Clubhouse

Earlier this year, I found a new social media platform called Clubhouse.  When I found it, the platform was invite only, but now, anyone can join!

Clubhouse is considered "social audio" and the best way I can describe it is that it's like interactive podcasting.  Someone (the host) starts a club on a specific topic.  People join that club.  That club hosts different rooms throughout the week or month that both members and Clubhouse participants at large can join.

Once you join a room, there will be at least one moderator.  The moderator pretty much runs the room, posing questions, holding a dialogue, or sharing knowledge.

And this is where the interactivity comes in.  Some of the rooms (most of the rooms in which I participate) allow audience members to join them on "stage" and participate in the discussion.  

And since it's all audio, it's something that you can listen to pretty much any time you want!

What does this have to do with education?  Over the summer, I spent countless hours engaged in rooms on Clubhouse on more education topics than you could imagine!  There were usually 2-3 rooms, every day, that caught my eye.  I'd sometimes just listen in, sometimes I'd participate, and by the end of the summer, I had my own club and was hosting rooms myself.

I have met some incredible educators via the Clubhouse app that I continue to learn from and grow with.  Yes, I'm on Twitter, and Instagram, and Linkedin... but this one is different.  There's something about hearing people's voices, having that "live" conversation - it's really powerful!  I've learned of new tech tools, tried new things as an educator, and continue to love listening and participant in these rooms!

Things are a little slower for educators on Clubhouse right now (educator overwhelm, anyone?) but I am still in a few rooms each week, and am looking forward to watching the education side of Clubhouse continue to grow.  And, in the mean time, there are tons of rooms hosting book discussions, TV show dialogue, parenting, sports, celebrities... so many choices!

If you decide to hop on the app, find me (@GetTeachingTech) and join my club (Get Teaching with Tech) for a great monthly tech discussion!

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Podcasting: Part 2

When I went to MiGoogle this past fall, I didn't realize that I'd *finally* become a member of the Podcast Party.  Two and a half months later... yeah....

For our fourth graders, turning their narratives into podcasts was quite the experience.  And the simplicity of Soundtrap led to podcast exploration at home, too!  We even had a premier party, complete with a red carpet and step and repeat (a new term I learned!) for the kids, and it was adorable!

The sixth graders took their first podcast creation experience to a whole new level.  For their podcasts, idiom origins, it was the summative assessment of a writing unit.  They took things to the next level by editing their own podcasts and adding a plethora of sound effects to enhance the listening experience.  Additionally, we introduce the sixth grade podcast with a contest for both the cover art and the audio intro/outro.  The winning entries were marvelous!

Now that we've gotten our feet wet as a member of the Podcast Party, I'm excited about our next endeavor, which is a larger scale podcast featuring the leadership at school.  Plans are in place, hosts are ready, guests are lined up, software is situated, and we're almost ready to roll...  My goal is that our first episode goes live by February 1st - stay tuned for the link!

Who knew that a simple session at a conference would spark such change, eh?  Next conference is MACUL... can't wait to see what that sparks!

Listen to 44 Stories

Listen to the Exposition of Idioms

The kids (and teachers) are very proud of their podcasts - we hope you enjoy listening to them!

Podcasting - Part 1

Over the past two weeks, both fourth and sixth graders began preparation for creating their own podcast.

It.  Has.  Been.  AWESOME.

We've been using Soundtrap for Education and the process has been fairly straightforward.  I love that the kids can log-in with their Google accounts, which always makes things easier.  It also has the option to recall previous versions of the recording - which is a must with students!

A few notes - 

Microphones make a HUGE difference.  We tried without them, and the sound was only ok, I mean, after all, we're in a school environment, there is no such thing as silence!  I found a few old, gaming-style microphones and that made a huge difference, even with the loud-ish background noise!

The transcript feature is awesome, when it works.  And editing is very simple, i-Movie-esque, even.

The sound effects ROCK.  The kids had a blast adding them, and even created some of their own in the process!  Soundtrap has something like 5000 available sound clips to use!

One of the best parts is that podcasting provides a natural formative assessment.  I mean, what better way to assess fluency (among other things,) than listening to kids creat podcasts, amIright?

We wrap up the fourth grade podcasts, their narrative stories, this week.  Next week starts sixth grade podcasts on idioms.  I'll share links when they're ready!