Podcasts in the Classroom

   
My mind is swimming with all of the possibilities for using podcasts in the classroom.  As I look forward to this upcoming school year I see two ways in which I would like to incorporate podcasts into the classroom.  I know that I could do many more activities, but I want to do this well, so I intend to start with two types of activities. 
    Being a second grade teacher, one of the major goals in reading is to improve reading comprehension.  Reading fluency plays a major role in increasing reading comprehension.  In Kathy Cothran's article,  The Connection Between Podcasting and Reading Fluency, she offers several different activities that improve reading fluency through the use of podcasts.  Creating podcasts to edit writing pieces, interviewing one another, or just reading a story offer students different ways to improve reading fluency.  This article also contains a link to several kid-created podcasts for you to listen to.  Cothran wrote another article titled, Turn Book Reports into Podcasts.  Cothran not only gives ideas on how to create a group podcast, but also gives a link to rubrics and planning sheets to use with your students.  With almost everything already done for you, there is no excuse to not use podcasts to improve reading fluency and comprehension.
    Another idea I had for podcasting was to provide students and parents with more detailed information regarding specific assignments completed each year.  It seems that the same questions pop up year after year and although they are addressed in paper form, those papers are not always handy.  In my school we have many students who are on traveling sports teams or have other after school commitments that require them to be in the car a lot.  How wonderful it would be to create assignment podcasts that students could access from anywhere. No more papers left behind!  The podcasts could offer detailed instructions that address common concerns from past years.  On a larger scale, I have had several students in past years that have traveled abroad during the school year and have asked for assignments to work on while traveling. Creating podcasts would alleviate the anxiety of traveling with assignments.   
     My final thought on podcasting is that it can be addicting.  I have spent way too many hours listening to different podcasts on the web.  Here are a couple of my favorites:
WillowWeb- This was mentioned in one of the videos we watched.
ColeyCast- This is a classroom teacher who uses podcasts in several aspects of his classroom. I love the Literature Circle podcasts!