Podcasting

Posted by: mrstaahs on: February 16, 2009

• In: BOCLE
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I found the podcast series, mathtrain on itunes and within it I found two podcasts on topics that my Academic Algebra III/Trigonometry students struggle with: writing the equation of a line and adding rational expressions.  Both topics are very relevant to what I teach and are also topics that are tested on our state standardized test; therefore the more exposure the students have to the concepts, the better!  I think that I could use each of the podcasts for two purposes:

1)      to review/teach material for students who are lost

2)      for my own students to critique the podcast

 

One way I could use the podcast would be to teach students.  I could begin by playing the short podcast and then have students try to solve a problem similar to the one shown in the podcast.  For students who were absent, I could have a link to the podcast along with the assignment all posted on my blog or wikispace.  If I didn’t want to use the podcast to actually teach the topic, I could teach the topic myself.  Then for homework I could have the students view the podcast again as a refresher before they begin their assignment.

 

Additionally, a student created each of these podcasts, so I could have my own students critique them and try to make them better.  For example, a lot of the students in the podcast didn’t always use good math terminology – hopefully my students could recognize this and explain how the students in the podcasts could have been clearer.  I could also have my students create their own podcasts about the same topic and encourage them to provide more detail and/or more complex examples than those seen in the podcast.

Overall, I think that both of these podcasts could help students who may forget how to solve the problems when they get home and try to begin their homework. So if they do struggle at home, they have another resource to help them that is available at all times!  Actually seeing and hearing the podcast may be much more helpful to the struggling student than just going back through their notes and trying to follow the examples gone over in class.

 

Below are links to the two podcasts described above. The first podcast is about writing the equation of a line. The second podcast is about simplifying rational expressions with unlike denominators.

 

I have summarized all of this information in a podcast of my own; unfortunately, WordPress won’t allow me to upload it unless I pay for more space! So, if you’d like to hear my podcast, please visit my blog at http://ntrimmer.edublogs.org/