Time is tickin' away...

I realize that to be a useful blogger (and also to grow as an educator), that I have to make frequent entries. The truth is, 1.) I don't have a lot of time and 2.) I don't always feel all that smart.

In my mind, what I present to my readers in this blog should be something novel - something that you will read and say "Wow - I hadn't thought of it that way" or "Huh - I had no idea" or something similar. In reality, while I do occasionally post such novel concepts, there are just days where I won't be able to post such amazing new posts. Today is one such day.

Since I have no amazing software discoveries today or great new ideas for technology in the classroom, I thought I would share some of my tips for the busier teacher in all of us.

1.) Podcasts do not have to be long. In fact, I've found that podcasts between 2-4 minutes for foreign language are most effective. For English podcasts, I would assume that you could bump that up to about 6 or 7 minutes, but after that, you may lose them.

2.) Podcasts do not have to take up a lot of your time. If teaching is truly piracy (giving credit where credit is due, of course), then don't feel pressured to recreate the wheel every time you do one. Find some good (read: free) podcasts that you can borrow from.

3.) Integrating podcasts into your curriculum does NOT mean that you give out a kabillion podcasts to your students each week. In other words, integration begins one podcast at a time. This gives you time to get used to using podcasts in your curriculum, and it gives the students time to get used to this new kind of homework.

If you follow these three pieces of advice, you should have more time to devote to your students, and ultimately to your families. Yet, you will not be in any way, shape, or form denying your students of the technology integration that they need for this new, uncertain world.

Well, that's all I've got for tonight - time's up! :)

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Beyond Podcasting, Education, Random