast included a variety of information including fish facts, how fish survive, how fish swim, the most interesting fish, and some funny fish jokes. I really enjoyed listening to this, and they had me captivated from the beginning. What a fun way to do research! I am sure the parents will enjoy listening to their own children in this podcast as well.

Coleycast had a podcast called Wind Folktales that struck my interest. During the science unit on weather, students were given the assignment of writing a folktale which would answer the question, "Where does wind come from?" This allows the students to delve into their creative juices and it was very interesting to see the different points of view the students took. This assignment was very imaginative, and I like that a lot because it allows those creative students to shine. It was a good idea for the teacher to turn this assignment into a podcast to bring all of the student's stories together.