Podcasts in the Classroom

The Value of Using Podcasts in Class

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I recently have found myself in the car traveling a lot and so I had been looking for ways to pass the time and had recently begun to listen to various podcasts and I love that idea so much! Implementing it into a classroom is an even better idea to me. I am mind blown by how simple of an idea it is but it seems it would be so effective, and was for this particular teacher!  The way the teacher in this article implemented podcasts is by playing the podcast aloud so everyone can hear while either having the kids follow the manuscript along individually on paper, computer, or on a screen as they listened. This would be such a great strategy to test out in a classroom because it combines literacy with technology and could be used across all subjects, which I think is so important and useful.

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"How Smart Readers Think"

After reading “How Smart Readers Think,” I really feel like I’ve been given some clarity on what reading can be like for students. Honestly… when I read the passage about cricket it was PAINFUL. I had no idea what I was reading.

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As I read it, as the article later discussed, I could feel my brain trying to come up with some kind of connection… any kind of connection to be able to draw meaning from the text. The different phrases were unfamiliar and there was no context so for me it felt impossible to fully grasp what the passage was talking about. This whole process brought me back to how I felt in 8^th grade Social Studies with Mrs. Koch. In her class we would have weekly reading quizzes. She would quiz us over the most miniscule details of whatever reading had been assigned. I remember the paranoia of missing a question would leave me trying to memorize the smallest most random details of the passage—ultimately missing the point of the passage. Because I was reading the passages just to get through the reading quizzes rather than to understand the passages themselves, a lot of the information went right over my head. It was so frustrating because I would “do the reading” every single week, but I still wasn’t getting it.

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I find so much truth in “How Smart Readers Think,” from my own personal experiences. In order to understand a text, it has to be able to be related to some prior knowledge. When assigning any text, as future educators that want our students to succeed we must help them find the “Columbus key” so that they can fully grasp the passage.

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