Very much enjoyed the combination of learning and reflecting, and I look at my blog with a combination of astonishment and pride.

Obviously, I stand at the threshold and am barely a neophyte since I haven’t tried any of these things I’ve only read and written about.

There will be disappointment. There will be exhilaration.

Kudos to the course creators.

Now let’s just hope that we don’t run out of energy and that there’s electricity left to power the internet.

Here it is. I think I need to speak up next time. Hope you can hear it.

It’s a start. I liked the list of “uses” on the Evoca website. Of course, now I can’t find it. So why am I writing about it? Who knows! Maybe you’ll be able to find it.

Anyway, it inspired some ideas related to my newspaper class and the blog we’re hoping to start. Audio segments of interviews, interviews with athletes before or after games and actors before or after performances. Man on the street interviews and roundtable discussions (“OK, I’m sitting here with x, y, and j at lunch and we’re talking about school uniforms…”) Obviously there could be problems with people not wanting to be recorded, or wanting some control over editing, but my guess is many would be very interested. Goofballs might come out of the woodwork, but we might also get people really excited to hear the voices and sounds of Lovett life. And to be able to use the cellphone!!! Awesome.

At school, I’ve used podcasts in a few ways, none too exotic. I’ve played some This American Life segments that connected with a book or story we were reading or that I thought would help inspire ideas for writing (for example, they’d listen to a particularly detailed personal essay with strong voice and we’d deconstruct it). I’ve also made listening to a podcast an option for my outside “reading” choice project. I’m particularly proud of the fact that several of my students are subscribers to TAL and Radiolab now. I also added it to the multi-genre theme project as one of the required sources. I haven’t gone further than that, either by making my own podcasts or requiring my students to.

But after checking out some of the Thing 17 resources, I’ve got a few ideas…

1) As part of my This I Believe assignment (adapted from NPR), I’m going to have students record their essays. Now, I’m not sure if that really counts as podcasting if they’re simply recording their piece. Is a “one-off” podcast a podcast? How would a subscription fit in? I suppose as each student uploads a piece, it could download to students who have subscribed. Either way, I like the idea of students leaving feedback for each other. Maybe this would work better with voicethread, where students could read their essays and then classmates could add their thoughts and personal experiences related to the topic. This could work with other short written pieces they create during the year.

2) I’m interested in the Librivox short story podcasts and others like them. Could certainly be a choice on the outside project list, or an occasional required assignment to listen to a short story or poem. Of course, I did listen to the beginning of one and the narrator sounded like he had been anesthetized. That would be a sure way to annoy teenagers. I assume some are better than others. But the overall point is that they’re listening. Great for auditory learners and the rest of us, too.

3) Require them to become This American Life subscribers/fans? Hmmm. Perhaps that defeats the point of all this “the Web is about choice” stuff.

4) If I add it to the outside projects list and have the students work in pairs or small groups this year, they could listen and then blog or create a communal wiki page about the podcast or just have a plain old fashioned discussion.

5) I liked the grammar girl podcasts I listened to. Not sure how to incorporate them since they’re pretty random. But they’re a resource, and, who knows, maybe they’d become a required listen. It also occurs to me with all of this that the point is to help students understand what’s out there. (That’s part of the point of my outside project choices assignment.) Some will become fans of this podcast or blog. Some of others.

6) As far as putting my own voice out there, I could see similar reasons for blogging as podcasting. For giving updates, for sharing thoughts about assignments and topics, for sharing examples of work. I suppose it could be quicker sometimes to podcast. Less formal? I’d feel pressure to make the written content “perfect,” whereas with a podcast I might just riff on an idea or add an addendum to an assignment informally, colloquially. Still, I don’t see creating my own regular podcast rising to the top of the list of Web 2.0 stuff I try. I’m more likely to blog, since it can be read by the students and since I could use it not only as way to share class related ideas and info, but also as a way to share thoughts and anecdotes that I might record in a journal. In terms of podcasts, 1 – 5 on the list are more likely.