Learning Inspired: A podcast inspired by student learning with a goal of spreading the inspiration of life-long learning to families.
The podcast series, Learning Inspired, that I will be creating would be a communication tool to be used with my students and their parents to provide suggestions for family learning opportunities at home, as well as to disseminate information, provide tutorials, and as a way for students to become actively involved in using this type of media presentation. My goal is to provide a bridge between student's school life and home life and to involve the whole family in learning opportunities.
Learning goals for the first two episodes in this series:
Parents will learn tips and strategies to encourage their child to read over the summer including organizing book clubs, reading with their children, and resources for helping their students select literature.
Students will learn about book clubs, reading as a family, and hear actual book recommendations and further resources to help them find books they will love.
Parents and students will get to hear an example of a student made book reviews and presentation of new learning done in the podcast format.
As a bonus, it will serve as an example for other educators in my school to learn about podcasts and how they can be used in the classroom.
Why podcasts?
Parents are busy and often need teachers assistance and advice outside of school hours and during the summer. This will allow them to hear from me, at their convenience, some of the things that their child is working on in class and how they can further support their learning at home.
Parents and students can listen together at home (or in the car) and actively discuss what is happening in the classroom, while exploring ways to learn together.
Students are motivated by technology and this is a great way for students to practice public speaking and presentation skills, while learning valuable technology skills with real world application. It also helps support auditory learning (and visual when using screencasts or vodcasts).
What podcasts series or other media shows will your podcast be like?
Pediacast- http://pediacast.org/
Conversational Monologue style
Guest speakers (often students)
Presenting information based on questions and needs of the audience
Research based support provided for topics of conversations
Informational series providing ideas and tips for working with K-12 students
Use of student guests to provide examples that support discussion topics
I plan to use a podcast for these two episodes. However, I would also like to design a screencast tutorial that can be used to teach students and parents how to download a podcast and eventually a screencast to use to help students with creating their own podcasts to be used in future episodes (like a book review etc). In addition, I will be creating a home page that can be used to provide research links and information to support topics discussed in the show.
Audience
My audience will consist of families that have students in my class, as well as teachers and administrators on my staff. My goal would be that all families, approximately 25, would be able to listen the podcasts. In addition, I would like to work with my staff to help them gain a better understanding of how podcasting can be used in the classroom and as a communication tool.
Meeting Parent Needs:
The podcast format will allow parents to hear about events in the classroom and how they can further support their student's learning. It will be an opportunity for the parents to get to know me as a teacher on a more personal level and also to hear examples of their students learning when students present as guests on the show. My goal is to help support parents in sparking discussions with their students about their learning and helping them to avoid the "What did you learn in school today?"/ "nothing" conversation.
Meeting Student Needs:
Many students have had a great deal of experience with technology by the time they enter fifth grade. Students are almost always interested in using technology and it serves as a motivational aspect of learning when students get to present their learning using a "cool technology". Listening to the podcasts will give them an opportunity to have their learning supported at home and to show their parents some of the things that are happening when they disappear to school for seven hours each day. Preparing for and speaking on a podcast will allow them to further develop writing, presentation and public speaking skills.
When and Why?
Students and their parents can choose to listen to the podcasts anytime outside of school. Students may also have the opportunity to listen to some of the podcasts in school as they pertain to classroom learning and so that they can encourage their parents to participate. I will be sure to notify parents if there is a particularly important episode or about episodes in which their student may be participating. My hope is that families will subscribe as a way to stay connected to the classroom and also so that they can hear the work that their students are producing. I am hoping the pride in student work and the usefulness of the podcast will prevent people from unsubscribing.
Content
The content of this podcast will be driven by learning events in the classroom as well as questions/areas of interests provided by students and parents. It will focus on supporting student learning at home, providing information about learning taking place at school, and offering resource suggestions for extending learning by involving the family. In addition, each episode will feature a guest speaker (usually a student) that will give a presentation that supports or is related to the topic of the show.
