Teachers Talking Through Podcasts

Podcasting is a way of getting information to others, whether it be at the time of filming or at a later time. They can be video or audio episodes, depending on what the creator wants. This creator becomes a podcaster. These podcasts that are created can be directly downloaded or streamed. When downloaded, they can be put onto multiple devices, such as Ipods, phones, and tablets. They have many different kinds of podcasts available, for multiple purposes and interests.

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As teachers, we can utilize podcasts in our classroom. There are many different podcasts out there for different fields of study. Teachers can find episodes on what students are studying in the classroom. Teachers can also have their students create their own podcasts for projects.

One podcast I found was on ESL Teacher Talk. The website had a lot to offer ESL teachers. They provided a lot of activities and games that could be used in the classroom. They also provided a lot of resources for teachers to use as well. The specific episode that I will be discussing is called Dolch Sight Words- Using them in ESL classes. ESL teachers would find this extremely useful when they are thinking about teaching sight words to their students. They talk about what sight words are for those who are unfamiliar with the term. Matt, who is the teacher who is talking during the podcast, then moves into talking about his class and how learning sight words helped to sped up reading and the learning process. Matt modifies the original list for his ESL class and the list is available for teachers in the resource section of the website. They also talk about when to start using sight words, the importance of knowing the word before memorizing the spelling, using a book to create a list of sight words and then immediately applying knowledge to context to inspire the readers, and then games and activities that can be used to practice the sight words. Podcasts like these are a great way for teachers to get ideas about what to do inside the classroom.