Book Review Podcasting Project

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Carolyn Foote on April 22, 2007 at 6:21pm

Thanks for sharing this. We were considering a project like this in our district for next fall, so I'm eager to see what you all are doing!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Steve Hargadon on April 23, 2007 at 7:36am

I forgot to tell you that I played clips of two of the book reviews at my presentation on Saturday. :) One from the 8th grade review of Jane Eyre, and one from the 1st grade review of Hop on Pop. People love it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Ash on April 23, 2007 at 9:53am

This is a great idea, and I hope to do something similar when I have a classroom of my own. I am preparing to record podcasts of young adult "Booktalks" for the UALR website in the next few weeks. A Booktalk is not a review, but a short, exciting description of a book with a similar aim as your reviews. Thanks for your resources; I am a newbie with podcasting, so all tips are appreciated.

Way to go!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kim Cofino on April 29, 2007 at 7:50pm

Thank you for sharing this! I'm hoping to do exactly the same thing next year when I switch positions from IT Facilitator to 21st Century Literacy specialist - this is the perfect first project! Let me know if you want to collaborate with our students and teachers in Bangkok :)

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Alice Mercer on April 29, 2007 at 9:17pm

I don't have book reviews that are scripted, but instead we have discussions about our reading anthology selections. The discussions are usually more interesting than the stories, lol. If you're interested they can be found on my podcast page at: http://nicholasfifth.edublogs.org/podcasts. They are listed as discussions.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tcoffey on May 9, 2007 at 5:05am

Elizabeth,
Very nice! I've been trying to get something similar together for my schools. Right now I'm using edublogs because of the way it handles mp3s and also slide shows, it's searchable by tags, and people can add comments. I'm having a hard time getting my librarians on board...so I just moved to teachers and started posting any type of digital book report. Are you doing all the work on your project, or have you found a way to get your librarians and teachers to buy into it too?
Tina
http://eastbooks.edublogs.org/
http://gwcbooktalks.edublogs.org/

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Davis on May 9, 2007 at 6:02am

Your site looks great. Thanks for sharing it. How much work is it to post the book reviews? I really like that it is searchable and I like your categories, but I have a lot of book reviews (more than 100) would it take me forever to switch to edublogs? Right now I'm hosting them on our web server and just using a web page to link to them. It isn't as pretty, but it works. Also, is it ok to post the book covers? I haven't done it because I thought I would have copyright issues.

I do have my librarian on board which is nice. We have worked together to introduce the project and she has the Website open in the library so kids can listen when they are looking for a book. We are also planning to create a display with some of the featured books so they will be easy to find.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by tcoffey on May 10, 2007 at 9:10pm

Elizabeth,
You know, I probably should do a little research on the book cover thing. I got most of them off library thing...where they allow users to upload covers. But I'm not positive that it's okay.

And...you don't have to move your files. In edublogs, if you link to an mp3 file and save the post, the link automatically changes to the player you see in mine. All my mp3 files are hosted on the school server....they're just links on the blog.

It would take a ton of time, though for you to switch that many reviews and I don't think it's necessary...I love what you have!

Glad to hear you're getting support from your librarian!
Tina

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Connie Weber on May 9, 2007 at 6:52am

wow Elizabeth...Magnificent!!! What a superb website for us to bookmark and share here at Emerson. You are providing a dynamic and inspirational resource. Thank you, thank you!
Just loved hearing the kids' voices, and seeing how you've set up the program. Thinking skills to the MAX! Please tell your school's students how much we appreciate the work they are doing!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Davis on May 11, 2007 at 5:48pm

Thanks Connie. I'm glad you enjoyed them.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Skip Zilla on May 9, 2007 at 7:29am

Elizabeth,
How long did it take for you to move from your initial exposure to podcasting, through anticipation of how you might incorporate it in your school's curriculum, to actually producing children's podcasts? Can you briefly tell the "story" of how it happened?
Skip

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Elizabeth Davis on May 11, 2007 at 5:48pm

Hi Skip,
I came up with this idea last summer after seeing Will Richardson at the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston and reading his book. I work in a K-8 school and I felt like it was the kind of project that could engage everyone - those are hard to find. I started one grade at a time. My goal was to have at least one class from each grade make a podcast (we have 2-3 classes per grade and about 400 students). The biggest obstacle we faced was not having noise cancelling microphones. That slowed us down a lot, because we could only record a few podcasts at a time. I wrote and recieved a grant from MassCUE to buy headphones with mics. That helped a lot. I'm not going to make my goal, but I've made a lot of progress. I have at least one teacher from each grade onboard, but it is just taking us time to make it happen. Fortunately, it isn't a time sensitive project. There is always next year and the next year after that. I guess we are only limited by our server space, my energy and my attention span.

▶ Reply to This

• 1
• 2