My response to the teacher would be, “I’d love to help!” Part of my job as a Media specialist is to collaborate with teachers. If I tell the teacher I don’t know anything about podcasting & am not willing to find anything out, it will send a negative image to the teacher. That teacher will not see me as helpful and most likely will not want to collaborate in the future on other activities.
Even if I don’t know much I can find at least the basic and necessary information. This will build the relationship between the teacher and myself. If this becomes a positive experience for that teacher they could tell other teachers and that would be a good way to get my foot into the collaboration door. I would offer what knowledge I do have and encourage the teachers efforts to bring new technologies into the classroom. If I know a teacher with a lot of background in podcasting I would send the teacher to who can help best & may even go along so I can learn.
Podcasting is not a resource used by my elementary school. Teachers could use podcasting in place of a weekly paper newsletters. In the newsletter teachers talk about current and upcoming units, events going on at the school, things students should be working on weekly like addition, multiplication, etc. This might make some parents more connected with the teacher if they can see them weekly.
Before the year starts the teachers can post a podcast about themselves for those parents that aren’t able to come to open house on their staff page on the school website. Many of our parents check the teachers webpage as soon as they find out their teachers child’s teacher.
Students could create a podcast to show what they've learned from completing a research project.
The teacher can record students doing a play and post on their school webpage for those parents to watch that couldn’t attend.
Students can create a book review via podcast. If the whole class reads a book, the teacher can have every student create a review & then compare and contrast the reviews.
Using podcast when teaching the voice trait could enhance what you’re trying to convey. The teacher can read similar papers, one with good voice and the other without. Students should be able to hear the difference.
