Whew! Just a little more!

Did I learn a lot?

Yup! I learned the quirkiness of different blogs and podcasting tools and that things don’t always go as planned (yes, even with technology). Rather than regurgitate what I stated in the previous post, I’ll just say…read the previous post, I think it’s clear where my learning took place.

So, what do I do now?

Well, I have a few ideas of where I want to take podcasting.
1. Create a professional podcast for our school staff. I could include helpful technology hints for teachers without taking up too much time (2 minutes max.) to the school website (resource centre page).
2. Post mini-lessons on-line for my literature groups
3. Have students create podcasts to emphasize using voice in their writing.
4. Student presentations posted to website for all to listen to.
This is a brief list of where I’d like to start. I’m feeling rather ambitious (since it’s a short week this week) so perhaps I’ll start one this week….I think I’ll start #3 this week by having my senior literature group choose some favourite Easy Books and record them using Garage Band.

Professionally, I would like to see more of my staff simply use technology. I am hosting some technology lunch & learn sessions starting next week and I see podcasting fitting nicely into this plan. As for student learning, any time I have used Garage Band with classes in the past, they have been so excited. They have a blast creating and listening to themselves on the computer. Student engagement, I feel, is the greatest factor to success when students are using tools such as these. The more I can do to get technology into their hands, the easier it is for me to get them to learn. It truly is a great hook and motivating tool for many of the student I teach.

Till next time,

DB out!