Blog Post #4

Langwitches
The first blog post I read was 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook. I thought it was very interesting. The post talked about a class that was given the opportunity to work with Garageband to record the story Dinosaurs Before Dark.

I thought it was very interesting to learn that the students showed a lot of interest in Garageband, even changing the inflection of their voice and adding emotion to their recording. This was a great way to get students engaged in learning. Not only are they using technology to record their voices (and there fore learning about different kinds of technology) but they also received a print out booklet that they could read and follow as the recording was played back to them.
For the second video I chose The Flat Stanley Podcast. This podcast is based on the book "Flat Stanley" by Jeff Brown. In this book a child, Stanley, is playing when a bulletin board falls on him and makes him flat. Then he is able to do all kinds of things that I normal kid can't do including the ability to be mailed places. The story for this class is that the smart board fell on them and made them all flat. Now they too can be mailed anywhere in the world, just like flat Stanley.

I thought this was such a cute idea. I loved listening to the podcast with the various students traveling around then world to London England, Space, Israel, Hollywood, even right here to Alabama! This was such a great way to have children take a story that they enjoyed and enhance it. Not only do they get to learn about technology (recording their stories) but they get to know about different cities around the world. This is yet another great example of integrating technology to allow students greater comprehension as well as retention.
The third video I chose to watch was The Benefits of Podcasting in the Classroom. In this video Joe Dale shows many different ways in which podcasting can benefit students. It's a great way to do project based learning and to allow students to use their higher based learning abilities.
I found this video very interesting. I was surprised by the many different ways teachers, and students, can use podcasts. I had never thought about using them to record a lecture and then uploading it for students. It was a new idea to use the podcast for kids who are home sick. What a great way to use them! I also liked how they said this is a good way for parents to see what is going on in class, I couldn't agree more.