✓ Unit Reflection 7 ✓
Unit seven was all about transforming a visual genre into an auditory genre through podcasts. Mainly, the podcasts were centered around literary works and made into book talks or book reviews.
Introducing a new concept or new piece of technology into a classroom can be challenging. The concept of using technology, specifically podcasts, within chapter 18 of Teaching Literacy in the Digital Age by Mark Gura was introduced. For Madame Smith's, a middle school French teacher, it was hard to figure out a source of technology that students were not used to or bored with. Teaching foreign language can be difficult, since the only true way to learn a foreign language is through speaking. Madame Smith eventually came up with the idea for students to create podcasts where they would have conversations or interviews. Not only are podcasts a great way to get comfortable with the French language, but also they are great for learning vocabulary and sentence structure. There is so much value in using podcasts to learn a different language and there is also value in using podcasts to portray understanding of a novel in English Literature classes, too.
Not only are blogs making a huge impact in the classroom, but podcasts are as well. Within The Book Report 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels by Robert Rozema, Rozema introduced a podcast assignment to his class and discussed the value of the assignment as a whole. In his Literature Methods course, he had his students use an online tool called Audacity to create short book talks. The purpose of the book talks would be to gain the interest and attention of young adults to read the book that the podcast was about. In order for this assignment to be successful, students had to plan, write a script and be thorough with their execution. By the end of the assignment, Rozema's students were engaged and determined to create a polished, final podcast to turn in. The students also gained knowledge of transforming a visual genre into an auditory genre, audience, perspective, as well as gained skills in critical thinking. Rozema found vast value with using the podcasts within his classroom due to the positive reaction from his students. Not only were they engaged, but the students learned a lot about portraying what they know into a different form of media.
Before this unit, I have had slim to no experience with creating or even listening to podcasts. I was not sure how podcasts were formatted, how they were produced or even where I could find them. To start off, Cheyenne, my partner for the project, and I tried to do some research to figure out a little bit more on podcasts. We found two awesome channels, The Split Book Review and Books and Blankets, both of which were centered around book reviews between friends. Each channel featured very relaxed and enthusiastic conversations about the books that they had read and we took note of it. We also took note on the structure of the podcast itself. Regarding the structure, it was apparent that the speakers had used a script or basic conversation outline. Although they seemed to be scripted, the reviews were nowhere near forced or fake. The podcasts flowed well and were natural, which made them so easy to listen to. After listening to these two, very similarly styled podcasts, it gave us the inspiration to do a more casual conversation styled podcast rather than a serious and formal podcast, such as NPR. They also gave us a structure to follow and a tone of voice to mimic.
The process of creating the podcast was a whole different story. For myself, being a hand-waver, it was extremely difficult to choose an online tool to use. Also, it was difficult finding a way to record the podcast itself. We started off looking at Audacity because it was a tool that often came up in class and in our readings; immediately, I was turned off by it because 1.) you had to download it and 2.) it seemed difficult to use. Next, we tried using one of the resources that T.O. had given us within our rubric for the assignment, Podomatic. At first glance, this website seemed not only professional, but also easy to use. All we had to do was upload the podcast, choose a cover photo, and publish it online. The only issue was that we had to find a way to record the podcast so that we could upload it and publish it. Therefore, we gave Garageband a try. At first, it was immensely overwhelming and very difficult to navigate simply because there were a million buttons and settings to choose from. After watching a few Youtube videos and reading a couple Yahoo Answer pages, we finally figured out how to use it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and I especially enjoyed creating a podcast book review. By taking the time to do the research, listen to other podcasts and try out different tools, I really learned a lot about what goes into making podcasts and feel confident about my abilities. I find immense value in this assignment because not only would the students be able to be creative in their own way because they would be able to make the podcast sound exactly how they want it to sound, but also the students would learn how to appeal to an audience. Another thing that is good about podcasts is that students will become knowledgeable in using different online tools to make podcasts; they will slowly make their journey from hand waver to tech-savvy. Lastly, the students would learn how to use critical thinking skills to closely read a novel and transform it into a podcast, which shows true comprehension. Along with all of the other tools and assignments we have read and learned about, I believe that I would like to incorporate an assignment such as this one into my future curriculum.
