Useful Podcasts for Teachers

In this post I'm going to summarize a couple of podcasts I listened to and then discuss how podcasts like the ones I listened to could be useful to me as a teacher. The first podcast I listened to was A Night in the Global Village: Heifer Ranch. This was a very interesting podcast. It was done on a study of a program that the Rocky Mountain School of Expeditionary Learning in Denver, Colorado did pertaining to learning about those less fortunate in the world. The students go to a place called Heifer Ranch and are assigned to a group; could be refugees, or in a culture that is less fortunate than that as an American. When they are assigned to these groups they are literally only given what those in the culture they were assigned to really have. To start out they were given a few supplies and then had to trade with other groups to get things they needed. They live as that culture does, for example the refugees are not allowed to talk to anyone (I suppose unless they are spoken to). The students have to work together with their group, and working with other groups to be able to survive the conditions they are given. It gives the students the opportunity to see how less fortunate some really are in the world and to get a first-hand experience as to the conditions of those people. Many of the students, after the experience, felt they really wanted to do what they could to improve the conditions.

The next podcast I listened to was The Edible Schoolyard: Martin Luther King Junior Middle School. This was a podcast about at outdoor classroom at the above middle school who actually have their own garden and kitchen to learn about all different kinds of subjects. It incorporates math, science, social studies, and life. Every little detail and every supply are used to teach a lesson. The children plant different foods in the garden (science), cook different foods (measuring and such - math), and do many more activities within this class. They learn about all of these different subjects, but they also learn how to cooperate and work with others and learn the little basics of life too. The garden was actually the idea of Alice Waters who runs the Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, CA. The original idea was based on improving school lunches, but it just stuck and was incorporated into the classroom. It teaches the children more than just the basics of subject matter taught in school, it teaches them about different aspects of life.

These podcasts were very interesting to me. The ideas used at both schools were so innovative and like nothing I have ever heard of before being done in a school. Both programs taught the students so many useful lessons that go beyond what is normally taught in the schools. It taught them valuable life lessons, things that they are really going to have to do on a day-to-day basis; or it taught them about ways that they could help improve the lives of others. I think podcasts such as these would be helpful to me as a teacher because it teaches you and gives you ideas on how to be creative in the classroom. Also, it shows that you don't always have to go by the "norm" (students sitting in desks completing book work) to be teaching them what they need to know. It also expresses how it can effect the kids when you do go above and beyond to teach them various things. The students in these podcasts were really enjoying themselves and at the same time they knew that they were learning some very important things. I would love to incorporate ideas like those in these podcasts into my classroom and help my students think about more than is what in their textbooks for a change!

Well, that's all the posts for today! As always, hope you enjoy!