Richardson has created a very useful toolbox for teachers on pages 10-11 of his text, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2010, p.10-11). The tools include those that “publish, those that manage information, and those that share content in new collaborative ways." I am looking forward to using audio/video casting programs such as Little Birds Tales to have students illustrate and narrate stories. In the kindergarten common core standards we are currently reading the Frog and Toad series. After completing this series and reading many informational books on frogs, I would like to have half of the students reflect on the fictional stories while the other half reflects on the informational books. Then have students illustrate their knowledge using art materials of their choice. Once these illustrations are completed scan them into my computer and upload them to Little Birds Tales and have each student narrate their art piece. Once the project is complete the students could watch it together and decide if each page is fact or fiction. I think this would be a great tool to use for emergent writers as it frees them from the labor of writing and helps build multi-media literacy.
David Warlick’s article ‘A Day in the Life of Web 2.0’, piqued my interest in podcasts. I searched for educational podcasts and spent some time at the Smithsonian site. It was amazing to see students from Jamestown Elementary creating podcasts about the monuments of Washington. When students in Scotland come across this podcast they discussed a possible future joint podcast with the Jamestown Elementary to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the English settlement in Virginia. For the last several years I have used my classroom webpage to post instructional videos and songs to help reinforce kindergarten skills. I am not sure how many parents visit the website but I am hoping we can find a way to get feedback from them. I also post many pictures of the students, as I want parents to see that kindergarten can be fun, but within the play environment true learning is occurring.
Reference
Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Warlick, David. (2006). A day in the lIfe of Web 2.0. Technology and Learning.
Retrieved from :
http://www.smithsonianeducation.org/educators/lesson_plans/podcast/jamestown.html