My First Time Podcasting

My first podcast was on a topic important to me, and that was Technology in the Science classroom.  I knew I wanted to cover this topic but was unsure what angle I wanted to take.  Then I was able to find this great article about the most important technologies every science classroom should have.  This really gave me some great ideas while introducing me to new and creative technologies I didn't even know existed.  The best part was the author included that her students had helped her make the list and she listed ways in which she utilized them.

This really kickstarted my brain and I began to realize how many great technologies are out there, and better yet, technologies that are not intimidating to use or hard to implement.  That was perhaps my favorite part about the list, and I echoed this in my podcast.  These technologies are things that fit into curriculum you are already teaching today.  It's not going to add more of a headache or make things more difficult, in fact it's going to simplify things.

I spent quite a bit of time on this podcast.  I was pretty familiar with GarageBand as I use it to record music but I was a little unfamiliar with the podcast side of it.  I recorded no less than 10 times trying to get a good take.  I think doing it in one take creates more a flow in your voice, than if you were to edit, cut and paste snippets together.  At least for what I was trying to accomplish, I felt I wanted it in one take.  Then I spent a little time finding the correct music for the lead in and lead out.  I wanted something organic, being a science teacher, so I chose I simple acoustic guitar riff.  Finally, I'll admit to not being a fan of sound effects.  In this case I thought it detracted from the professionalism of the podcast and added a silliness to it that I wasn't really going for.  Nonetheless I found an electric current sound that fit perfectly into the bit about measuring things (including electric current) using Probeware in your classroom.  I thought it fit well but am still not sure of it.

I think podcasting could be something I utilize in my classroom, especially after finally making one firsthand.  It's not terribly difficult and I think students could benefit from it, even I just made some for review and things like that.  Anything that can help my students succeed is something worth investigating so I'm keeping this one in my back pocket.

Here's the link to the source I used!
6 Essential Tools for the Science Classroom