1. Reading out loud
2. Editing music/Mashing audio together
3. Learning who our audience is – is our school *really* interested in news that is happening in Italy?

The first one went out pretty well. Since I was in Austin, I don’t really know how many people listened to it, but when i came back on Monday, we critiqued our own podcast. We were pretty honest. It was too long and too boring. We almost couldn’t get through the whole thing. If *WE* couldn’t get through it, how can we expect listeners to listen?

So now, we are changing things up. It will be a news report just for Vistas with the intent to move into video production. The audio element is so hard to do alone. I say that my students know their audience, but did I really know MY audience? I’m going to HAVE to put a visual element.

I’m really going to have to start pushing the screen record feature for this class to reach the visual learners. I’ll still be using the great recording equipment; I’ll just use MovieMaker for now. I think that my needs will soon outgrow MovieMaker. That’s what seems to happen. I started out with Photostory, then went to MovieMaker, and now am looking at other software. It seems to be the logical step – baby steps. Baby steps are safe. If you had told me three years ago that I’d be working with professional audio equipment, I would have shrugged it off. But the baby steps taught me how to be comfortable, even when I got the mixing board (that I had NO business with).

I think I can still use the simple podcasting for my own use for test reviews and such, but I will still advise my students to use their notes and class assignments during the podcast.

I originally was going for podcasting information, but a session over a multi-media class grabbed my attention. It was presented by two teachers from Bridgeport High School. These teachers had started a bi-weekly tv show with their students, Focus. Oh my gosh! I was so excited leaving this session. This was exactly what I had envisioned as the end goal for my podcasting class. In fact, I was so excited that I started looking up video equipment as soon as I got home. I know, cart before the horse, but I was really excited!

The podcasting itself is still murky. We are still deciding whether or not to use iTunes, but I don’t know where the ideas are coming from. Last I heard, one person was unsure of using iTunes because he thought that would make the files only usable by people with iPods. In any case, we have another meeting. Keep your fingers crossed for a solution!

After the TCEA conference, I attended the TAAE conference and was surpised by recieving the TAAE’s Alternative Educator of the Year award! I was so exited and grateful. Of course, I was able to share lots of technology tips with other people. I love being able to share all the neat tricks and tips that I know. Know what I love even more? Getting new tricks and tips!

The two students interviewed him, and it went really well. D. did a GREAT job of talking to him and expanding questions when he needed to. Afterwards, Peggy Ekster came in to participate in a Q and A session with Dr. Cain. My students were AWESOME! They asked some great questions. I was so proud of them, and it was really nice to see Dr. Cain interact with the students. It just seemed like it was the bright point of his day.

They were so excited and invigorated by the whole experience that they want to interview Dr. Collins, a previous superintendent who is well known and loved in the district. I can hardly keep up with all of the projects they want to accomplish!

I am so angry with myself – I signed up for a MovieMaker class on Friday and totally forgot all about it on Saturday until I got the e-mail that I “failed” the course. I thought it was NEXT week. I really needed this for using the movies that we would make in class with Starboard and the Audacity files that we would record to explain the material. Grr. I guess I can try to figure it out myself – it seems pretty easy. I bet I could do it with our AL subscription.

One of my new students is ESL, so I’m *really* excited about having her in class. This could start to be that element that Aspiazu was hoping for – the ESL element. We can have bilingual podcasts now!

It was much, much shorter than I had anticipated (again, from lack of effort rather than lack of content), and so the students working on the podcast decided to condense it from a series to just one episode. Sigh.

I took three students who really had an interest in the class to work on it while the rest of the class worked on a script that I borrowed from the Apple conference so they could get practice working with the programs. They did most of the editing on it, and I have to say they did a pretty excellent job.

It was finished yesterday and I sent it over to the superintendent since we interviewed him for the project. I also stopped by Ann McMullan’s office who just happens to be the Executive Director of Educational Technology for the district. Even with the mistakes, she was impressed with what we did. We have finals next week, so I’m struggling with grades right now, but as soon as I get a chance, I’ll upload the file here.

I also need to get with the program and create a final exam podcast. This time, I’ll break them down into episodes. Wish me luck!

