This is the reason I’m taking the course. I want to know how to podcast from my classroom. There is nothing quite so valuable to a family helping a student than to know what has been taught in class. How many times have we asked our own children, “What did the teacher say?” Only to get the response, “I don’t remember.” Because the families do not always know how to help, I think it would be wonderful to go “into the classroom” via podcasts to see for themselves what is being taught.
I previewed The Math Factor. It was fairly academic in nature. I felt that it might be a bit over their heads. I could definitely use it in preparation for lessons though. I could change the language of the concepts and “retell” the lesson in more appropriate language for 11-12 year olds.
I previewed MathGrad Podcast. I really liked this one. It would be fun to do with my student because of the stretch to relevant lessons in their textbook. For example, The Famous Monty Hall Problem was very interesting. I had never heard of it, but I do believe my students would enjoy the problem as an example to the study with Probability.
I also previewed dansmathcast. Interesting guy. Although I didn’t find much that was relevant to my 6th graders, I can appreciate the enthusiasm and passion he has for teaching math. He teaches in a community college in California. I felt the students would be far more “connected” to him through these podcasts.
I searched the itunes store, The Education Podcast Network, and PBS Podcasts. I wasn’t able to find anything of great value on itunes. Many of the podcasts were either too far above my grade level or not relevant to my curriculum. I found two very good podcasts which I subscribed to on The Education Podcast Network . Your Tutor Online Video Lessons had some very good lessons on point and lines and solving equations with absolute value. I also found many helpful videos on Video Tutor: Basic Math. I really liked the form of the videos in that the gentleman would often begin with very concrete examples in the shape of diagrams and pictures and then move forward with the abstract method of calculation. I will definitely use some of these as remediation in tutorial or to introduce a new concept. PBS had some very good science related podcasts that I passed on to the science teacher next door, but not much in the way of math instruction.
I would love to podcast every lesson I teach. I think that students and parents could benefit from seeing and hearing the instruction at home without normal classroom distractions. It would be a great way to reinforce and refresh what is happening in the classroom.
I have an ipod and I personally subscribe to a couple of religious/spiritual podcasts. I enjoy listening to them in the car on a long trip or when I’m out walking or exercising. It’s actually one of the reasons why I bought the ipod to begin with. I really enjoy searching out new podcasts that I might add to my current downloads. Believe it or not, I have more podcast space taken up on my ipod than music.
