Podcasting

Podcasting is a digital recording of information that can be accessed through the internet. Podcasting is just a digital recording and a vodcasting is a video recording that is posted on the internet. Podcasting could be used for students who missed classes or who want to review information for for an exam. Podcasting could also be part of a webquest. Students could also create podcasts or vodcasts that discussed topics that are learned in class or as part of a research project. Students could create a podcast to discuss the summary of a story, the water cycle, the steps of mummification, or the definitions of the different quadrilaterals. The students could even do a podcast for a jigsaw project for a history or science chapter.

I teach kindergarten so I do not see how podcasts would work for my students. Their technology skills are not strong enough to create their own podcasts and they would not know how to even access a podcast. I would use a vodcast for my class before I would use a podcast. I could create a vodcast on our currant subject of subtraction or comparing the difference between polar bears, grizzly bears, brown bears, and black bears.

computer safety

I am currently teaching kindergarten students so the skill level that my students poses is not very high. I have taught my students the basic computer technology such as monitor, keyboard, and mouse. My students know how to turn the monitor on and off and they know how to work head phones connected to the computer. Beyond that, my students do not get any other computer time. We attend the "Waterford Lab" that only runs the Waterford phonics program. I would love for my students to learn more skills such as how to turn on the computer and shut it down correctly, and how to open up programs.

Since my students do not have much computer access I do not have to worry about computer policy as much as I would in other grades. My students know not to push on the screen or to mess with the keyboard when the computers are not in use. The only buttons they are allowed to use are the arrow keys. If my students were to use the Internet I would make sure that they only used Internet sites that I had provided for them. I think that the Kindergarten students are too young to understand the difference between a safe and unsafe site.