Thursday, January 22, 2009

Starting Out Podcasting week 1

4 of my teachers have been instructed to have students generate a weekly podcast of what is going on in their classes. Like a "toot your own horn" as my administration put it. The teachers are doing fabulous things, and want the parents to know! So my job is to train the teachers and students how to do this till they can do it on their own. I am going to log my journey, but let's catch up with what already has happened.

Week 1 - 4 teachers - - one podcasted...well I did it. The teacher wrote a script for the boys to read. We used a student laptop with a built-in iSight camera and iMovie to record their "news report". The teacher watched and saw how to record, but was more of a bystander than active participant. Then I took the laptop, edited the footage and built the movie.

Week 2 - 4 teachers - - one podcasted...well I did it again, and it was the same teacher. We used the same program and tools, and will always use them unless we master them and I feel like taking the Garageband approach to podcasting. The teacher wrote the script, but assisted with video taping. Yeah! The students were the same 2 from the previous week, I think... After the taping, I editted and built the movie.

Week 3 - 4 teachers - - TWO podcasted! YEAH!
Teacher 2 wrote the script and helped with the directing, but did not help with the taping (starting and stopping the recording). Then the students sat with me and watched me edit and build the movie for the podcast.

Teacher 1 wrote the script and had the boys record the report before I got to the classroom. There were 4 boys this time (2 from the previous weeks, and 2 new ones). I began to build the movie, but stopped, got up, and parked one of the boys in my seat. Together the students built their movie. I taught them how to edit the footage, split the clips, extract their flubs, record a voiceover, add a title card, add headlines, add transitions. They were pretty ancy by the time we added the little intro and exit song, but were awed over watching me do that part. I told them next time that they would learn more of the "sounds" part. That started the whole discussion of how we were going to help the other students. The small group and I decided that the these 4 were going to become the experts on movie making. I am going to request that they be incharge of next week's movie/podcast. I told them that I don't want to come until they have recorded, editted, and added the titles/headlines and transitions. When that is all done they can get me, I will do final editting touches and teach the sounds part. They are thrilled! We even discussed them being the experts for the other 3 classes. Peer teaching. I can't wait for this group to get to take their laptops home in 6th grade. If they really dive into this project, they are going to be crazy fun by 2 years! Oh the projects they will be making and showcasing! The poor 6th grade teachers, how will they challenge them then? :-) Here is the podcast/movie that was created with this group.

No comments:

Clustr Map

About Me

My photo
I have been in education since 1996 and never taught without technology!