Podcasts
One of my favorite podcast in more of a personal interest of mine. The Brain Candy Podcast is one that I have been listening to for several months, and while it is produced by two former reality show contestants, they talk about many different topics that are designed to make you think. While looking for educational podcasts, I really enjoyed TEDTalks, CNN Student News, and The British History Podcast.
I could see implementing podcasts as a way to review material. Students could make podcasts about the vocabulary in a unit and upload them to the class website or blog for others to use. Another great way to implement podcasts is for students to create classroom news shows. Students can take turns creating a weekly news show discussing what was learned in class that week, what is coming up in the next week, and other useful information. Parents can then subscribe to these podcasts and stay up to date on what is happening in class. Richardson (2010) suggests , “Remember, all of these ideas can be put into practice simply by recording digital audio, but the key to turning your students recordings into podcasts is to publish them” (p. 117).
Visual Tools
I can see using images from Flickr to introduce new topics, have debates, and discuss similarities and differences between different topics. I saw many great images that could be used across all subject areas, but of course my primary focus is on Social Studies. Currently I am teaching a unit on the American Revolution. Flickr had several images that I thought my students would find interesting, particularly the Lego scenes.
Diversity
“Our world needs thinkers, innovators, collaborators, and communicators. Our students will struggle to serve as innovative contributors to our present and future societies unless they develop an understanding of, and appreciation for, our global partners” (Hilt. October 26, 2011). This quote from the article, The Case for Cultivating Cultural Awareness , really made me think. Our world is more globally connected than ever before and our students need to learn how to be a contributing part. The Internet is an amazing tool to help our students better understand and respect the diversity of the world. Before the Internet was so widely available to our students, their main way of obtaining information about other cultures was done through textbooks, and maybe the news on television. Now, it is so much easier and faster to obtain information using the Internet. Students can connect with people from around the world through the use of blogs, social media, websites, and news reports that they may not have had access to in the past. All of these outlets of information can help our students see that there is so much more out there than what they surround themselves with every day in their classrooms and within their group of peers.
While researching for more information on diversity and global awareness, I found teachunicef.org. This site has an amazing amount of resources arranged by category or grade level. Within each topic are readings, videos, activity sheets, audio recordings, and additional links relating to each particular topic. By learning through someone around their own age, students are much more able to make more meaningful connections with the content. This site would be a great way to allow students to research a specific topic, or even allow them to choose one that interests them. The Internet helps students see that they share many similarities with a variety of people around the world, but at the same time they possess many differences. Learning about the similarities and differences they share better connects students with the world around them.
Hilt, L. (2011, October 26). The Case For cultivating Cultural Awareness. Retrieved from
http://plpnetwork.com/2011/10/26/the-case-for-cultivating-cultural-awareness/