Kidcast #46: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
This podcast is about getting kids to go into a more in-depth look at writing narratives. Included in this podcast is an activity designed to get kids to do just that. The activity is basically like 20 questions. The teacher brings pictures into the class and asks the students to make up 20 questions about the picture. Then the class answers them. This activity can also be broadened into an activity using podcasts where students make a podcast of their 20 questions, including the pictures.
Driving Questions: Online Safety
This is a podcast about a guy who travels to different schools to speak with students, parents and teacher about online safety. With so much of the world online today, it is important for children to understand that the internet is not a playground. Students need to be careful when they are online. The author of the podcast does not go into specific strategies of how to talk about online safety but he does give lots of ideas for topics of discussion on online safety. This podcast would be a little dry to use with students in the classroom but I would definately show this podcast to parents.
Based on these two podcasts , I would definitely use them in the classroom. While listening to them, I was able to get into what the authors were saying. Also, the Online Safety podcast includes a video so I can see how that would also get students more involved in what the authors are saying. Podcasts can be used for tutoring, for a way to get reluctant learners involved and to produce amazing class projects. In order for students to create podcasts they must be able to coherently organize their thoughts into narrative essays and presentations. If I were to say this to a students they would not be so enthusiastic about podcasts but that's the beauty of it. Students will enjoy making podcasts and build their skills without even realizing it. There are so many ways that a teacher can use podcasts in the classroom to build on skills in a way that students have fun at the same time.
5 Ways to Use Podcasting in the Classroom
1. I would definitely use the idea that Dan Schmit presents in the KidCast podcast that I used for this post. The 20 questions idea stimulates students' creative thinking and engages them in more in-depth analysis of the information that they are presented with.
2. I would also use podcasts to help struggling students get a different perspective on a lesson that we are going over. Sometimes, all a student needs to excel is a different perspective on the same information. This would be a great way to tutor struggling students.
3. Podcasts can also be helpful with giving information to parents. The students and I could create podcasts for their parents to listen to that tells them what we are working on in class and how their child is learning. Podcasts can also be used with parents to impart important information such as online safety.
4. Students could also research podcasts on their own to present to the class. If we are working on a unit that is widespread students could pick a topic within that unit and find a podcast that works with their topic. Then they can share what they have found with the rest of the class.
5. A variation of the last use of podcasts could be that students make their own podcasts of the research that they have done on their topic. Then they can share these podcasts with the rest of the class.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Monday, February 11, 2008
Options for my Literacy Unit
Option 1: Since I will be focusing on older grades, this unit will be directed towards sixth graders. In this first option, I will be doing a literacy unit on Ancient civilizations. My students will research what life was like for a twelve year old in whichever civilization they choose. My students will then write out a five minute script which depicts their findings. Then they will make a movie out of their script and post it on the school website. This will help the students with their writing skills as well as their understanding of ancient civilizations.
Option 2: This next option will be a unit on reading and writing strategies. My students will be expected to create and maintain a blog that focuses on one particular topic that they find interesting. Throughout the time spent on the unit, each student spend time each week reading informational and fiction books on their subject. They will then post at least twice a week about what they have read and how it fits into their topic. They will also be expected to explain how they used specific strategies to help them pull out the information that they used. Of course, citations will also be used.
Option 3: This option will focus on spelling. Each student will form their own strategy for how to spell better. They must give this strategy a catchy name and develop it fully. Then they will make a podcast of how to use their strategy. To make this unit more fun, the students can make their podcast into an infomercial, a tv show or anything else that they can think of (provided it is g-rated). Then they will be assigned into groups to watch and evaluate each others' strategies. Once each group has decided on the best strategy, the entire class will decided which one of those is the very best and the winner will receive a prize.
Option 4: This option will focus on the steps involved in writing essays and papers. In the planning stage, the students will use Kidspiration software to develop their ideas in a web. From this, they will pull the information needed to form the introduction, body paragraphs and ending of their essay. Once all of those ideas are constructed and organized, the students will write a first draft of an essay. This first draft will go up on the class wiki. They will then have to peer review each others' essays by typing in suggestions in a different font color. Next, the students will write out their final draft and post it in their blogs.
Option 5: This option will be a more individual class project, meaning that each student will choose their own novel to read regardless of what their other classmates are reading. Each student will read their novel and make their online journal entries about it on their blog. After finishing the book, they will need to pull out what they believe the climax of the novel to be. Using the website toondoo.com, the students will then create their own comic strip of the climax. The creation of the comic strip will have to be done in class though so that I can monitor how the students are using the site since it is not exclusively a children's site and may contain inappropriate material.
Option 2: This next option will be a unit on reading and writing strategies. My students will be expected to create and maintain a blog that focuses on one particular topic that they find interesting. Throughout the time spent on the unit, each student spend time each week reading informational and fiction books on their subject. They will then post at least twice a week about what they have read and how it fits into their topic. They will also be expected to explain how they used specific strategies to help them pull out the information that they used. Of course, citations will also be used.
Option 3: This option will focus on spelling. Each student will form their own strategy for how to spell better. They must give this strategy a catchy name and develop it fully. Then they will make a podcast of how to use their strategy. To make this unit more fun, the students can make their podcast into an infomercial, a tv show or anything else that they can think of (provided it is g-rated). Then they will be assigned into groups to watch and evaluate each others' strategies. Once each group has decided on the best strategy, the entire class will decided which one of those is the very best and the winner will receive a prize.
Option 4: This option will focus on the steps involved in writing essays and papers. In the planning stage, the students will use Kidspiration software to develop their ideas in a web. From this, they will pull the information needed to form the introduction, body paragraphs and ending of their essay. Once all of those ideas are constructed and organized, the students will write a first draft of an essay. This first draft will go up on the class wiki. They will then have to peer review each others' essays by typing in suggestions in a different font color. Next, the students will write out their final draft and post it in their blogs.
Option 5: This option will be a more individual class project, meaning that each student will choose their own novel to read regardless of what their other classmates are reading. Each student will read their novel and make their online journal entries about it on their blog. After finishing the book, they will need to pull out what they believe the climax of the novel to be. Using the website toondoo.com, the students will then create their own comic strip of the climax. The creation of the comic strip will have to be done in class though so that I can monitor how the students are using the site since it is not exclusively a children's site and may contain inappropriate material.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