I think it’s because of lack of content rather my too high expectations. We’ll have to come back to this.

Also, I find that final drafts are much harder to come by. What I consider a rough draft is what the kids consider a final copy. That’s something that we will also revisit later.

I’m still trying to figure out a way to best publish these podcasts for a global audience. Any suggestions?

We started out the day with a lecture on why we need technology in the classroom and then the group was culled. Educators spent the day playing with products and IT spent the day learning how to implement the products.

I was shuffled off to a small room to learn about podcasts. I was the only teacher in the class – everyone else was a director or curriculum head. We started with the basics – what was a podcast. My heart sank to my stomach. This wasn’t what I had expected at all! Granted, I did get to play with Garageband, but even though I saw a few cool features, I didn’t see what all the hype was about. I did get an idea for how to integrate a geography lesson, though. I had read on the internet a few months back that Apple was considering selling a PC version of GarageBand. I found that suspicious, so I asked the presenter if she had heard of that. She quickly assured me that it wasn’t so, and told me that for the PC, “there is a program called AU-DA-CIT-TEEE. That’s what YOU will use instead of GARAGEBAND.” I grit my teeth, and suffered through the rest of the presentation sales pitch. I don’t think of myself as a quitter, and besides, I had to stay for the whole event if I wanted to get my parking validated.

The rest of the day was a blur. I got to learn about blogs and wikis <sarcasm>very insightful, I might add</sarcasm> and eat lunch. The most exciting part of the whole day was when the fire alarm went off and the presenter kept right on talking! “Just ignore the loud blaring alarm and flashing lights – the hotel assured us that there is no fire.” Gee, thanks.

At least my parking was validated.

We are going to break it down into the following sections:
1. What is Vistas?
2. What kind of students go to Vistas
3. What does a typical classroom look like?
4. What does a typical day at Vistas look like?
5. My Vistas experience (personal stories about the school)

Each student has a partner, and will write about 1-2 minutes of information about the topic. They will all participate and write, but I will take volunteers for actual recording part.

For whatever reason, my external hard drive does work on school computers. It works just fine on my laptop at home and my desktop at home. I’m still buying a new external hard drive, however. 320GB, baby! I figured that with all of the sound files I’ve been collection, I’ll need a bigger storage device eventually.

Today, my students used the LMS discussion board to listen to the musical selections that they chose last week. Each student found a copyright free song that they thought represented Vistas, and they uploaded it to the discussion board with their reasons for choosing it. They then had to listen to everyone else’s song and make a comment about each of them.

Thursday and Friday will be spent writing a script for their segment of the Getting to Know Vistas podcast. I plan on having them record on Monday and Tuesday. I still don’t know how I’ll set that up. I think that each group might need one full day working in the studio, so that means that I’ll have to come up with some kind of stations activitiy for next week.

1. Record the podcast and edit in the audio.
2. Fill out a Podcast Rubric for a peer’s podcast.
3. Blog about their experiences with podcasting so far.
4. ???
5. ???

I’ll figure something out. If you have any ideas, please post them! I am hoping that I can get the rest of my final exams figured out today, otherwise I’ll be doing a test review the traditional way. At least I have a back-up plan!

We are still working with PBWiki and the settings with Lightspeed. I will be a little frustrated if this site doesn’t go through – one of the main benefits I see in technology and this podcasting class is that we can connect with the community. The community doesn’t know much about us, and what they do know is often incorrect. Same thing with other educators in the district. I want the community to see how amazing the school is, and that we do learn, and that our students defy their expectations.

For the test review, I have decided to keep the script format, but break it down into sections with commercials, just so I can give the kids a break. In the future, the kids will create their own commercials, but for now, I’m doing it. I had high hopes for this. I’ll update later when I know more.

The good news is that with or without a podcaster/podcatcher, my students are going to start working on the first *really real* podcast. It will be an informational series about our school. Each student has paired up with another student to work on a segment.

The segments are:
What is Vistas?
What kind of students go to Vistas?
What does a typical classroom at Vistas look like?
What does a typical day at Vistas look like?
My Vistas experiences – interview a graduate, a student, a parent, and someone who wants to come to Vistas.

They are so excited! And secretly, so am I!