Podcast+Assignment

=Podcast Audio Assignment= (In the spirit of the K-12 Online Conference, you are invited to add your comments, ideas, news, and reflections in the discussion tab of this page)

My newest adventure into the exploration of web 2.0 tools is podcasting. I have forced myself to seek out educational podcasts and listen when I have "down time", such as traveling or when doing housework. There are some great podcasts out there and they are relatively easy to find. One can look them up on iTunes or just do a quick google search.

The grade nine English teachers at our school decided to give the students an audio/radio assignment for the memoir //**[|The Glass Castle]**// by Jeanette Walls. The book had been chosen by the LCC Reads Committee as the "LCC Reads" book choice for the school for 2006. Every student and teacher in the school takes part by reading the book.

The audio assignment is a complex learning situation - first the students are required to research thematic topics of the book to inform them as they create interview questions for either a fictionalized character from the book, or from a real subject matter expert in the community. The interview questions must represent questions from the six different levels of Bloom's taxonomy. The students then go on to audio record their interviews and then edit their audio files.

We have been working on this assignment during the last few weeks and many of the assignments are now completed. I was amazed at how many of the students really pushed themselves to finish so that their work could be highlighted at this conference. They couldn't wait for their work to "go global"! I am proud of their efforts and their creativity!

Please visit their wiki pages where they have posted their work:

 * LCC Grade 9 English Audio Interview Assignments

We are hoping students from other schools around the world will listen to the audio files and provide some peer feedback (are you listening, students at Westwood School in Georgia?). The wiki pages permit discussion of each page, which is a GREAT way for anyone to provide feedback comments, pose questions, and offer suggestions!** Please leave some comments for my students - they would love to hear from you!