Mary L's Teacher Ed Portfolio

Tag: community

Podcasts in the Classroom Presentation

November 26, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Photo by Siddharth Bhogra on Unsplash

Presentation day

It was nice to bring together our ideas for a short classroom presentation last week. What had we learned about podcasts in the classroom? I focused on the social aspects of podcasts – the fact that we share them with friends and acquaintances based on our own experiences.  We reviewed some ways to use podcasts in the classroom.

Purposes for podcasts in teaching

  1. Connect with students
  2. Share content
  3. Create our own podcasts
  4. Focus on oral storytelling form
  5. Develop ourselves professionally as teachers

Co-Creation

We used our presentation to have the class participate in two activities:

Compilation of favourite podcasts

Screenshot of the Google Doc where classmates listed their favourite podcasts and reasons they like them.

Compilation of podcasts series or activity ideas using podcasts, by subject area

Reflections on the inquiry

As I mentioned, a major realization is that people like to share podcasts in a socialized way. Relatedly, we enjoy sharing what we love (or like, or are curious about). Dave wrote a blog post after our presentation about the realization that we could use podcasts to connect with students. I’m glad that that idea came home (which we modelled with the first activity above). In Multiliteracies, we have recently been focusing on the importance of knowing our students in order to be able to assess them (or work with them in any meaningful way). In my first year of teaching, if I use podcasts in only one way, I hope I choose this one – as a way to know my students better.

Collaboration in learning technology

October 2, 2019 / / 0 Comments

Photo by NESA by Makers on Unsplash

What else can we be practising while we are practising hard skills?

Today in class we learned and practised some technology programs with Rich McCue, an excellent teacher and fellow dog-lover.

Specifically, we worked with:

Technically, everything went fine. I have used iMovie for projects, but I learned a few things, including how to edit green screen video clips. Screencastify I will likely use. Audacity I will keep in my back pocket if for some reason I can’t use GarageBand.

I wonder, though, about the usefulness of straight technology learning, at least if it isn’t paired with something else. Because in some ways, even the ability to use these programs is a bit like “content” in curriculum – it’s something I can Google. Indeed, whenever I run into a technical problem or question, I Google my question and find YouTube videos, instructions, or message boards with the solutions.

Communication, collaboration, collegiality

The teacher/facilitator in me can’t help but wonder what it would look like to do the same thing, but with learning support groups assigned at the beginning. i.e. Here are 2-3 people that you should ask questions to as you go, and with whom you will share your mini products. Maybe add a goal of making your group laugh?

People already started doing this this, but informally, randomly, probably distracting some people and making others feel left out.

I think that the teacher competencies, which are not so different than the core competencies we are meant to develop in students, are better served with some emphasis on those multi-syllabic c-words… community, communication, collaboration, collegiality.

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