Podcasts

=Podcasts in the classroom =

Podcasts are audio or video files that are automatically delivered to subscribers through an RSS feed (using iTunes or other similar podcast subscription software). A wealth of podcasts are available for students and teachers alike - simply open iTunes, click on the Music Store link, click on the Podcasts genre to view the categories and titles of podcasts that are available for subscription. You may search for specific topics to narrow down the list of podcasts to ones that interest you. One of my favorite educational podcasts is [|Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing], a weekly 4 to 7 minute podcast on topics ranging from "Is 'irregardless' really a word?" to " 'Good' vs. 'Well' ". Each episode is entertaining and informative. [|National Geographic], [|NASA], [|Scientific American], [|PBS], [|The Wall Street Journal], [|Nature], [|Mandarin Chinese], [|Conversational French], [|NASCAR], [|Instapundit], and every news outlet you can think of also produce numerous podcasts available for FREE. You could easily have your students subscribe to these information sources and listen to them outside of class. There is no need to own an iPod to listen to podcasts - they may listen to them on their laptops.

You may also consider producing your own podcast for students to subscribe to OR have your students create their own podcasts. We have all the required software already on our laptops. We use Audacity to record and edit the audio files, iTunes to add images and ID3 information, and Notepad text editor to update the RSS feed file. If you do not want to create a "true" podcast (i.e.; one that may be suscribed to through an RSS feed), you may still create individual episodes and post them on Blackboard for students to download OR have students submit to you through Blackboard. iTunes even has a [|list of podcasts about podcasting] to help you in your endeavors!

If you are interested in learning more about this topic and uses in the classroom, contact Melissa Wert.

Harpeth Hall Podcasts
[|Library book review podcast]- the hyperlink is to the actual RSS feed for the podcast. Students podcast reviews of books, as do the librarians. When we have visiting authors, we ask them to do a podcast or two about their books.

Student podcasts:
[|A film review podcast of "Juno"] - two students in the 2008 Winterim Web 2.0 class recorded this podcast about the movie, "Juno."

[|5th grade Scary Story podcasts]- 5th graders wrote their own scary stories in anticipation of Halloween. These three episodes are by the authors themselves, reading their stories.

[|5th grade "Nightmare Poems" podcasts] - 5th graders read selections from the book "Nightmare Poems." The second year we did this project, groups of girls designed and implemented sound effects to accompany the reading of the poems. That was a lot of fun!