Teaching Strategies and Ideas to incorporate the use of Podcasting or Audio in the classroom

• Junior/Intermediate students create a public service announcement (PSA) to raise awareness, change student attitudes and behavior towards a social issue.  For example, create a PSA to persuade your peers away from smoking, or recreational drugs. Include strategies for dealing with peer pressure. Students can byod for this assignment, any portable iPad or iPod or iPhone will do.
   
• Junior/Intermediate students create a podcast discussing a recent natural disaster from around the world. Discuss how the natural disaster impacts the surrounding area and efforts to recover from the wreckage. Students can byod for this assignment, any portable iPad or iPod or iPhone will do.
   
   
  
   
• Junior/Intermediate students learn about Radio Dramas and write their own in groups.  Topics can be based on the Social Studies/History Curriculum such as First Nations Peoples and Explorers or Settling in New France. They record their performance using success criteria based on what makes a good audio sketch.  Students must consider how to use their voice effectively to convey meaning and how to help the audience understand the setting. Success criteria for the accuracy of historical events and setting can also be included. Go to Voicethread.com. Click here for a link to Ontario's Social Studies Curriculum document.

• Primary/Junior students record themselves reading a short text for later assessment by the teacher. Can also be used for self-assessment and student-teacher conferences to discuss reading goals and reading strategies. SoundCloud would be great for this.
   
   

 

• Kindergarten students create a podcast about a typical day at school to share with their parents and guardians.  A teacher or older student/volunteer can prompt the children to talk about one new friend, their favorite learning center, routines for entering and exiting the classroom and a topic of their choice.  Students and parents can listen to each child’s recording.   Use Vocaroo for this task  http://vocaroo.com/