:emergent learning

I found an interesting podcast from the folks at HowStuffWorks called Stuff You Missed in History Class. It is a selection of interesting podcasts about popular history topics.  I like these for a few reasons.  The topics are diverse so it would be easy for a student to find something of interest.  These are simply stories.  Good history is really just telling compelling stories we can all relate to.  It’s not about the dates and battles and leaders.  What students find interesting are the stories.  When I find a good story in history I tell it and I have no problem keeping their attention for the ten minutes I use.  The podcast Stuff You Missed in History Class fits in very nicely with what I am doing in U.S. history and world history.  They ask questions like “How did Rasputin really die?” or “Why is there an underground city beneath Beijing?”.  I like questions because it really is mystery that draws us to history.  We ask questions and the questions get answered.

I plan on using this podcast series in my classroom by having students subscribe to the podcast, listen to the podcast and then answer the writing prompts I put on my class wiki.  The second use of the podcast is by encouraging students to use one of the topics as a launch point for other projects in class, like expert reports or multimedia group projects.

I currently use many TED talks (video podcasting) in my psychology and sociology classes because they are great discussion starters that lead us into deeper learning of content.  This week we used the Siftables talk.

In the course I found a couple of resources that have been helpful.  The first is the Education Podcast Network and the second is Apple itself.  I found a lesson plan for creating your own oral history as a student.

I will be collaborating much more with a friend of mine in South Carolina who wrote a grant for an ipod lab and actually uses ipods caily in his world history classroom.  I am increasingly interested in podcasting since the tools are free and cost of the hardware keeps coming down.

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