Podcast Reflection

EDUC 5313 Podcast Reflection

https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/moe819/episodes/STEM-in-Session-e28rf50

Working on this podcast has been an incredible experience. I have always enjoyed listening to podcasts while in the car. My husband and I currently listen to one created by Sam Harris, which discusses mindfulness and many others, while we go for weekend drives. Our ten-year-old also enjoys listening to them with us. Getting to the store is about an hour's drive, creating a fantastic family discussion. As much as I have always loved listening to or even being recorded for national podcasts, I have never thought about starting one or implementing this concept in my classroom. This week’s assignment opens some ideas for me as a fifth-grade teacher. 

The Oklahoma State Department of Education is currently working on ways to help rural schoolteachers develop effective practices for PLC meetings. They recently contacted me to learn how my school functions and create successful meetings to review data. We have some wonderful ideas in place that work for my school, but it is different as I move up to fifth grade and am the only science and social studies teacher. I work with the math and ELA teachers, but it is very different from when I worked with my third-grade team, and we were all teaching the same subjects all day and could collaborate weekly. A podcast developed by the state department for these subject areas can fill the void of being the only teacher in the district for a grade level. It could open some unique thoughts as a teacher works on their pacing guide and monitors the classroom status. They are also looking for ideas on a platform where teachers can learn how to help English learner students. I have recommended the use of a podcast to assist with this. It would be bite-size professional development that teachers could quickly gain insight and ideas to bring back to their classrooms and lessons. There could also be a place where documents, resources, and websites could be accessed if a teacher wants to get more information or use an activity mentioned in the podcast. 

The content standard addressed in this podcast comes from the Oklahoma State Standards. Our team reflected on standard 7.N.1, where students are asked to work with rational numbers represented as integers, fractions, and decimals (ODE, 2022). Our podcast discussed how a teacher can use many hands-on activities and bring in robotics and STEM to help develop this standard with students. Robotics programming and coding require students to understand fractions and decimals. They need to understand the concept of an integer to program the robot to move in a specific direction based on negative or positive numbers. They also need to, in turn, relate it to measurements for the robot as to how far it will move during this programming or how many rotations the wheels will make. 

We also discussed the ISTE standard 1.d through our discussion of robotics and how it asks students to demonstrate the ability to decide which technology piece they will use, how to use it, and then troubleshoot any issues they may have (ISTE, 2017, p. 4). They are then expected to transfer this knowledge and ability to new technologies. In ISTE standard 2.2 for empowered professionals, teachers are expected to seek professional development and leadership opportunities to help support students and improve their teaching and learning in the classroom (ISTE, 2019, p. 5). So many standards are supported by this podcast creation and bringing STEM and robotics into the classroom. 

We used Spotify for Podcasters and found that it was a very user-friendly application to work with. This is very helpful when working with younger children. I would have to check with my district to make sure podcasts are allowed as a tool for students to create, but this could be an excellent way for students to show a final understanding of a learning target. This would be possible for fifth graders to work with as a platform, but there would need to be a great deal of scaffolding and content monitoring. I see students engaged in an activity where they create a podcast to showcase what they have learned, especially if it will be shared with others. I also liked that we could record separately and combine all the pieces. I could have students record themselves for a group podcast and then help them piece it together. This was an essential feature when creating this podcast with Natasha. She lives in the British Virgin Islands, and thus, the internet did not allow for clear conversations, but she could record her pieces and send them to the group for the final product. This also allowed her to practice what she would say to execute her words in a manner that could be clearly understood. It truly gave her a confident voice in the conversation. Thinking about how easy it was to collaborate with someone in another country, I am excited about the possibility of my students creating something like this with peers or experts from around the globe. 

References

International Society for Technology in Education. (2017).  ISTE Standards for Students: A practical guide for learning with technology. ISTE

ISTE standards: Educators. ISTE. (2016). https://www.iste.org/standards/iste-standards-for-teachers 

Oklahoma Department of Education. (2022). 2022 7th grade objective analysis. OKMath Framework. http://okmathframework.pbworks.com/w/page/152310933/2022%207th%20Grade%20Objective%20Analysis