Episode 1: Motivating for Summer Reading
Helping students select books they will enjoy using an online resource- commonsensemedia.org
Reading aloud with your child
Reading a book Series: Book Chat- The Magic Tree House Series (Guest Speaker: Chloe)
Episode 2: Book Clubs
Book club organization resource- The Kids Book Club Book, by Judy Gelman and Vicki Levy Krupp
Tips for getting started with organizing a book club
Book Chat (Guest Speaker: Amanda)
Possible Future Episodes:
Backyard Science
Summer Travel- History Lessons
Linking Summer Reading with Travel Plans
Creating a Travel Journal and Scrapbook
Family Game Night- Supporting Student Learning
Back to School Essentials
Organization Tips for a Successful School Year
Recording of Back To School Night Presentation
Resources: I will be referencing a variety of materials, including books, websites etc., during these podcasts. I will plan to reference these materials when suggesting their use on the show. Eventually I would also like to include them as show notes on my classroom web page. Music clips that will be used during the intro and exit, as well as between segments of the show will be stock music clips found in Garage Band that are public domain. Eventually, I would like to invite any talented musical families to create a theme song for our series.
Eventually, I plan to do an enhanced podcast that will be supported by images related to the topics of discussion. For the book chat segments, I would like to include an image of the cover of the books and for websites referenced, I would like to include a screen shot of the home page.
Format
The format of Learning Inspired will be a conversational style monologue with occasional dialogue. This format will serve to help the parents and students get to know me and my style of speaking/teaching. Dialogue will allow me and the students to interact with one another during their presentation section. It will also serve to allow more than one student present on the show so that can work in groups when producing their segments. The goal is for the teacher presented (and/or guest experts) to share with parents what is being learned in school or offer suggestions for how they can extend learning at home. The student produced section will relate to the initial topic based on the learning that they have been doing in class. The podcasts will be produced at least bi-monthly and will range from 15 minutes to 35 minutes depending on the topics. Here is a general organization for each podcast:
Podcast Mission introduction (10 seconds)
Musical Intro (10 seconds- continuing through show description)
Description of the shows topic (15- 20 seconds)
Presentation of show topic- monlogue style (5-15 minutes)
Introduction of "What Did You Learn Today?" student segment (10-15 seconds)
Musical/ Jingle introduction to segment (15 seconds)
Student presented information (will vary according to topic), monologue and/or dialogue style (3- 15 minutes)
Summary of student section- thanking participants. (1 minute)
Musical Closing (10 seconds- continuing through the show end)
Announcements/ Preview of topic for next show (1-5 minutes)
Closing tag line for the show (10 seconds)
I plan on doing the teacher recorded section at home or before school. The students will be recording their section during school time. We will need to make arrangements for students to record their segments at a time when the class is quiet or perhaps during recess/ lunch time, or before or after school. It will depend on the student and the segments that they are doing.
Evaluate & Refine
I think the sound quality of my first episode is good. The headset/microphone combination that I am using works really well and Garage Band makes it very easy to choose and maintain appropriate levels. I found that I had to edit more than I had expected to. It was hard to speak fluently without making any mistakes for an extended period of time. I ended up having to record in short 30 second intervals and then having to link the recordings together. I also had to edit out a lot of swallowing noises and big breaths. I think all of that will improve as I become more comfortable with recording myself.
I also had to edit the sound transitions into the episode. I spent time playing around with the fade in and out for the sounds effects so that the transitions would be smooth.
I hope to be more comfortable with my next podcast and rely less on my notes. I think that I will spend more time rehearsing before recording or by recording a draft and then deciding what works and what doesn't before starting the final recording. I'm hoping to be able to record full segments rather than having to piece things together and be more conscience of my breathing and swallowing. A glass of water nearby may help!
Learning Inspired
Karen Herskowitz's Design DocumentDesign Idea
Learning Inspired: A podcast inspired by student learning with a goal of spreading the inspiration of life-long learning to families.The podcast series, Learning Inspired, that I will be creating would be a communication tool to be used with my students and their parents to provide suggestions for family learning opportunities at home, as well as to disseminate information, provide tutorials, and as a way for students to become actively involved in using this type of media presentation. My goal is to provide a bridge between student's school life and home life and to involve the whole family in learning opportunities.
Learning goals for the first two episodes in this series:
Why podcasts?
What podcasts series or other media shows will your podcast be like?
Pediacast- http://pediacast.org/
Teacher Created Materials: http://www.teachercreatedmaterials.com/podcasts/
I plan to use a podcast for these two episodes. However, I would also like to design a screencast tutorial that can be used to teach students and parents how to download a podcast and eventually a screencast to use to help students with creating their own podcasts to be used in future episodes (like a book review etc). In addition, I will be creating a home page that can be used to provide research links and information to support topics discussed in the show.
