Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Blog Post #4

Doodle of a smiley face connecting to Earth with a microphone.
In her blog Podcasting with 1st Grade Silvia Tolisano says, “Believe it or not, but having an audience matters… even to 6 year olds.” I could not agree with this statement more. When writing and speaking the audience is important. The author or speaker needs to know what rhetoric to use when delivering his or her message. Creating a podcast is no different. Everyone, youngsters especially, loves praise. Podcasting is a great way to teach students the value of their work through feedback.

Tolisano’s post 1st Graders Create Their Own Read-Along Book had my mind turning. I have a 5 and 7 year old that would love to do this sort of thing, and we may give it a try this summer when we all have some free time. This is a great way to teach students how spoken language can display emotion through sounds. It can teach them why an exclamation mark is “loud,” as my kindergartner refers to it. I was shocked to see that the book was all script, no pictures. I think this is a great way to get children interested in reading without the use of illustrations.

Tolisano mentions several skills that podcasts activities address:
• listening
• speaking
• presenting
• comprehension
• storytelling
• performance
• voice acting
• oral fluency
• media
• technology

In addition to these skills, I feel a podcast of a book will also encourage a child’s interest in reading by allowing the child to follow along in the book while hearing his or her own voice.

Comprehension is hard work for some students, rather it be reading or listening. I myself struggle with some material and wish it were available in an audio format so that I could read along while hearing the material. The process of critically thinking while logically organizing bits of information does not come natural for all of us. Tolisano’s post Listening-Comprehension-Podcasting is a great way to help students, of all ages, learn to process a message. Creating a sound puzzle for students to unscramble can aid in teaching them how to organize information as well as how to decide what bits of information are important in a sentence or passage. I believe this activity could be particularly helpful in the English classroom when presenting a unit on the parts of speech.

2 comments:

  1. Hey Amanda! You did a very good job on this post! I think Ms. Tolisano has some great ideas. Her method of teaching is such a good model to go by. Comprehension is hard for some students, and its difficult for them to learn because of it too. Your post covers some important points, and flows well. Great job! Hope you enjoy Mardi Gras break!

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  2. Amanda,

    I have really enjoyed reading through your blog posts and projects. You have done a wonderful job with each post and have been very thorough. I never thought about how the scripts did not have any pictures in them and strictly words. That is a wonderful point you made that it would get students interested in reading without having to have illustrated books. Reading is an essential part of students' educational structure. You were spot on when you listed just a few of the many benefits that podcasting with students can have and what is taught through podcasting. I think you would really enjoy creating a similar podcast with your boys for some of their favorite books. The Flat Stanley project would be fun to do one summer as well.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts. You are doing an awesome job!

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