The long car journey! I spend a lot of time in my car with a big commute to school! Don’t get me wrong…I like my car (a cute little red Mini Cooper with go faster stripes and a “My other car is a TARDIS” tag holder - testifying to my nerd / sci-fi girl addiction!) But those long trips with the rubbish that is on over-air radio and a small selection of CD’s can get tiresome. I do a big trip every six weeks to Hilton Head, SC and while I do find some of the local radio stations that I come across amusing in Butts and Laurens Counties, it gets a little boring after the sixteenth time you have heard a car dealership advert with a bad country music song soundtrack.
Cue the Podcast. Ability to drive AND learn! Genius. Why on earth did I not think of this before?
Having hopped onto my bulging iTunes account (for music only up to this point!), I opened up a whole new world of educational opportunities.
I did eventually hop back to the recommended feeds (more on that later) but could not resist the chance to go explore (remember – I’m a Geographer at heart!). I clicked and subscribed to a new feed with only one Podcast to date (and I hope that they do more) called “The Poverty Podcast” centering round the ongoing discussion of the Millennium Development Goals and what to do post 2015. This is a subject that my junior and senior students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) must study in depth. I was automatically thinking that many of them drive to school…here is a way to engage the brain away from the mindless thud of the teenage music of Bieber and Rhianna! As review for their upcoming examinations has them going over notes, this is a great way of pushing their content further into a contemporary thinking space and still reviewing at the same time. Perhaps I should be producing my own Podcasts in this context?
As I also teach history, I found myself searching the Education Directory and listening to “The British History Podcast” and was automatically transported back to the heady days of teenage angst, studying Henry the 8th for a third form six weekly (translation; 8th Grade summative assessment test) – but thinking this was way more fun!
As our school teaches my content area in several different languages, I thought here was also a great opportunity to hone some language skills – so downloaded some Podcasts from “Learn Spanish Survival Guide” and “Learn French by Podcast” – and I look forward to wowing my international colleagues with my renewed set of language skills in conversation*
From the list provided, I of course looked at the TED Talks – a staple to any Geographer and NPR Podcast Directory. Impressive…and more impressive than anything FREE!
This is a tool that I have, for one, underused and not valued it’s amazing potential! My students are constantly plugged in – we are a digital friendly school and in the halls during break and lunch the students are plugged in – listening to music etc. Can we foster a climate of Podcast engagement here? Could we have a school RSS feed on our central website that would push out the Podcasts from good and trusted media every week – and Podcasts from faculty and administration on interesting topics – engage our wider community? Wonderful ideas – how do we get them to connect and work for student and teacher engagement and learning?
*This is unlikely given my ability in linguistics but a girl can dream, right?
Cue the Podcast. Ability to drive AND learn! Genius. Why on earth did I not think of this before?
Having hopped onto my bulging iTunes account (for music only up to this point!), I opened up a whole new world of educational opportunities.
I did eventually hop back to the recommended feeds (more on that later) but could not resist the chance to go explore (remember – I’m a Geographer at heart!). I clicked and subscribed to a new feed with only one Podcast to date (and I hope that they do more) called “The Poverty Podcast” centering round the ongoing discussion of the Millennium Development Goals and what to do post 2015. This is a subject that my junior and senior students in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) must study in depth. I was automatically thinking that many of them drive to school…here is a way to engage the brain away from the mindless thud of the teenage music of Bieber and Rhianna! As review for their upcoming examinations has them going over notes, this is a great way of pushing their content further into a contemporary thinking space and still reviewing at the same time. Perhaps I should be producing my own Podcasts in this context?
As I also teach history, I found myself searching the Education Directory and listening to “The British History Podcast” and was automatically transported back to the heady days of teenage angst, studying Henry the 8th for a third form six weekly (translation; 8th Grade summative assessment test) – but thinking this was way more fun!
As our school teaches my content area in several different languages, I thought here was also a great opportunity to hone some language skills – so downloaded some Podcasts from “Learn Spanish Survival Guide” and “Learn French by Podcast” – and I look forward to wowing my international colleagues with my renewed set of language skills in conversation*
From the list provided, I of course looked at the TED Talks – a staple to any Geographer and NPR Podcast Directory. Impressive…and more impressive than anything FREE!
This is a tool that I have, for one, underused and not valued it’s amazing potential! My students are constantly plugged in – we are a digital friendly school and in the halls during break and lunch the students are plugged in – listening to music etc. Can we foster a climate of Podcast engagement here? Could we have a school RSS feed on our central website that would push out the Podcasts from good and trusted media every week – and Podcasts from faculty and administration on interesting topics – engage our wider community? Wonderful ideas – how do we get them to connect and work for student and teacher engagement and learning?
*This is unlikely given my ability in linguistics but a girl can dream, right?