Podcasting101

Podcasting
Why would you want to podcast? After I started podcasting there weren’t any reluctant writers in my classroom and I was able to motivate students to revise. The act of reading a piece aloud for a recording sends students back to voluntarily rewrite. You can delete the recording and record again later. Oral language is also improved when students hear themselves recorded and notice they speak too quickly or softly. The process of recording and editing is so simple that I have students record each other. I usually do the editing, as time doesn’t really allow it during the school day. Each piece for recording goes through a process of planning, prewriting, writing, reading aloud in conference, revision and recording (often, rewriting and rerecording too).

For student examples of podcasting from [|Room 208] by Bob Sprankle and students at Wells Elementary School and a [|video] the students made describing the process they follow each week to create their podcasts and the equipment they use.

Microphone $15 and up that connects to your laptop (or if using a laptop, just your laptop mic) Download Audacity and Lame http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ http://lame.sourceforge.net/index.php http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq?s=install&item=lame-mp3 (for help with downloading Lame) http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/tutorials Audacity tutorials
 * What you need:**

Follow these steps: 1. You need a microphone. Your tech person probably has some kind of mic available(or see above) Best to buy an inexpensive headphone/mic or handheld mic for $15-$30. 2. Download Audacity and Lame (see links above). 3. Plug in mic, open Audacity and record. 4. To edit sound, cut and paste as if Word “document”. 5. When done, choose File > Export as MP3 and save the new MP3 file where you want.

Here are links to established podcasting schools and other information links:

http://www.bobsprankle.com/blog/C1697218367/index.html Bob Sprankle’s blog page featuring student writing, art, and podcasts. All from past years with his multiage grades 3, 4 class.

http://www.intelligenic.com/blog/ KidCast- View/listen to [|Episodes 33-34] for a discussion of purposes for podcasting in the classroom. Also check under “Pages” on the right, Podcasting in the Classroom and Podcast Projects.

[|RAZ-R (Rabat American Zone Radio]) Rabat American School monthly school-wide radio/podcasts

[|Mabry Online] from Mabry Middle School, Georgia, US

[|Radio Willoweb] School-wide Elementary podcasts

http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/ David Warlick, overall excellent info and discussions about tech-assisted learning in general, especially blogging and podcasting

Also, you can simply Google your subject area. For example: “podcast + grade 4 + projects” and see what you get!