I drive roughly an hour to and from work, and I have been looking for a new way to keep myself entertained. My answer: Podcasts! I have a few new favorites in which I have been tuned: TeacherCast Educational Broadcasting Network, The Dave Ramsey Show, TEDTalks Education, and Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. All of these podcasts, with the exception of The Dave Ramsey Show, are geared towards education. I love that most of these podcasts are under an hour- perfect for my commute! It is almost like getting a short and sweet piece of professional development whenever it works for YOU! The convenient part of podcasts is that YOU are in control of when you listen. While I already have a few podcasts in which I have subscribed, I am still looking forward to exploring more to follow!
Podcasts can be used as I described above, an on-your-own-time professional development, but they can also be used in the classroom more directly. Solomon and Schrum (2014) suggest that students create their own podcasts to show mastery of a skill or concept. Students can create a podcast and post online for review. This can be a great way to reach a larger audience beyond the classroom, while maintaining a distant, safe online presence. According to Hobgood and Ormsby (2016), one way in which teachers can differentiate is through the process in which they deliver the content. The video titled, “Using Technology to Differentiate by Process” describes students using an online classroom management system called, Blackboard. This is similar to a system my school uses: Google Classroom. These systems are great tools to push assignments, notes, videos, images, or anything else you can think of to your students. Students can then have access to this content anytime they are on the internet! This is a great way to differentiate to meet diverse learning needs. Teachers can survey students to discover their learning preferences to help guide them in the development of a more personalized classroom. This personalized classroom is made much easier through the use of technology. Technology not only allows teachers to deliver content in a variety of ways, but also allows students to show mastery of content in a variety of ways. Using internet in the classrooms have a great impact on the understanding of diversity by allowing teachers to break down the walls of their classrooms. Students can explore beyond their schools, beyond, their towns, beyond their states, and even beyond their countries through the use of technology! As teachers, we can take advantage of the limitless resources the internet has provided us. We can take our students on journeys with Google Tour Builder or Google Expeditions, but we can also collaborate with experts or other students worldwide through a few clicks on Twitter. Students in the school in which I teach share a common low socioeconomic status. Most of my students will not get the opportunity to explore places, people, or even ideas outside of their local community. While it is important to bring in the local culture, it is also important to allow students the opportunity to branch out and explore in a safe and productive way. Teachers have the ability to connect with other teachers and experts in order to facilitate this type of learning with tools such as Google Hangouts or projects such as Journey North. Hobgood, . "Inclusion in the 21st-century classroom: Differentiating with technology - Reaching every learner: Differentiating instruction in theory and practice." Learnnc.org. n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2016. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/every-learner/6776> N.a. "Using technology to differentiate by process." Learnnc.org. n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2016. <http://www.learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/19119> Solomon, G. (2014). Web 2.0 How-To for Educators. (2nd ed.).
3 Comments
Angie
10/13/2016 06:07:40 pm
I understand where you are coming from. I think that having a classroom management system like Blackboard is a great way for students to take control of their learning. My district uses iTunesU to manage our classrooms and lesson plans. The students log into iTunesU every class period to see what the plan is for the day. They are able to work on that day's assignments, go back to the previous day if they need to review and move on to the next day if they are ready to move on. We can embed videos, worksheets, and test for the students to complete and submit for grading. Does Google Classroom have the same features?
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10/15/2016 05:24:43 pm
Sarah I never considered podcast as a "safe way to reach a larger audience" until I read your post. This has eased my feelings on "whether or not" I will permit my students to create podcast. I know this is something they will enjoy, because many of them are exposed to social media at home. In the classroom we use Seesaw, which is where they can post a lot of their personal work and on occasions they are "teaching me" what they learned. Thank you. Do you use google forms regularly? If so, how often?
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10/17/2016 06:28:39 pm
Hi Sarah!
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