Blog Post #4

Langwitches- Flat Stanley Podcast

This blog post assignment could not have come at a better time. A few weeks ago my sister and I received a package in the mail from my baby cousin Copper in California. In this page was a "Flat Stanley" or in this case a " Flat Cooper". Cooper is a first grader in San Diego, California. Like Cooper,one of the first grade classes at Langwitch Elementary, read the book Flat Stanley by Jim Brown. They made paper Flat Stanleys and sent them around the country to their relatives and received photos and videos of the experience Flat Stanley had back in return. Expired by "the other first grade class" the six year olds wanted to create their own recording. As a class they brainstormed the route they would take and the requirements. Each student was to pick a location and borrow a book from the library about their location. With their parents they read the book and wrote a short description that included: the location(City,State,Country,and/or Continent), how they got there(transportation),what they did at that location, and how they got back home. The students were also reminded that this was going to be a recording so they needed to think of the senses and sounds that should take place in their video to help with the mood of the video.  I think that Flat Stanley is a creative way for children to get to learn about other parts of the world. 

Podcasting with First Graders: 

 The first graders at Landwitch Elementary were very impressed by the second grades podcast about animals second grade podcast about animals, and the response that the second graders received from teachers around the world. Attention and acknowledgement from others is important to children. The first graders decided that they wanted to make a podcast of their own and get their voices heard also. These recordings were not only able to be seen and heard on computers but also iPods. Sense the students and their teacher had been reading a chapter book called Vacation under the Volcano by Mary Pope Osborne  from the Magic Tree House series, they decided to make their podcast based off of this. Their idea was to pretend like they were interviewing the two main characters Jack and Annie, about their most current adventure where they went to Pompeii. After each chapter that they read as a class, they would write down questions that they had for the characters. The teacher took turns with each student making one a narrator, another Jack(boy), and another Annie(girl). They would go to the back of the glass and record their voices directly into Garageband. It was amazing to see how this activity made even the shiest of students come out of their shell and get into the activity. 

 The benefits of podcasting in the classroom:

 The podcast tutorials : Podcasting in the classroom, Podcasting using GarageBand, and How to podcast

teach and show others the benefits and  how to podcast in a classroom. Some of the benefits included:  

•  an effective way of interacting with students outside of the classroom.
• a form of learning that students today are familiar with and therefore makes it relevant to them.
• it allows for differentiation and project based learning
• students can access the higher order thinking skills in Bloom's taxonomy 
• it promotes creativity and innovation
• it can offer distance learning opportunities for absent students
•  the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy
• students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable
• the process of creating and uploading audio files is easy
•  students can record role plays in character making their learning more memorable
•  parents can see and hear what their children are doing at school