Kristin Fontichiaro, in her Podcasting 101 article (School Library Media Activities Monthly), recommends using podcasting in the classroom to help improve writing skills. Since students will be communicating with a real world audience, podcasting can teach them how to develop their writer's voice. She suggests using Audacity software but also mentions a free form of podcasting that records through the phone......Gabcast! We all know how much Mrs. Dilbert loves to use the phone (evidenced two weeks ago with her tech problems phone calls).
Gabcast, www.gabcast.com, is a podcasting and audio blogging website where you can easily create and distribute audio content. Mrs. Dilbert is stressing out about the Georgia Writing Assessment that her 5th graders will be experiencing and has been spending hours trying to teach them writing strategies. But the students are falling asleep! By using Gabcast as an instructional tool and as a publishing tool for her 5th graders, the students will be waking up from their semi-comatose state.
Since I like to make sure that I've tried what I recommend, I embedded below a Gabcast selection that I recorded today. In the Gabcast, I'm teaching how to use a picture book to improve characterization in writing.
Listen up, Mrs. Dilbert! Press play.
Gabcast! Power of Picture Books #1 - Owl Babies Help Describe a Character
Using Martin Waddell's book, Owl Babies, learn how to improve students' writing ability regarding characterization.
I found the instructions on the website easy to follow, and I enjoyed doing this over the phone- felt like I was talking to one of my buddies. The introduction music is from the Freeplay Music website, www.freeplaymusic.com. (I messed up at the end and used a short clip that was also on the playlist, but I didn't want to take the time to re-record.)
For working with Mrs. Dilbert, I'd use a scaffolding approach. First, I'd create a Gabcast while explaining the steps to her, then we'd do one together, and then she'd do one with my feedback. Next we'd discuss ways that she could use Gabcast in the classroom- for instruction with writing strategy mini-lessons and for creating engaging ways for the students to publish their work. What a motivation it will be for them to polish and publish their Gabcast stories!
Mrs. Dilbert is on her way to becoming a podcasting pioneer.
5 comments:
Anne,
The Gabcast is awesome! I really liked the way you used it with the book, Owl Babies. You have such a good idea for teaching characterization. This will be a good lesson for teaching our performance standards. I cannot wait to try to use Gabcast.com. There are so many things you can do with this in the classroom at all grade levels. You could also use this with book talks in the media center to introduce new books or for Georgia Book Awards. I am sure Mrs. Dilbert will enjoy using this new idea in her classroom as well. My only question about Gabcast is does it cost money to join this website?
I am going to share Gabcast with the teachrs at my school. Great idea!
Jennifer,
Gabcast is FREE, and you're right, there are so many ways it can be used in the classroom and in the media center.
Anne
Using podcasts to help teach writing is such a great idea! As media specialists we need to show teachers how to integrate aspects of reading, writing, and technology. I've used books in my classroom before to help students focus on specific writing skills, and it really seems to help. Adding the excitement of podcasting into the mix would hopefully only encourage more creativeness. Having students podcast their creative writings would really get them to focus on the details and flow of their stories. Much like every project we try with our students, providing good examples (like your podcast) helps get them going in the right directions. Integrating books into the writing lesson may also encourage the students and teachers to use the media center more frequently.
Anne, I have enjoyed your link to Mrs. Dilbert, our technologically challenged teacher. You have found some great internet sites that can help her and all the others teachers who don't complain about technology. The uses of podcasts in the classroom are endless as well as the media center. I think students would enjoy coming into the media center to check out books based on a podcast created to show the latest Georgia Book Award Winners and all the other book award winners. Mrs. Dilbert will find that these tools are easy to use. I will definitely take a look at gabcast.com and the site for free music. Thanks for sharing!
Dorina
Anne, I really enjoyed learning about Gabcast.com. I enjoyed your lesson teaching characterization. I can see how this would get your 5th graders more excited about writing. I am impressed that you even put a sample here for us to enjoy. Thanks for sharing this great resource. What a great idea.
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