Vocaroo and Blog Post 5

Podcast comments (KPE of Auckland, New Zealand):

"No More Moas" by Duncan Scott I really enjoyed this podcast! I loved the added animation and photos of the students sharing the book. I learned what a Moa was and how they went extinct 500 years ago. I also remembered after watching the podcast that the Moa was featured on a TV show I watched this year called "Destination Truth" on the Syfy channel! It's such a small world, it really is. The students did a great job describing the book in a very clear way, that anyone could understand outside of New Zealand. Their accent is one that is very heavy, and is sometimes spoken in a way that is mumbled, making it one that can be hard to translate. This podcast was done very well, and the story shared was very interesting.

"How the Kumara came to Aotearoa"

This one was a bit harder to understand. I got that this book was also about a bird, but I really had to rely more on the pictures in this podcast. Again, I state that the animations are a big help, and I believe they would be a great way to help in motivating students to watch podcasts of all types.

"Duster" This was another well done podcast! The girls were better at annunciation, and therefore I was able to understand the podcast better. I believe it is very important for clarity of words when creating a podcast even if video is available in case there is a problem after publishing. If nothing works but the audio after publishing, a student listening would be able to clearly hear what is going on in the podcast. I really enjoyed the story of "Duster" and the pictures included were great!

"Getting Board" These kids have all produced such interesting and cool podcast! The photos are great because I feel like I know them after watching each one. I really enjoyed the images from David Hill's book "Getting Board" because they reminded me of the way Roald Dahl illustrates his books. This story was very cute and would be one that I would recommend to my students at this reading level.

"The Archway Arrow" This podcast was another one that was hard to understand without the pictures. It seems that the girls in the New Zealand 5 year class had a harder time enunciating in a way that the podcast came out clear enough for anyone to fully understand the broadcast. The pictures truly helped me to get the full timeline of events in the story. All of these podcast, however, were very fun to watch and would be a great way to encourage a class to read then share their book over a podcast!

Smartboards:
http://interactivewhiteboards.blogspot.com/ This was the blog I found that seemed to be pro-smartboards. I really have only heard good things about interactive white boards up until this assignment. I love that technology is being used in the classrooms, and I disagree with The Innovative Educator Blog because I feel like technology and spending money on it is what it is going to take to get our students to learn these days. It is very unfortunate, don't get me wrong, but it is what we as teachers have to face today. As technology moves forward growing more and more popular by the SECOND, even us teachers have to accept the newest gadgets. As far as I'm concerned I love the smartboards because they are a way to get students' attention. "hey kids look at this...isn't this neat?". The smartboard and Prometheus boards can do so much, and come with so much pre-loaded teacher friendly stuff that I only see it as a perk, and a great addition to any classroom. I also disagree with Why I Hate Interactive Whiteboards. I feel very strongly that buying an interactive whiteboard is just as bad as going out and buying a whole schlew of computers for your classroom, only to then have to worry about regulating what students watch, wonder if you bought the right ones, and worry about how much money you spent! If a teacher just buys an interactive whiteboard, then the class can rely on the teacher to access the podcast, and class-oriented/appropriate websites and be worry-free. Now, also an interactive whiteboard is going to be like any other developing technological product; by this I mean they are going to have bugs, glitches, and won't be what every teacher wants it to be, until the newer model comes out. But, let's face it, technology develops in this way everywhere!! Look at the iPod, it started big and bulky, then went smaller, and again smaller, then bigger again, then skinny, then touch screen, and then finally turned into a PAD and/or a PHONE! Technology changes so fast that I feel like it is unfair to judge a product until either improvements are made to it (which seems like a sure thing to happen), or until another product is designed to replace it.

C4T comment: I'm hesitant to comment on this day's post, because I am some what uncertain as to what is the goal of the discoveries you post. I know that today's post was about a science web-site, but are these discoveries one's that you hope to have your students use, or ones that will be used by you? I did however enjoy the 25 apps to boost your productivity site. I'm always in need of help in that field. I do say I love that you share so many different websites in one day's post, it's nice to have a variety. Please be sure to check out my blog for my EDM310 class through the University of South Alabama on June 30th.

Chipper and Dummies: These movies were very fun to watch! Chipper made me laugh because I have sometimes felt the same way as she did since the beginning of the class, but I have pushed through it. EDM for Dummies was funny too, but honestly I have learned quite a large amount of information on my own; so much that it even surprised me! I am really enjoying the class, and if I were to make a movie I would want to do it about the positive side of the way this class is taught.