QUICK TIPS Elementary school through high school Another great feature about Pod- casts is that they can be subscribed to using a tool called an RSS feed. Whenever you make an updated Pod- cast, your subscribers automatically get that information. Why Podcast? There are a number of excellent reasons for using Podcasting. Teacher- made audio Podcasts (and “enhanced Podcasts,” which include visuals or video clips) can be used in any content area for instruction and review. Some teachers have begun to record them- selves teaching important concepts; this creates an archive of information online for kids to access when they’re stuck on a homework assignment. Podcasts also make a superb student project. Kids—particularly primary-age kids—can often explain something aloud more fluently than they can write about it. An “inter- From booktalks to student projects to professional view” type of Podcast can elicit all resources, Podcasts are a fun and effective way to reach kinds of details about a subject that and engage wider audiences. By Anne-Marie Gordon kids have assimilated, but for which there is no space on that graphic or- ganizer. The writing process can be an ecently a group of second- What Is a Podcast? integral part of Podcasting, though. graders visited our school library Creating a script for the Podcast can The term Podcast refers to an audio Rto work on a “holidays around actually take more time than record- recording, linked to the Web, that the world” project. The children ing it. Having kids write a script, created pictures showing holiday can be downloaded to a personal practice reading it, and perform it customs and then created voice MP3 player. The word is created from gives them three chances to learn the recordings explaining what they drew. broadcast and from iPod—the wildly information they’re presenting. About a week later, the class returned popular MP3 player from Apple. Audio and video files can also func- to the library to show off their “expert Using audio with students isn’t tion as assessment tools. Imagine being projects.” Angela went up to the com- new, of course. Teachers have used a classroom teacher in September who puter and started her presentation. audiobooks at listening centers and can actually hear how his or her stu- After she clicked on the screen to start recorded student voices on tape or dents were reading in June the school the playback of her voice, I realized CD for many years. Voice and music year before. Some school districts that she was saying something under are the original media for teaching. have begun to create digital portfolios her breath. I was close enough to hear Podcasts, however, can reach a much of students’ work because audio and as she recited, word for word, what wider audience in a time frame outside video files help provide a deeper un- she had recorded the week before. the boundaries of the school day. With derstanding of a student’s progress. I don’t know how long Angela will a video Podcast, kids can watch as a Podcasts make a great tool for com- remember her presentation word for teacher demostrates an example of long munication with parents. Many edu- word. But the incident showed very division. Families can hear from home cators send home a weekly newsletter clearly the effectiveness of student- what students are working on at school. with reminders, news about upcom- created voice recordings. Now imag- Other classrooms, other schools, can ing projects, and so on. Now imagine ine taking things one step further listen in. The whole school district, an audio newsletter. A child who lost and creating Podcasts in a classroom the whole state, the whole world can a tooth on Monday can report it him- setting. become potential listeners. or herself; middle-school students can 16 Book Links September 2007 www.ala.org/booklinks explain about their Red Cross baby- who was very knowledgeable about sitter training; a high-schooler can endangered animals—he was able to remind families that yearbook money speak off the cuff for several minutes is due on Monday. about tigers. All kids have a passion For extensive links to Podcasting There’s a whole slew of Podcasts that they would be more than happy software and online “how-to” help, as aimed at the professional teacher and to share with the world. well as not-to-be-missed Podcasts for a library media specialist. Not surpris- K–8 audience, visit the Book Links Web ingly, many are about technology But I Don’t Have an iPod! site at http://www.ala.org/BookLinks integration, but there are plenty of content-area Podcasts as well. Pod- You don’t need one to make a Pod- casts such as “ESL Teacher Talk,” the cast. If you have a computer, a micro- Recording Your Podcast “Tech Teacher Podcast,” and David phone, and some free software, you Warlick’s “Connect Learning Podcast” can make a Podcast. While an MP3 In order to share your podcast with provide professional news on the go. player is a popular and useful gadget, the world, you need a computer (See “Web Connections” sidebar for your audience doesn’t need MP3 play- connected to the Internet and a mi- links to these Podcasts.) ers to listen, either: your students and crophone. An inexpensive desktop Web sites like LibriVox provide their families can use the computer microphone works just fine. There are audio recordings of literature in the to play back what you’ve recorded. some on the market for less than $10, public domain that kids can carry Most computers today already have while a more expensive headset with around on their MP3 players. Stu- software that will play back an audio an attached microphone helps cancel dents can create their own recordings, file. Apple’s extremely popular iTunes out background noise. One student too. They can retell traditional tales program is a free download. You can told me she loved the headset because and fables or create original works. even put student Podcasts on audio she felt “just like Hannah Montana” Young storytellers and poets will CDs for families that don’t have com- when using it. enjoy hearing themselves read their puters at home. If you use Windows, a great audio creations, and so will their parents. Booktalking, a traditional way of getting kids excited about books, gets a tech boost with Podcasting. Have a fabulous booktalk that sends kids +“Offers something solid for children, especially scrambling to the shelves for the book? those studying early American history.” —Starred, Booklist A Podcast is a great way to share it with a wider audience. Students can do some booktalking themselves: book "//& )65$)*/40/­48": review Podcasts seem to be another Jeannine Atkins • Pictures by Michael Dooling natural way for students to share what they know, providing an alternative to “Atkins offers a beautifully the traditional book report. produced and constructed Making a Podcast with kids is just fictionalized tale . told plain fun. Students enjoy an opportu- from the point of view of nity to talk about their interests and Susanna, Hutchinson’s hobbies. I interviewed a third-grader youngest child . Dooling’s last year for our “Sound Off!” Podcast full-bleed illustrations are fully imagined . Atkins tells a complex Podcasting Resources story of faith and freedom with clarity u Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and and strength.” Other Powerful Web Tools for —Kirkus Reviews Classrooms. By Will Richardson. 2006. 168p. Corwin, $61.95 (9781412927666); paper, $27.95 (9781412927673). u KidCast: Podcasting in the Class- $17.00 / 978-0-374-30365-5 / Ages 8 up / Afterword room. By Dan Schmit. 2007. 156p. FARRAR • STRAUS • GIROUX FTC, paper, $29.95. www.fsgkidsbooks.com www.ala.org/booklinks September 2007 Book Links 17 A Podcast with a Reading Mission By Sonja Cole confess I had never heard of video Podcasts before spring 2006, depending on what I’m reading. We use a basic consumer camera I so when my friend Paul Kim said, “Let’s start a video blog,” I didn’t and tripod. Shining spotlights on my face helps control the shadows, have a clue what he was talking about. But as soon as I caught on, I and using a microphone really improves the sound quality. If I’m going immediately thought booktalks! on a trip, I plan a booktalk to fit that setting. Summer vacation in Together Paul and I launched Bookwink, a video booktalk Web Montauk, Long Island, was the natural place to shoot a “Sharks” video. site for kids. Our mission is to inspire kids to read, using a medium And a friend’s wedding in Hawaii was the perfect excuse to shoot a that they already recognize and respond to: online video. The hope is “Volcanoes” video. that each booktalk will be a hook that gets kids excited about There are definitely challenges involved in being in front of the reading. camera. At first, I thought it would be just like booktalking As a school librarian, I have seen firsthand the in front of kids. Wrong! When I booktalk for a live effectiveness of booktalks. Kids just clamor for audience, I don’t write out what I will say. I summarize books after hearing about them. What excites me the conflict of the book, and then I can feed off the most about creating online video is the idea that we responses of an energetic audience to know if I’ve can reach kids all over the world. To think that I can hooked them. When filming a video, that little camera help promote reading to millions of kids instead of just lens gives me no energy to feed off of.