Beginner's podcast!

So, you're all ready to try out podcasting at school but just don't know how and where to start?

Well, I found myself in the same situation a few months ago. I felt comfortable about introducing podcasting in school but just wasn't sure about how to begin. Being a computer lab teacher, I get to see all the classes twice in every cycle. Although my gut said I needed to try it out with my grade 5s - our highest, yet I didn't want to get them started on something that they could find easy to fool around with. As it is, a 40 minute period is not enough for their research and typing up of projects.

So, I started a computer club! Instead of a sign-up for the club, I chose to send an invitation to about 8 students from Grade 4 and 5, who I thought were well equipped with basic computer skills. We met twice every week during lunch-time and I showed them some how-to videos, demonstrated the use of Audacity and Movie Maker on the projector and gave them all a computer to work on individually. As they played around on the programs, I came up with an idea to put their skills together!

Our school focuses on a value every month and so we decided to come up with a Respect podcast in which they all recited and recorded a part of a poem that I found on the internet and selected pictures that would go with their words. They saved it all on a common folder and when they were all done, we put it all together on Movie Maker!

A week later, at our Respect-focus Assembly in front of the whole school, the proud computer club showed off their work to an applauding audience! Was simple but powerful. Their work is still up on our blog: Corliss Respects!