Method 11--The Wide World of Podcasting

The title of this step is very appropriate because the world of podcasting is a wide world. I knew about podcasting—I’ve even created one (see previous posting)—but I had no idea how many topics are covered or how easy podcasts are to access. I found lots that would be useful to me as a librarian, useful for my students, or just fun.

I looked at a lot of the podcast sites mentioned in the Dozen Ways lecture notes, but mostly at iTunes, since I already had it downloaded onto my computer. I had never even looked at the podcast store before. I found lots of things that look like they will be interesting and useful. There were several that I thought would be good for the students at my school. I especially liked the podcasts that are about vocabulary development. Since these students will be taking the PSAT, SAT, and/or ACT before too long, anything that will improve their vocabulary is a good thing.

Two of the podcasts that I looked at were called A Way with Words and Just Vocabulary. Both of them had good information, but the podcasts were long and would take so much time that not many students would be willing or able to devote that much time to them.

The podcast that I think would be most useful for my students is called Podictionary. It talks about word meanings and origins. The podcasts are short and entertaining, and there is a website with the script for each day’s episode. Podictionary is also available on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and YouTube. The only negative is that the podcasts are sponsored, so there is a commercial in each one, as well as on the website, but it is not really too disruptive.

Click on the icon below to see the Podictionary website.

Ideas from several places came together in my head last week and I decided to investigate the possibility of posting podcasts on my library website. My principal agreed that it is worth looking into. I want to collaborate with the speech/drama teacher and the business (computer) teacher to have students create podcasts of booktalks about books that they would like to recommend to other students. I think that word-of-mouth would be an excellent way to advertise the library’s collection.