I've been working on a book review podcasting project with kids in my school K-8. Students are writing book reviews scripts, recording them and then I post them on our Website. I am hoping to create a book review database that kids can go to when they are looking for a good book to read. So far students in 1st, 2nd, 7th and 8th grades have recorded their podcasts. My 3rd graders are almost done. It has been a great project because it really works at multiple grade levels.

I have uploaded a lot of podcasting resources to our Website and I welcome book review podcast from you and/or your students, if you would like to send them to me. I am hoping to make this a reading resource for kids around the world.

Tags: podcasting, Podcasting

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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!
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.
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!
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 :)
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.
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/
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.
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
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!
Thanks Connie. I'm glad you enjoyed them.
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.
Hi Elizabeth. I am a Middle School computer tech teacher (Ohio) who has been wanting to add Podcasting into my curriculum. I just wasn't sure the best way to teach it as I am no expert on this topic, but your online Tutorial and lessons were GREAT! I finally think this has prepared me and I wanted to thank you for sharing you resources. They are wonderful and were a great way for me to learn as well. Thank you and wish me luck as I will be trying this in my 8th grade Computer Tech. class after Spring Break.

My links: (You will see your resources posted on here soon.. for my students!)
http://techvelagic.blogspot.com/
http://www.quia.com/pages/goshenct.html

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