Technology Reflections

Last week the 8th graders finished their Photoshop Project. The kids took all their creations and put them into a Windows Movie Maker movie. They were great!

This week I decided to start a podcasting project. I’m a total newbie with podcasts but I decided to give it a shot anyway. I decided to use gcast and have the kids record their podcasts by phone. We listened to some other Middle School podcasts – good ones and not so good ones. I wanted the kids to hear the difference and want to make theirs a good one. My plan was to have the kids get into groups of their choosing and then record their podcasts at home.

The problems started from the very beginning. During the Photoshop unit they had been given a lot of freedom to walk around and talk. Now that we were starting a new unit, I needed to teach and they needed to listen. They seem to have forgotten how to do that. On Monday I threatened that if they couldn’t behave and listen then I wasn’t even going to do the podcasting. On Tuesday and Wednesday they were better. They even got into groups and started planning their podcasts. Today I wanted to show them talkr and how you can turn blog posts into podcasts automatically. I had some issues with the technology (I was blocked from hearing the podcast on one computer, but could access it on another and had to move the speakers over) I repeatedly reminded the kids to stop talking, even after I finally got the podcast to work and I was moving onto another topic. I reached my frustration level and said they weren’t working on podcasts today. Trying to think fast, I came up with nothing for them to do except to read. When I announced that, they all cheered! As a reading teacher I loved that, but I was looking for punishment So I changed my mind had them all write my standby essay about why it’s important to follow directions and respect your teachers. That way the kids who were being quiet write about something they already know about (My old essay was to write about what you did wrong, but not everyone did something wrong) [note: I'm writing this in class and I just had to stop and talk to some girl who were 'communicating' to each other] They need to take their essays home and have their parents sign it and bring it back to me tomorrow. I don’t usually do this, but if they don’t bring it back I just might assign detentions.

I think I will follow through on my threat to not do podcasts. I will assume part of the responsibility and that is that I need to learn more about podcasts and podcasting, but I also need to follow through on my threats.

I’m also feeling a bit nostalgic. Last year’s computer class would have LOVED this project. I was spoiled last year with the best computer class ever since working at this school. This year’s class is not last years, and I have to adjust my projects, and my attitude, accordingly.

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