ILP Discussion
I first heard of podcasts in 2004. At the time, my limited imagination saw a vehicle for listening to public radio on my iPod. Finally! Within a few years, I had developed into a podcast aficionado. I had a curated list of podcasts I recommended regularly: This American Life, The Sound of Young America, Jordan Jesse Go, Reading Aloud, and Wiretap. I had been a fan of audiobooks and the aforementioned public radio, so it was only natural that I took to podcasts spoken broadcast.
As a teacher I find myself reading literature aloud quite a bit. I also ask my students to do so. Many students have difficulty reading aloud, even though they may be strong readers, reading aloud takes practice and is a skill that can be learned. Even my own readings tend to improve the more times I read a certain piece. This is where the idea for a podcast arose. I was practicing reading in preparation for the next day’s class and it felt kind of silly to be standing in my living room, pacing around reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. However, my practice paid off. My reading was polished and articulate in class. By the third time in as many hours that I read the short story, I had added inflection, and accents; I developed a character for my reading. I thought, “I wish someone had recorded that.” And so that would be the purpose, to improve reading aloud skills through practice, with occasional editing. Taking this one step further, a podcast could be distributed to classrooms around the world. This would be beneficial to teachers and students hearing the podcast, but it would also be a confidence boosting tool for the students reading for the show.
I created Read Loud, as part of this project, but plan to upkeep the show until opportunity presents itself to teach podcasting. As I built the show, I taught myself the ins and outs of recording audio: from Garageband software, to microphones, and pre-amplifiers, hosting, RSS feeds, iTunes distribution, and creating artwork. I propose to teach podcasting as a vehicle for reading literature aloud. Students and teachers would gain valuable practice in this skill, as well as the basics of audio podcast production. I would be responsible for hosting and upkeep of the RSS feed, however, content would be student and teacher selected, read, and produced. Opportunities for fund raising through the sale of merchandise could be incorporated after the podcast is up and running as well. With a minimal budget I am confident I could produce an amateur, student and teacher driven podcast.
I first heard of podcasts in 2004. At the time, my limited imagination saw a vehicle for listening to public radio on my iPod. Finally! Within a few years, I had developed into a podcast aficionado. I had a curated list of podcasts I recommended regularly: This American Life, The Sound of Young America, Jordan Jesse Go, Reading Aloud, and Wiretap. I had been a fan of audiobooks and the aforementioned public radio, so it was only natural that I took to podcasts spoken broadcast.
As a teacher I find myself reading literature aloud quite a bit. I also ask my students to do so. Many students have difficulty reading aloud, even though they may be strong readers, reading aloud takes practice and is a skill that can be learned. Even my own readings tend to improve the more times I read a certain piece. This is where the idea for a podcast arose. I was practicing reading in preparation for the next day’s class and it felt kind of silly to be standing in my living room, pacing around reading “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. However, my practice paid off. My reading was polished and articulate in class. By the third time in as many hours that I read the short story, I had added inflection, and accents; I developed a character for my reading. I thought, “I wish someone had recorded that.” And so that would be the purpose, to improve reading aloud skills through practice, with occasional editing. Taking this one step further, a podcast could be distributed to classrooms around the world. This would be beneficial to teachers and students hearing the podcast, but it would also be a confidence boosting tool for the students reading for the show.
I created Read Loud, as part of this project, but plan to upkeep the show until opportunity presents itself to teach podcasting. As I built the show, I taught myself the ins and outs of recording audio: from Garageband software, to microphones, and pre-amplifiers, hosting, RSS feeds, iTunes distribution, and creating artwork. I propose to teach podcasting as a vehicle for reading literature aloud. Students and teachers would gain valuable practice in this skill, as well as the basics of audio podcast production. I would be responsible for hosting and upkeep of the RSS feed, however, content would be student and teacher selected, read, and produced. Opportunities for fund raising through the sale of merchandise could be incorporated after the podcast is up and running as well. With a minimal budget I am confident I could produce an amateur, student and teacher driven podcast.