First Time for Everything

I am so excited I just finished my first podcast.  So, what prompted me to do a podcast?  Well, because our motto is “it is about curriculum, not the tool” Noel and I have a primary source document from 1894 that we want our students to be able to read and do some work with.  The text is high level and we already know that many of our kids will need some help with it, more than just the basic pre-reading skills and schema building activities that we will do.  Many kids need to be able to listen to the text being read by a fluent reader.  In the past we have offered as the teacher to take a group and read it aloud for whoever wants or need that.  Now that we are fortunate enough to have a set of ipod touches I went on a mission to see how I could use the tool to get to the curriculum.  At first I thought about using the voice recording tool on the ipod touches but then I remembered thinking about the world of podcasts.  So, I got on garage band, watched the tutorial, and before I knew it was I sitting in my bedroom, door closed to escape the noise of my two small children to read the text into computer.  Now students will have the option of listening to me reading in my best recorded books type of voice as they follow along with the text.

Gotta Love You Tube!

I have to say more than ever I have started to use online tutorials for various types of technology.  Some are definitely more professionally created and user friendly than others.  That is part of the fun for me to be able to watch different people’s creation and how they introduce different topics.  So far I have used You Tube to find tutorials for learning how to podcast, create voice threads, excel spreadsheet tips, and how to sync a podcast.  I love that I can do the tutorial from the comfort from my own home and at my own pace.  This is something that I am so glad I was introduced to!

CC also know as Creative Commons

I enjoyed today’s class on copy right and feel like I know the core issues surrounding copyright. 

Some good tips that I walked away with were: 
*What is the purpose of my project? 
*Who is the target audience? 
*What/Why am I using copyrighted material, and did my work transform the material taken from the copyrighted work by using if for a different purpose than that of the original?
*Did I use the amount need to accomplish my purpose?