Podcasts...

After some difficulty converting my files to mp3 (thanks Andrew, for helping me on this), I am able to get beyond the frustration of a new technology and start to think of ways this technology could be used in my classroom. My first "podcast album" is going to be a series of lab skill review sessions. Students that are absent on lab day, or those that just need a refresher from time to time can access these skill review podcasts prior to doing a lab. I think students would enjoy creating, recording, and sharing songs about different science concepts using this technology. I already know how much my students love to mess around with garage band! We do a lot of singing and use a lot of music in my classroom, so this will be another way of "adding to the mix!"

I would like to collaborate with other teachers/disciplines as well. For instance, I would like to ask the math teacher to do a short review podcast on stem and leaf plots before we work on a lab that uses this type of graph in the data section of the lab write-up.

Podcasting might be an excellent tool for ISTEP review!

I might use a podcast to explain assignments to students on a day that I am absent from the classroom. I think podcasts are a great way to show interconnections between concepts and subjects. I look forward to trying podcasts in my classroom this fall!