Blog Post # 4

When I first heard about podcasting in school's I thought it was a little weird. I never thought about how much it could help students to listen to themselves in order to correct themselves. What I think I loved most about the whole podcast idea, was in the article "1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Audiobook" she started talking about "My Thoughts"and wrote about how the students would listen to themselves then go back and add pitch and emotion. When I read that I was totally on board with podcasting. If it takes podcasting to make reading fun and enjoyable for students why not do it? Reading for children now is very scarce. If teachers can go into a classroom with a book, and show their students how each character can have his or her own voice with his or her own thoughts and feelings, that's amazing.

The first podcast I listened to was “Dinosaurs Before Dark” and I loved it! Just listening to the children getting all excited and really into telling the story was just too cute! But what I loved was how each student spoke clearly. None had a problem with having to read aloud. They all had their own personality that he or she brought to the table. But for all of the students to read clearly, blew me away. In school students always have to take turn reading stories during class. And there's always been a handful of students who can not read out loud to the class for numerous reasons. One, because he or she can't read well or two he or she has a problem with public speaking.For these students who are only in first grade taking their first steps to speaking and reading clearly in front of people is awesome.

The second article I read was "Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting" and I couldn't agree more. I listened to the students speaking Hebrew and it blew me away. I can't speak any Hebrew but it was a cool experience to listen to second grade students speaking it a little. I had to agree with her when she wrote about how when you learn a different language you have to attach that feeling to the word. You can't just memorize another language to truly learn it. You have to really listen to what you're trying to learn and let it sink in. Then you have to listen to yourself to actually hear if you had the right melody for that word. Again, I had never heard of podcasting in a teaching environment but I love the idea. The students actually get wrapped up in the words. And learn to truly understand their meaning. Who knows, maybe with podcasting students will learn to start loving the art of language.