Podcasts in the Classroom

Student Podcasts: 21st Century Skills Across the Curriculum

Podcasts are a technology tool that I am familiar with listening to and viewing, but I am not too familiar with creating them.  This article ties in to our assignment for the week of creating a podcast of educational value for our students, however the emphasis is on the students creating them.  It was interesting to read how middle schools are turning to podcasts to relay information to their schools and community.  Students are in a world where they can be in constant communication with one another 24 hours a day if they wanted to be.  Creating podcasts to give information and having them uploaded to the school's website allows users and viewers to go back and listen to the information at any given time.

I am starting to brainstorm ways to use podcasts in my middle school math classroom next year.  The technology is available at my school and I can already anticipate the excitement of the students.  I think Jeanne Halderson, one of two seventh-grade teachers at Longfellow Middle School that leads the students in podcasting says it perfectly when she states, "The students find that exciting. It's a lot more motivating to write something that the whole world can hear, rather than just something for a teacher to put a grade on" (Student Podcasts).  Students like to share their work and like to see the purpose of their learning beyond the classroom.  Creating podcasts gets students engaged, editing, and presenting their information in front of a big audience. I hope to be able to use podcasts in my classroom next year.