Blog Post #4

Podcasting with First Graders
Podcasting

After reading the Podcasting with First Graders, I found it very interesting how well the students reacted to actually doing the podcast. I think that letting the children see and hear the comments that other teachers from across the world has left makes them feel "on top of the world". Having a audience that will comment back is a very helpful thing to smaller children. The kids were very eager to get their own podcasts in many other peoples "ipod and computers" as well. I learned that it may be better to not read from a specific script. Several people say words differently and reading from that specific script may hinder the liking of the podcast at the end.



Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting
LTC

When learning a new language, a person must hear it at least 70+ times to actually remember it and how it is pronounced. It is hard for a person to learn a foreign language by just reading it and listening to it a couple of times. It is important to attach a feeling to a word in order to make meaning of it. For example, if someone is trying to learn the Spanish word for family it is la familia. Family and familia is close in spelling. So one can keep that in mind while learning some Spanish vocabulary. I learned that editing a podcast is very important. You can hook up your computer and project it onto a SmartBoard so that it is easier for children to insert and take out things as needed.



First Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook
Read Along Audiobook

While reading a book, teachers would write down a "script" for the podcast that the children were going to use. With that script, the students would be able to read along with the story but speaking on a first grade level. With the teachers creating the script for them, I believe that the students feel as if they had some help from the teacher but when they were actually recording the podcast it was all on their own. That makes the kids have a sense of responsibility that they like to have because it will all come together in the end.