Podcasting 7/14/09

The first example that I thought was rather valuable was the idea of the study. I thought it was very interesting to discover what they thought the outcome of podcasting might be. I agree with the authors that by listening to a podcast prior to the lecture it helps prepare students more for the lecture because they have already heard the terminology, and this would also aid them in being prepared to participate in the class. The authors also pointout that students might not be as anxious about participating in class because they would have prepared themselves for the class by listening to the podcast. But on the other hand, listening to a podcast before class the the students might be more confident and motivated to participate in class. I agree with the authors on all of these levels. I think if I could have listened to a podcast before my college classes I would have been more likley to participate in class because I would have had prior knowledge of what was going to be discussed. Also I could use these ideas to improve my instruction by learning to prepare my students better before we discuss a new topic. Showing a video or giving good background knowledge on a subject would better prepare the students to learn, and they might be more likley to participate in class if they felt comfortable with the material prior to starting the lesson.



The second example that caught my attention was how much podcasting is being used in higher education. When I attended Penn State I never used podcasting or even heard of podcasting. I've been taking classes at ESU for two years, but did not hear about podcasting before entering this class. From reading over the article it seems that many universities are using podcasting to get information to the students, and so that students have the lecture on their ipods. If more universities are using podcasting I believe it would be very important for teachers at the middle school and high school levels to try to use it more. Hopefully teachers at the middle school and high school levels will try to incorperate podcasting more into their lessons if they know the students will be using it when they go on to college. This would give the students a headstart on podcasting before they go off to college.



The third example that I thought was very interesting was how the study put students into a podcasting production team. I think this is a great idea because it gives students a chance to work with one another and also be involved in a project with a student who they might not have chosen to work with. It also gives the students an opportunity to work through any problems that might arise through the podcasting process. I could use the idea of working in teams to improve my instruction because it will give the students another way to learn and obtain information. It would be beneficial to the students to work in groups so they learn how to work together and appreciate their classmates' points of view. It would also give them a chance to see what it is like working side by side with their peers solving problems that might arise. This will prepare them for college as well as work in the real world. Hopefully if students were exposed to group work in middle and high school they would feel very comfortable in a group setting in college, and this would allow them to be more prepared to take on a leadership roll in the future.

Vodcast Ideas 7/12/09

1. George Washington- I would do a podcast on George Washington's life. I would also talk about his accomplishments, and what he meant to America.
2. Washington D.C.- I would do a podcast on Washington D.C. and talk about all the tourist attractions that are in D.C., and talk about the historical back round of the city.
3. Philadelphia- I would do a podcast on Philadelphia and discuss the historical aspect of the city, and the tourist attractions that are in the city. I would also talk a little about how great the sports teams are.

21st Century Skills 7/7/09

I think the school where I work does an average job at fostering and developing 21st century skills. I think in some areas they are strong and other areas they need to improve their 21st century skills. The area of effective communicating is an area that I believe my school is very strong in. Teachers in our school are all involved in team teaching with a math, social studies, science, English, and there is a special education teacher on each team. The team also has one period a day for team time to discuss issue regarding students, and materials that might be presented in class in the upcoming weeks. I think another area that our teachers seem to do well in is digital age literacy. Most teachers that I come in contact with during a school day seem to try and use technology as much as they can, and teachers are also very aware of the economic hardships that we are going through as a country today so they try to communicate that to the students so thee students are able to understand what is happening in the world today. The two areas I believe our school struggles with a little bit and could use a little help in are in the areas of inventive thinking and high productivity. In my opinion the school struggles in these areas because these are areas that need highly motivated teachers so the programs can be successful. Most times I feel that the teachers are not motivated or involved enough. One major thing that could be done to help the teachers in these areas would be to hold in-services that are geared toward helping teachers time manage, how to put their time to better use, how to prioritize, how to be more creative, and how to learn how to take educated risks. If these areas were covered during in-services the weaknesses would be strengthened, and our school programs would be more effective.

IWB's 7/1/09

I think the first thing that really caught my attention in this article was when the authors were talking about how teachers ask their questions. The authors said that teachers are asking more questions so the quality of answers are becoming worse and worse. I definitley believe this is true. I can recall sitting in class as a student and also at my job as a teacher's aid, when the teachers were asking questions and then just expecting a short quick answer rather than giving the students the necessary time to come up with a more thoughtful answer.

The second area that really caught my attention was when the authors discussed national test scores and how there have been gains in the scores. The authors believe this is due to teaching to the test instead of the kids actually learning and understanding the material. I also find this to be a very true statement, and it is also something I see every day in my job. Math teachers in our building are supposed to have PSSA Friday's where they review questions that students might have on the test. English teachers also were given PSSA books that they were supposed to take time once a week to go over with the students. I know in our classroom we tried to use the PSSA math book, but it was different from what the teacher was teaching through the regular curriculum, and by the time we were done with the PSSA book our students were completly lost.

The third thing that I thought was very interesting was the chart they showed in the article and how it displayed different teaching techniques as well as how it matched up high teacher control or low teacher control. When I saw this chart it made me think back to Bloom's Taxonomy. The lower levels of Bloom's Taxonomy mean high teacher contorl, and the higher level of Bloom's Taxonomy mean high degree of pupil participation or control. This then goes back to our education as we moved from secondary to post secondary. In high school and the early part of college there was a high degree of contorl by the teacher and professor, but as we moved on it changed from a high degree of contorl by the teacher and professor to the students having the control.

I do not believe that interactive communication tools lead to interactive learning because, if the teacher does not let the students participate and try out the interactive communication tools that the students are provided with, then it is not interactive learning for the students. I believe this depends a lot on the teacher. If the teacher is willing to let the students use the interactive communication tools then it would be lead to interactive learning. But if the teacher does not let the students use the tools, then it would not lead to interactive learning. The article brought up a good example of this when they discussed teachers falling into the trap of using powerpoint all of the time. Yes, it is an interactive communication tool if they are using a IWB, but if the teacher is just lecturing from the powerpoint slides and the students are not doing anything, then the interactive communication tools did not lead to interactive learning.

I think the first thing teachers have to be willing to do is learn how to use the interactive communication tools. If they do not have the desire to learn how to use them, then they will not put forth their best effort in learning how to use them to the best of their ability. If they are just going through the motions to say they are using interactive communications tools, then the students will not benefit from them at all.

The second thing I believe teachers have to be willing to do is let the students use the interactive communication tools. If the teachers do not let the students use the interactive communication tools, then the tools are not being used to their full potential. The teachers have to let the students use the tools so they know how to use them and also the students can then feel that they have an active roll in the class.

The third thing I believe teachers need to be willing to do so that the interactive communication tools are used to their full potential is to take the time to build their lesson plans around the interactive communication tools. If the teachers have all these great tools but do not take the time to build their lessons around them, then there is no point to even having them in the classroom.