Podcasting, video and screencasting, and live streaming are all new to me. I do not know much about them at all. I just remember last year my brother who was a freshman in high school had a class where the teacher used podcasts. The students had to listen to his podcasts a couple times a week and do assignments and then class time was used as a lab. Unfortunately, my brother did like this. He said he did not like the teacher, so having to go home and listen to him for another hour was hard and he would rather have read a chapter instead. But after reading this chapter, I learned that you can't just use one teacher's podcast and base your opinion on that. I think there are a lot of cool things you could do with podcasts. You could create podcasts as a review for your students so it is not mandatory for them to listen to, but if the student is studying and decides he/she needs more review they could listen to your podcast as a review.
A lot of times, I think notes or announcements get sent home with students and the students either throw them away or lose them so parents do not receive important information. Podcasts would be a great way for school personnel to get in touch with parents and make sure they receive all the announcements and important information. The schools website could have an area devoted to podcasts for parents so parents could check it or use their RSS to subscribe to and keep them in the loop.
In today's society there are a lot more parents who are out working (less stay at home parents) and parents who are overseas fighting for our country. As I was reading about the podcasts, video and screen casts and live streaming I was thinking how all of these could be used to record and capture things that are going on in your classroom to share with parents who can't be there. If your class is putting on a little play or talent show you could do a podcast, video cast or live stream it so those parents unable to attend can still take part in it and enjoy their children.
I also really liked the idea the author used about connecting with students in another country or even another state and creating podcasts or video casts to learn about each other and if learning a new language, having the students help each other by creating podcasts for each other.
As a new teacher, I want my students to be able to use new technologies in my classroom so they are ready and willing to try new things instead of being scared. I also want to teach my students how to use these tools appropriately.
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