Audience
My audience will consist of families that have students in my class, as well as teachers and administrators on my staff. My goal would be that all families, approximately 25, would be able to listen the podcasts. In addition, I would like to work with my staff to help them gain a better understanding of how podcasting can be used in the classroom and as a communication tool.Meeting Parent Needs:
The podcast format will allow parents to hear about events in the classroom and how they can further support their student's learning. It will be an opportunity for the parents to get to know me as a teacher on a more personal level and also to hear examples of their students learning when students present as guests on the show. My goal is to help support parents in sparking discussions with their students about their learning and helping them to avoid the "What did you learn in school today?"/ "nothing" conversation.
Meeting Student Needs:
Many students have had a great deal of experience with technology by the time they enter fifth grade. Students are almost always interested in using technology and it serves as a motivational aspect of learning when students get to present their learning using a "cool technology". Listening to the podcasts will give them an opportunity to have their learning supported at home and to show their parents some of the things that are happening when they disappear to school for seven hours each day. Preparing for and speaking on a podcast will allow them to further develop writing, presentation and public speaking skills.
When and Why?
Students and their parents can choose to listen to the podcasts anytime outside of school. Students may also have the opportunity to listen to some of the podcasts in school as they pertain to classroom learning and so that they can encourage their parents to participate. I will be sure to notify parents if there is a particularly important episode or about episodes in which their student may be participating. My hope is that families will subscribe as a way to stay connected to the classroom and also so that they can hear the work that their students are producing. I am hoping the pride in student work and the usefulness of the podcast will prevent people from unsubscribing.
Content
The content of this podcast will be driven by learning events in the classroom as well as questions/areas of interests provided by students and parents. It will focus on supporting student learning at home, providing information about learning taking place at school, and offering resource suggestions for extending learning by involving the family. In addition, each episode will feature a guest speaker (usually a student) that will give a presentation that supports or is related to the topic of the show.Episode 1: Motivating for Summer Reading
Episode 2: Book Clubs
Possible Future Episodes:
Resources: I will be referencing a variety of materials, including books, websites etc., during these podcasts. I will plan to reference these materials when suggesting their use on the show. Eventually I would also like to include them as show notes on my classroom web page. Music clips that will be used during the intro and exit, as well as between segments of the show will be stock music clips found in Garage Band that are public domain. Eventually, I would like to invite any talented musical families to create a theme song for our series.
Eventually, I plan to do an enhanced podcast that will be supported by images related to the topics of discussion. For the book chat segments, I would like to include an image of the cover of the books and for websites referenced, I would like to include a screen shot of the home page.
Format
The format of Learning Inspired will be a conversational style monologue with occasional dialogue. This format will serve to help the parents and students get to know me and my style of speaking/teaching. Dialogue will allow me and the students to interact with one another during their presentation section. It will also serve to allow more than one student present on the show so that can work in groups when producing their segments. The goal is for the teacher presented (and/or guest experts) to share with parents what is being learned in school or offer suggestions for how they can extend learning at home. The student produced section will relate to the initial topic based on the learning that they have been doing in class. The podcasts will be produced at least bi-monthly and will range from 15 minutes to 35 minutes depending on the topics. Here is a general organization for each podcast:I plan on doing the teacher recorded section at home or before school. The students will be recording their section during school time. We will need to make arrangements for students to record their segments at a time when the class is quiet or perhaps during recess/ lunch time, or before or after school. It will depend on the student and the segments that they are doing.
Evaluate & Refine
I think the sound quality of my first episode is good. The headset/microphone combination that I am using works really well and Garage Band makes it very easy to choose and maintain appropriate levels. I found that I had to edit more than I had expected to. It was hard to speak fluently without making any mistakes for an extended period of time. I ended up having to record in short 30 second intervals and then having to link the recordings together. I also had to edit out a lot of swallowing noises and big breaths. I think all of that will improve as I become more comfortable with recording myself.I also had to edit the sound transitions into the episode. I spent time playing around with the fade in and out for the sounds effects so that the transitions would be smooth.
I hope to be more comfortable with my next podcast and rely less on my notes. I think that I will spend more time rehearsing before recording or by recording a draft and then deciding what works and what doesn't before starting the final recording. I'm hoping to be able to record full segments rather than having to piece things together and be more conscience of my breathing and swallowing. A glass of water nearby may help!