Podcasting for Dummies

That would be me--the dummy, I mean.

Probably the biggest challenge I will have with podcasting is getting over the angst that it has caused me just getting this one done for the assignment.

I have to tell myself that it is something I have never done, that I used a program I have never seen before, and that it has got to get easier from here.

I had to use my noggin quite a bit this time which is funny, because the subject matter of my podcast was thinking and how students don't do enough of it. Here is my link to that:
Knowing versus Thinking

Anyway, I had often thought about using podcasts in my classroom because I heard of other teachers doing so. Since I wanted to have all the coolest stuff, I figured I better look into it. Having the coolest stuff makes it seem like I know what I am doing!

Seriously, though, I don't really think I am going to jump into regular podcasting anytime soon for one major reason: nobody will listen to them. I'm serious. I have worked with 8th graders long enough to know that there is not the slightest chance that there will be even a smidge of interest in anything I podcast.

For example, we have a vocabulary program that we have been doing and there is an online component that includes podcasts of the words and their definitions. No matter what kind of build-up I give to the idea of putting their vocab words on their MP3 players, nobody has ever done it. Not one student. That means zero.

I have what I think is a practical theory: if a teacher falls down in the forest making a podcast and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any noise?

But now I am being silly. What if I DID do a podcast? What would I do?

I think the best thing for me to do would be record all of my lectures everyday. I think it would be great to have it all right there on my website for the student who is absent or the one who needs to review what I said. I may actually do such a thing if I had a wireless headset mic.

This would meet a couple of the NETS-S standards:

#3 Research and Information Fluency, because they would "locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from a variety of sources and media."

#4 Technology Operations and Concepts because they would become familiar with the use of something in the field of technology that is new to them.

All in all, I think podcasts can be a great addition to a teacher's repertoire, just not an 8th grade teacher.