Today was another great day spent learning about the tools that are available to assist teachers and librarians in the neverending quest to make learning relevant, memorable, and lasting. We took a look at the great resources that are provided through the GADOE for the Georgia Performance Standards. One resource, Learning Village is available by subscription and has some interesting and fun games as well as ready made teaching resources (handouts). Also accessible through the Georgia DOE website are additional resources that target school librarians. Judy Serritella keeps school librarians up to date on important news and events related to libraries. She has a set of training videos (Institute for New Media Specialists Webcasts) on the web and also a handy Media Newsletter template. From her website under Curriculum and Instructional Services) you can get to the Georgia Read More videos, the AASL 21st Century Learner Standards –Information literacy skills– and many other very useful resources for librarians. One other thing to check out is the listserv — Join the GaDOE Media listserv
Moving on to the next topic we worked on podcasts. Everyone was taken through the steps, 1-2-3-4 and ta- da! We had created our very own podcast. To create your podcast you need very little equipment and free downloadable software. Equipment includes a computer connected to the Internet, Audacity, a LAME file on the computer (also downloadable for free), and a simple headset with microphone. A prepared script is helpful and keeps you on target for recording the podcast. Open Audacity, record your podcast, save the project, then export the file as an MP3 (this is where the LAME file is needed). Some ideas suggested for using the podcasts were book reviews, culminating unit projects, instructional assistance, and even test prep.
Some resources to help with podcasts:
Podcasting with Audacity: Creating a Podcast With Free Audio Software | Page 4 – webreference.com
LAME File Must have this file on the same computer as the Audacity files.
Music (look under jamendo):
Creative Commons Search
How you can use podcasts in the classroom:
Tony Vincent’s Learning in Hand – Home
Last we checked out Thinkfinity. This is another great resource available from the GADOE website. Corporate sponsors (Verizon and others) support and provide teaching resources from this site. It is a great location for lesson plans and activities that are already correlated to the state standards. Check it out!