Introducing a new concept or new piece of technology into a classroom can be challenging. The concept of using technology, specifically podcasts, within chapter 18 of Teaching Literacy in the Digital Age by Mark Gura was introduced. For Madame Smith's, a middle school French teacher, it was hard to figure out a source of technology that students were not used to or bored with. Teaching foreign language can be difficult, since the only true way to learn a foreign language is through speaking. Madame Smith eventually came up with the idea for students to create podcasts where they would have conversations or interviews. Not only are podcasts a great way to get comfortable with the French language, but also they are great for learning vocabulary and sentence structure. There is so much value in using podcasts to learn a different language and there is also value in using podcasts to portray understanding of a novel in English Literature classes, too.
Not only are blogs making a huge impact in the classroom, but podcasts are as well. Within The Book Report 2.0: Podcasting on Young Adult Novels by Robert Rozema, Rozema introduced a podcast assignment to his class and discussed the value of the assignment as a whole. In his Literature Methods course, he had his students use an online tool called Audacity to create short book talks. The purpose of the book talks would be to gain the interest and attention of young adults to read the book that the podcast was about. In order for this assignment to be successful, students had to plan, write a script and be thorough with their execution. By the end of the assignment, Rozema's students were engaged and determined to create a polished, final podcast to turn in. The students also gained knowledge of transforming a visual genre into an auditory genre, audience, perspective, as well as gained skills in critical thinking. Rozema found vast value with using the podcasts within his classroom due to the positive reaction from his students. Not only were they engaged, but the students learned a lot about portraying what they know into a different form of media.
Before this unit, I have had slim to no experience with creating or even listening to podcasts. I was not sure how podcasts were formatted, how they were produced or even where I could find them. To start off, Cheyenne, my partner for the project, and I tried to do some research to figure out a little bit more on podcasts. We found two awesome channels, The Split Book Review and Books and Blankets, both of which were centered around book reviews between friends. Each channel featured very relaxed and enthusiastic conversations about the books that they had read and we took note of it. We also took note on the structure of the podcast itself. Regarding the structure, it was apparent that the speakers had used a script or basic conversation outline. Although they seemed to be scripted, the reviews were nowhere near forced or fake. The podcasts flowed well and were natural, which made them so easy to listen to. After listening to these two, very similarly styled podcasts, it gave us the inspiration to do a more casual conversation styled podcast rather than a serious and formal podcast, such as NPR. They also gave us a structure to follow and a tone of voice to mimic.
The process of creating the podcast was a whole different story. For myself, being a hand-waver, it was extremely difficult to choose an online tool to use. Also, it was difficult finding a way to record the podcast itself. We started off looking at Audacity because it was a tool that often came up in class and in our readings; immediately, I was turned off by it because 1.) you had to download it and 2.) it seemed difficult to use. Next, we tried using one of the resources that T.O. had given us within our rubric for the assignment, Podomatic. At first glance, this website seemed not only professional, but also easy to use. All we had to do was upload the podcast, choose a cover photo, and publish it online. The only issue was that we had to find a way to record the podcast so that we could upload it and publish it. Therefore, we gave Garageband a try. At first, it was immensely overwhelming and very difficult to navigate simply because there were a million buttons and settings to choose from. After watching a few Youtube videos and reading a couple Yahoo Answer pages, we finally figured out how to use it.
Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and I especially enjoyed creating a podcast book review. By taking the time to do the research, listen to other podcasts and try out different tools, I really learned a lot about what goes into making podcasts and feel confident about my abilities. I find immense value in this assignment because not only would the students be able to be creative in their own way because they would be able to make the podcast sound exactly how they want it to sound, but also the students would learn how to appeal to an audience. Another thing that is good about podcasts is that students will become knowledgeable in using different online tools to make podcasts; they will slowly make their journey from hand waver to tech-savvy. Lastly, the students would learn how to use critical thinking skills to closely read a novel and transform it into a podcast, which shows true comprehension. Along with all of the other tools and assignments we have read and learned about, I believe that I would like to incorporate an assignment such as this one into my future curriculum.
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