Episode 3 (I think)

Alright, so in theory, all the bugs are ironed out. This is what some might call a "teachable moment:" make sure you can download your podcast before you assume others can.

This week's podcast features me rambling about what I learned trying to make writing workshop work at Boltz Junior High while student teaching. I also talk about my improvements in podcasting, and announce the new Pedagogy in Practice wiki.

Also, if you've subscribed to the podcast using iTunes, you may want to use the new podcast subscribe link to the right, or check for a new listing in the iTunes music store (this one really does work, I promise).

Whoops

So, as many of you have probably noticed, podcast downloading isn't working so well. Now that my internet's back up, I'm going to try to see what I can do.

Episode 3

Let's try this link again.

This week's podcast features me rambling about what I learned trying to make writing workshop work at Boltz Junior High while student teaching. I also talk about my improvements in podcasting, and announce the new Pedagogy in Practice wiki.

Also, if you've subscribed to the podcast using iTunes, you may want to use the new podcast subscribe link to the right, or check for a new listing in the iTunes music store.

Speaking of Garrison Keillor . . .

This gave me a little ego boost as a teacher (not that I need any more). Another point for the theory of Writer's Notebooks.

Just a Thought . . .

Did you know that American Public Media's The Writer's Almanac, a five minute segment on writers, writing, and poetry hosted by Garrison Keillor, is availble in podcast form?

Maybe, at higher level grades and high level students, they could listen to that at the beginning of class as a writing prompt. Maybe.

I can't wait until I can work at a school with a block schedule.

Giving Feedback

Today, three weeks after my last day of teaching, I'm finally finishing up on grading the portfolios for writing workshop. I'm lucky to be done with the actual teaching, or else I wouldn't have been able to do it.

It's made me think a little about how we give students feedback. To many students, our opinion can be so important - or damaging - to them. I have (or had) one student who wants to be a writer when she grows up. All my criticism better be constructive, and I have to be clear in my comments.

For these portfolios, I stole an idea from my wife's sister-in-law's mother (maybe I'll post the geneology chart later) Shirley Whaley, who teaches at Pomona High School in Arvada, CO. When my wife was her student, she had students bring tapes and she read their essays aloud and interjected comments when she felt compelled. The result is a look inside an audience member's mind.

I feared it would take too much time when I started doing it for my classes, but instead it really helped me move faster. I was able to formulate my thoughts and the assessment much better reading the piece out loud, and since students can hear my inflection and thoughts, they don't get confused by comments scralled in the corner. In fact, I don't mark on their papers at all, which is a nice way to get a finished piece of work back, without anything that could be percieved as a defacement.

Of course, I had to record on the computer and burn to CD, and in coming years I bet I'll be posting the files online with access through some sort of password so students can sync the audio to their iPods.

But it's worked for me. I'd definitely recommend it.

Skype Offers Free Land-line Calls

Skype, a pseudo VoIP / Instant Messaging provider has offered free calling between computers that have Skype, while calls to or from land lines and mobiles could be bought as credits.

But Skype has now made calling from a computer to a land-line or mobile phone free. They're betting on customers using additional services like SkypeIn and buying ringtones and such.

This could really increase the number of interviews we hear in podcasts.

Gaming a "New Media"

On NPR today, Michelle Norris interviewed University of Southern California graduate student Susana Ruiz. She's created an online "game" for her thesis that educates people about the crisis in Darfur. In the interview, she suggested that online gaming, or interactive learning, or whatever you want to call it, is a new medium to send information, just like Art Spiegelman used graphic literature (she called it a comic book - gasp!) to tell a story about the Holocaust.

I played the game yesterday, it's pretty cool. And it encourages people to take action in the Darfur crisis.

Learning More About Podcasting

I just finished reading Podcasting for Dummies. A lot of it was both interesting and helpful. I've just reedited (or, if you prefer, digitally remastered) my first two podcasts and posted them to a free account at PodOMatic. OurMedia is sometimes a little unreliable when I try to upload, and I'm not sure how much bandwidth they offer. However, PodOMatic messes with the ID3 tags when I upload, so we'll see how long my patience lasts with them (I know, I just want it all, huh?).

I've finished student teaching and plan on podcasting sometime this week, so keep your ears open for episode 3.