After exploring and researching several podcasts, including Grammar Girl, I was amazed to find so many applicable podcasts to primary education classrooms. Though I have listened to a few podcasts in the past, trying to find one that would capture my attention either professionally or personally, I was never able to find one that warranted subscription. Grammar is sometimes a forgotten or not integrated into curriculum, so Grammar Girl is not only great for students use, but is extremely helpful for teachers and adults to brush up on their grammar. According to Solomon and Schrum, “podcasting has become one of the most frequently used Web 2.0 tools.” Students can create a podcast to demonstrate mastery and understanding of content or research subjects, introduce new topics, or express their thoughts and points of view. With a podcast’s flexibility, convenience, and means to present to a real-world audience, teachers and students can make learning more meaningful and engaging. A great link and resource that I stumbled across was Edutopia’s best podcasts at http://www.edutopia.org/blog/best-education-podcasts-betty-ray.
As my culminating podcast activity, I created my very first podcast at podomatic.com. Intimidated at first, I persevered with trepidation which ultimately shifted to confidence. I chose to create an audio podcast about ideas of podcast integration in a second grade classroom. Ultimately, I plan to have my students listen to a few podcasts and brainstorm ideas of how they believe we could use them in the classroom.
Here is the link to my first podcast episode: http://celestejouanet.podomatic.com/
Visual Tools
Exploring Web 2.0 visual tools is exciting, intimidating, exhilarating, and daunting simultaneously. The choices are endless and limitless. Finding the exact one can take time, and can lead you on a meandering web browsing adventure. Thankfully our text and module narrowed down some choices. My first choice was flipsnack. This tool provides a great way to tell stories with digital pictures. Below is a screenshot of a picture I uploaded from the first day of school. My idea included keeping a photo journal of the year and sending the link home to parents. Another option would be for students to create an autobiography for their informational writing by including chronological pictures of their lives. Adding text with several font options is available, with an example below in orange text. Another added bonus, is when the page is clicked, a page turning sound is added.
Because students are becoming creators and masters of their own learning, podcasting and visual tools offer a wide variety of opportunities to extend and remediate classroom lessons. When students have an authentic audience, their commitment to learning becomes more in depth and purposeful Solomon and Schrum suggest that podcasts at storynory.com offer full English text so that beginning readers or English language learners can see the words as they are spoken.” This offers great support beyond classroom walls.
In the article Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom: Differentiating with Technology, Hobgood and Ormsby stated, “Many of the obstacles to implementing differentiated instruction can be overcome with the effective use of technology. Teachers who feel ill-prepared to address the diverse needs of their students, for example, have ready access to more options than ever before as a result of the wide range of software and hardware tools available.” These two statements perfectly summarize my beliefs and experiences with supporting students with diverse learning needs.
Not only do podcasting and the use of Web 2.0 visual tools offer extension and remediation needs, they offer global awareness and can offer cultural experiences that could have never before been imagined.
References
Hobgood, B., & Ormsby, L. (n.d.). Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom: Differentiating with technology. Retrieved October 11, 2016, from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776
Solomon, G. & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0: How-to for educators. Eugene, OR: ISTE