ED 491 Week 2

Within the English classroom, there are many ways podcasts can be utilized by educators for the benefit of his or her students. These ways include but are definately not limited to the following suggestions. One of my first thoughts is for students with limited English proficiency or ESL students. When reading novels, short stories, books, etc. as a class assignment, teachers could post podcasts of each chapter for students to access at home and read along with the teacher. This serves 2 purposes -- 1) the student can still complete his/her reading homework even though they have limited English proficiency, and 2) this can save the student from feeling embarrassed in class because of the limited proficiency. Other suggestions for use of podcasts in the English classroom would be for grammar review, class project instructions, assignment clarification, answers to frequently asked questions, outlining the week's work for the class, etc. As you can see, podcasts can play an important role within the English classroom that should not only make life easier for the teacher, but also for the student.

I have not currently found any podcasts that I could intertwine within my curriculum; however, once I am more familiar with finding, creating, and using them I am sure there will be plenty to use. The ones I would use also depend upon the lesson, book we're reading, or unit we're covering.

As for ideas for the use of student created video within the classroom, I think the best use would be for student projects. The students could make music videos, advertisements, mini-movies, or other projects using their creativity and, with teacher approval, these could really be unique while displaying the student's individuality.