Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

My co-worker (Estee Williams) and I just wrapped up our ninth episode of the P.O.D.C.A.T.S podcast (Personal on Demand Curriculum and Technology Show). We started this at the beginning of the school year as a fun and different way to provide tech PD to our teachers. We wanted to see if there was an audience for it as well as learn some new skills that we could use in the classroom.  It has been challenging these past two month as we have had to record from our separate homes, when we had been recording in person. We did like the challenge though and could now use our new skills to interview folks from around the country if needed. Sadly, we've decided to table our Podcast for next year in lieu of some other tech PD ideas we would like to try.  I thought, as we are closing out this experiment, I would highlight what we did and used tech wise in case anyone wanted to give it a try. The first thing we did was develop our name, logo, and...

Episode 6 of the BCSD P.O.D.C.A.T.S. podcast is live. Listen for our main segment: Research Tips, Tricks, and Tools to help celebrate Black History Month. 🔗 Online: tinyurl.com/podcatsonline 🍎 Apple Podcasts: tinyurl.com/podcatsapple 🟢 Spotify: tinyurl.com/podcatsspotify

So my co-worker, Estee Williams (Twitter - @esteeeducates), and I are now into episode four of our podcasting experience this school year. We have been enjoying it but are in awe of regular podcasters who manage to put out an episode a week. We struggle just to get one a month put out! This is mainly due to our work schedules. We recognize that folks like Matt Miller, Kasey Bell, and Monica Burns all are self-employed in the EdTech world so their time is a little more flexible and podcasting is one of the ways they communicate to keep their brand current (but we now have a much better idea of how much time they put into it each week). When we started this project we decided we needed to make sure that we set aside a non-negotiable Friday a month to record the show. As it is, we are still pulled in many different directions and we wind up doing a lot of the editing and updating of show notes on our own time.  We set the theme for the following month after recording and put t...

I ran across this tweet from Tony Vincent this morning about a podcast he has been listening to with his 5th graders called Six Minutes. The website overview : "Who is Holiday? Where did she come from and how did she end up floating in the icy waters off the coast of Alaska with no memory? Are her mom and dad really who they say they are? Why is she developing those incredible abilities? The mystery unfolds in six minute episodes." I love the fact that each episode is only 6 minutes (and they have 136 published six minute segments). It would be easy to integrate into the classroom (at six minutes). I would use it as a settling activity that exposes children to more words, ideas, and language (I work with a lot of Title 1 students who need that language exposure). It could also be used as a writing prompt (i.e listen to this episode and then write the next episode). Podcasting with students is high on my "to try" list and this Podcast has given me some i...

Richard Byrne recently posted about three free music sites that teachers can use to find music and sound effects for podcasts and projects. It was super helpful and I bookmarked it for future reference. He didn't mention Free Play Music , which is my "go to" music site so I would add that to any list you have going. I worked with students making Lion King trailers and in this site I was able to type in "African" and found some fun royalty music that worked with the trailers students were making. Here is MY problem. I don't know what music to choose! I get overwhelmed with too many choices which is why I appreciate it when people cite their music in the video credits (Richard Byrne goes over that in his post). One teacher (art) who does that well is Tricia Fuglestad . I follow her for her outstanding use of green screen videos. She has a Vimeo channel and she gave credit to Kevin McCloud in one video where I liked the music . This took me on a fun...