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Jessica Karches Project
Summary
Podcasting
Holland Central School
Jessica Karches/ Holland Middle School/ 8th grade
social studies
Throughout the iPod project, I
have learned so much about the usefulness of iPods and Podcasting in
the classroom. I plan on continuing the use of Podcasting for
projects and review next year.
First, I was able to learn many of
the technical aspects concerning the iPod and Podcasting. I was able
to learn how to download software that converts Wave files into MP3
files. I would like to devote more time to learning the program
Audacity. At the conference, some of the participants, particularly
from Lancaster, were able to offer me assistance in learning this
program for the future. I was able to show the students how to
download review materials to their MP3 players. In the future, I
would like to use iTunes and Movie Maker to develop my own review
materials for students. I would also like to change a Photo Story
Project that I did at the beginning of the year to use Movie Maker
and the iPods. The only real setback that I foresee is that the
student computers are unable to run Movie Maker at this time. I am
told that this should change over the summer.
The Podcasting project that I had
the students work on involved producing a radio broadcast that would
have aired during World War II. What I liked is that the students
were given a choice of whether to do the Podcast or create a museum
poster on the war. I found that around 40% of the students completed
the podcasting project. I feel that had I created better models, or
had been using podcasting throughout the year, more students would
have made the choice to do the podcast. For those students that did
the podcast, many did an outstanding job. Their presentations often
included reflections on family members, which they were able to
share with them. There was also one that was a commentary on the
involvement of women in the war. I would like to learn how to use
Audacity to put music in the background of their podcasts. I would
also like the students to have more time to practice their podcasts
before they record them. I would like to work on building a resource
for students loaded with images and sounds that they can use without
fear of copyright repercussions.
One of the best decisions that I
did make regarding the iPod was to publish the podcasts using
ThinkBright.org. First, I sent a permission slip home to
parents, and then I had passwords established for the students to
use the website. ThinkBright is password protected, which
seemed to alleviate some parents fears. I also had the students
refrain from using their real names. I would like to use
ThinkBright from the beginning of the year next year for more
than just their videos. I want to put my review podcasts on
ThinkBright, and I would like to include play lists for students
to view at home.
In the future, the iPod can be
used for review, projects, and inter-disciplinary work. The math
teacher and myself do an extensive stock market project that we
would like to tie a podcasting piece into. I have also been able to
show her several of the programs that we learned. She plans on using
the iPod and software to aid students next year with a book that
they are reading in class. I was also able to take some fantastic
ideas from the conference for projects on oral history and I was
able to get some ideas for elementary teachers that I shared with
the 6th grade team.
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