This post is dedicated to the idea of podcasting in your classroom and for professional development. Currently, I use it for professional development. However, I think podcasting would be a wonderful tool for use in speech therapy, so that the child could hear the word, and then hear the difference in how they pronounce it. (My daughter uses an app in speech therapy called "Articulate" that uses this principle.) I think for a teacher or a student who is trying to learn another language, like Spanish, it could be used in the same way. I also love to use music in my classroom, so I think that recording the children singing some of their favorite songs would be a big hit with both the students and their parents.
This week, I explored two tools for use in podcasting - iTunes and AudioBoom. The benefits to iTunes include the fact that you have, at your fingertips, access to a wealth of knowledge on any subject you care to study. For myself, there are more education and teacher podcasts that I would love to listen to than I have time. Another benefit is the search capability. It is not just a huge mob of podcasts that you have to sift through in order to find something that interests you. AudioBoom is a new tool that I did not know about. It has many features that I did not know about. In regards to education, if you go to the AudioBoom website, click on the "More" drop down menu beside the magnifying glass, and then click on "For Educators" it lists some really great features for teachers and students. You can give your students a voice. It lists some exceptional student podcasts. You can enhance your students' learning experience by giving them some other resources to make their learning come alive. In a flipped classroom, I can see this as being a very effective tool, as these are some of the resources they can access during home study. The final feature they list is in regards to professional development which, as I mentioned before, is the main way I currently utilize podcasting.
So, I created my first podcast using iTunes and AudioBoom. I already had iTunes loaded on my Mac, so it was easy to search "education podcasts". As an early childhood educator, I often read, watch, and listen to anything coming from the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Naturally, I picked one of their podcasts, this one entitled "Early Childhood Education: The Road Ahead". Of course, what I want to hear is, "The road ahead is smooth Beth. Jobs galore. Plenty of funding. Everyone recognizes what a critical time birth to Kindergarten is in childhood development, and they appreciate how you support healthy children and engaged families. Everyone knows that so much more is demanded of our elementary students now than in years past, so they understand how crucial it is for children to have a positive educational foundations in pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten." Nope. I listened to the podcast, became very depressed, and then recorded a summary of that podcast on AudioBoom for any sympathetic listener to hear. I have two extremely old computers, and I found that it is important to see beforehand if your operating system supports AudioBoom. I switched computers and then had absolutely no trouble. I would recommend this free, easy to use tool to any educator.
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