Podcasting is yet another tool that can be wonderfully useful in the classroom. Of the many roles it can play, I believe that students being able to plan, collaborate and record their own podcast is the most useful. Instead of finding one episode that I would use, I discovered a teacher whose classroom who posted podcasts from multiple students. These podcasts consist of the students reading poetry with expression. The students selected poems, illustrated them, and recorded them as podcasts. I selected these podcasts mostly because they could be included in a poetry unit. I would play a different poem for my class each day and begin a discussion on its meaning and poetic elements. Also, since I'm in the literacy specialist program, fluency is one of the main goals of reading. These students reading their chosen poems with expression is a great way to work on fluency. At the end of the poetry unit, I would have my students do a similar project. I would first have them select a poem, practice reading it fluently, and record it as a podcast. Once they got the hang of it, I would have them compose their own and record it with illustrations. This idea could be adapted for older students as well!
Poetry Podcast
