Podcasting

Its always nice and exciting when something new comes along that really takes technology and eduction to a whole new level. Podcasting although it has been around for a while, it has only recently seen an upsurge in its use. This is so because of the development of the iPhone and mp3 players.

Podcasting is the ability to create or listen to audio or video content, called podcast via the web live or it can be downloaded for later viewing or listening on a laptop, desktop, or on a mobile device like a smart phone or many MP3 players.

Downloading a podcast is different from downloading regular audio and video files from a web site because the content of a podcast is updated regularly, and new content can be receive via subscription. You can check out this sight to learn more about podcasting. http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting

As reading specialist one very good website that provides podcast for us is reading rockets. This site offers specific tips and techniques for teaching reading to younger students. You can go to the site by clicking on the link below.

http://www.readingrockets.org/podcasts/

Here is another site that can help students increase their vocabulary, gain insight and practice with the LIST. http://www.princetonreview.com/podcasts.aspx

On Wednesday we learnt about e-books. It was so exciting and engaging that I did not realize when the class session had ended. If doing an e-book was so captivating for me just imagine what will happen if teachers use it as a tool in the classroom, both as a tool to teach lessons and as a tool to allow student to create stories.

Most people use power point to present information because they see it as a tool only for the purpose of presentation, but I was shocked and excited to learn that we can use power point to do so much more. It was so simple to design an e-book. A child at any level can use this tool to create their own work.

It can make the classroom a inventive, motivated, critically thinking room, where student can collaborate, share, learn and enjoy what they are doing. I mark social Studies for The CSEC examination and one thing I have noticed over the years is that our student do not know how to think critically. This tool can facilitate this also with the advent of web2.0 there are a lot of tools available to teachers to help students improve their critical thinking.

I hope you guys are enjoying this class as much as I am. And take what we learn and incorporate it in our class. Whether we become reading specialist or not, I beseech you to go back to your schools and teach what you have learnt, you may not benefit financially but when our students level of academia improve this will be payment enough.

Blogs and Wikis

Isn't it amazing how far we have come. With the introduction of the computer, we can now do so much that could not have been done just a few years ago. On line banking, shopping, instant communication, share information, play games, and most importantly online learning.

There are so many tools that are available to teachers to enhance her classroom. Teachers should no longer be fixed to chalk and talk. Teachers need to be educated on some of the tools available to them to make their classroom come alive and become an eager place for learning. Two tools that I found quite interesting and easy to use are blogs and wikis.

A blog is a tool that the reading teacher or any content area teacher can use to encourage collaborative teaching or have individual sessions. A blog is part of a website that allows individual to post information. Of course you will have to sign up for it but once that is done, the teacher can get the addresses of students blogs and start posting information to them. She can post assignments, information and ask student to comment on the information, can ask students to upload information that other students can comment on. as a reading tool the reading teacher can post comprehension passages or can post stories and ask students to comment on them. She can ask students to post their story or part of their story and ask students to comment or continue the story. Good tool for us to implement in the classroom.

A wiki is also another tool that can be used in the classroom to encourage collaborative or individual learning. It is a tool that is available on the internet free of charge, again once you sign up for it.

- It allows the user to monitor the constantly changing state of the wiki and discuss the issues that emerge.

- Add summaries of their thoughts from prescribed readings.

- Publish course resources such as handouts

- Can be use to map concepts such as brainstorming and editing a given wiki topic which can produce a linked network of resources.

- Can be used as a presentation tool and students can can comment directly an and revise the presentation content.

- It can also be a good tool for group authoring.

Reading and writing works side by side and one of the most common pedagogical application of wiki is supporting writing instruction. (Lamb,2004). It maximizes the advantages of reflection, publication, reviewing and observing cumulative written results as they unfold.

- It stimulates writing

- Provides a low-cost communication and collaborative tool that focus on text rather than software

- Promote close reading, revision and tracking of preliminary work

- Discourage 'product oriented writing' while facilitating 'writing as a process'

- Prepare students into the writing for a wider audience.

How blogs can be used in the classroom

This was a detailed video on how blogs can be used in the classroom, its importance and its features.

use of blog in the classroom

Found this interesting. Decided to share with the class