Thing 7 Podcasting and Screencasting

What a fun topic with so much to explore! I think the easiest and most helpful thing for me to do this time is simply go through which resources and tools I spent time exploring. Besides meeting the requirement for this class, I like to think of this blog as my "go to" for refreshing my memory when I'm ready to use these tools with my classes.

I really enjoyed watching the video about the Sequoyah Book program and how the 4th & 5th graders used audioboo.fm and QR codes to post book reviews online. I think this is a great idea and something I hope to try with my 6th graders. We have MacBooks for class use though, so I will need to see if using them instead of iPads and iPods will work.

Although probably not something I plan to incorporate into my own class in the near future, I will definitely share the StoryCorps.me site with other teachers who may require interview based projects. I love how the templates and question ideas are already there to guide interviewers based on their relationship with the interviewee. Looks like a great resource.

Another tool that I really liked but will probably not be able to use in school due to Internet radio being blocked is AudioBoom. The way Polly's example was so easily embedded in our Thing 7 text shows just how easy to use this source can be. I may play with it at home though, and see if students can at least listen to the files I embed... will need to investigate this further.

I LOVE the idea of how Flipgrid works and will definitely try this out with my classes at the end of the quarter as a means of informal assessment. I may ask them to share the most valuable thing they learned during our 10 week class and then use the Flipgrid on my webpage as part of my introduction to future class sections.

Screenr is a resource that I have checked out and found really easy to use. Due to my current recovery from strep throat and sinus infection, I opted not to record my already nasally voice! But you can view a brief screener I created to show how to search for a book about horses on our library catalog at https://www.screenr.com/qhL7 .  I think it might also be helpful to use Screencast.com with my 10 week Digital Literacy class. I probably wouldn't need it to record a class lecture; However - I often run out of time for class presentations and end up grading a student's project without them present. I loved the idea of using screen casting while grading their projects so that they can still get that more "active" feedback, rather than just a rubric and grade handed back to them. Very cool!

Overall, I found Thing 7 to be very helpful and the tools easy to use. Thanks!! and on to Thing 8 :-)