home

Moving on to Podcasts...

media type="file" key="podcasting.mp3" width="320" height="81"

DUE: Sunday, April 12, 2009 (11:59 pm)
 * Unit 7: Using Technology to Develop Listening and Speaking Skills**

New York State Learning Standards state that students must read, write, listen and speak for a variety of purposes. Oftentimes, educators overlook the importance of developing and teaching these skills to students. Listening goes beyond eye contact; in order for a person to truly listen, they must hear, understand and judge. In order to be an effective speaker, one must develop their thoughts fully. In this module, we will be going through the process of creating a podcast, in the hopes that you will utilize this tool in your classroom. As always, please remember that technology is a great tool, but sound pedagogy should always come first! You will need a computer with a microphone. If your computer does not have an internal one, you will have to get an external one. Microphones are relatively cheap and are becoming a necessity in this technological world. //Textbook// Chapter 7 – Using Technology to Develop Listening and Speaking Skills Chapter 9 – Using Technology with Children’s Literature
 * __READING:__**

//Article:// //Developing Students’ Listening and Speaking Skills through ELT Podcasts// by Paul Man-Man (attached)

Creating Audio in Audacity and MP3 Export []
 * __VIEW:__**

Optional… []

Audacity Wiki []
 * __HELPFUL SITE:__**

1. Read and view the above information on podcasting and the Audacity program. 2. Go to [] and download Audacity. 3. Go to [] and download LAME. Be sure to remember where you save LAME to because you will have to link it up with Audacity when you convert your recording to an MP3. 4. Create a podcast answering the questions of the discussion posting. Feel free to play with some of the available effects. It can be a lot of fun! How about adding some music to the background (optional)? 5. Convert your audacity file into an MP3. Go to ‘File’ – export as an MP3. It will ask you to link up to LAME so this is when you have to remember where you saved it to. 6. Go to the class wiki (http://mercyeduc527.wikispaces.com/) and add your podcast to the bottom of your page. You will see a space at the bottom of everybody’s page where I wrote PODCAST. In order to upload your podcast, it should be in MP3 format. On your specific wiki page (the one with your name)… - Go to edit this page - Insert images and files (looks like a little tree picture in the editor toolbar) - Browse your computer for your MP3 file. Be sure to choose the icon for the MP3 file when it shows up in the toolbar. - Then, hit save. Your Podcast should show up down bottom – providing your cursor was down bottom when you attached the MP3. Using information from the article and textbook readings, discuss your thoughts on podcasting. Is this something you would use with your class? What are the benefits? How does this tool help to develop listening and speaking skills in the classroom? How would you use it in your specific class?
 * __ASSIGNMENT:__**
 * __DISCUSSION POSTING:__** (to be complete via podcast)

__UNIT 6:__ Technology for Reading and Writing Instruction DUE: March 29, 2009, 11:59 pm  Please remember that a wiki is a __tool__ that can be used over time. It is not usually created for just one lesson. Search for educational wikis online to get more ideas. A popular educational wiki is the Flat Classrooms Project. Also, when leaving a comment for a classmate, be sure to put it on the discussion section of their page of this wiki.

media type="youtube" key="gg2hcNPr_FQ" height="344" width="425"

Hello All! Welcome to the Learning Technology through the English Language Arts wiki! For this learning unit, we will explore technology as it relates to reading and writing instruction. One of the tools commonly being used in classrooms for writing instruction is the wiki. You can use it for it's basic functions or get creative and make unique classroom writing projects. A wiki can be used in any subject area. As you will see from the video and tutorial, you can use it for group planning, as well.

__READING:__ Chapter 5: Using Technology to Develop Word Recognition… Chapter 6: Using Technology to Develop Writing Abilities

Article: //A Wiki for Classroom Writing// by Brian Morgan, Richard D. Smith (attached)

__PROCEDURE:__ 1. Go to ischoolpd.com (same code as in previous module) and view the Wikispaces tutorial. 2. Also, view the following quick video on wikis… [|**http://www.commoncraft.com/video-wikis-plain-english**] This tends to put the whole concept of wikis into perspective. 3. Using information from the readings, create a wiki that can help you to foster word recognition and/or writing abilities with your students. Your wiki will be evaluated on the following rubric from Read, Write, Think: http://www.readwritethink.org/lesson_images/lesson979/WikiRubric.pdf 4. On your tab of the class wiki (this one), post a link to your personal wiki and answer the following questions: How do you plan on using your wiki in your course? Will you have one wiki for all of your classes? One wiki for each course you teach? One wiki for each class? Will your wiki be a content-delivery tool? A space for individual online portfolios? A space for collaborative projects? A space for discussion? A space for collaborative note-taking? 5. View your classmates wikis and respond to at least two of them. Your response should be on this wiki. Do so, by using the discussion tab (up top) of the page you wish to add a comment on.

__DISCUSSION POSTING__: See #4 and #5 under procedure

__ASSIGNMENT:__ See #'s 1-3 under procedure