Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Quick post on upcoming podcasts!

About half of my Contemporary Literature class have recorded podcasts of their short memoirs! So far the process has been very valuable, at least to me as a teacher. I like having the one-on-one time with students, explaining a novel process to them, and helping them to tell their stories (or at least part of their stories) in a way that feels more natural to them than writing. Not all of the podcasts have gone as well as I've expected. I am particularly disappointed with one student's lack of effort, but was surprised with the quality of three other students' recordings. I am not yet fully happy with the process, but we ex-Catholics are good at being self-critical and obsessively trying to be all perfect and stuff. The Moth is a wonderful resource that I have found invaluable for examples. Those guys kick ass, and you should listen to them and give them a little bit of your money.

I am still having trouble finding a reliably available blogging tool for my students (my school is going through some technology growing pains that will hopefully settle down next year) so they will not be creating the blogs that I had hoped they might this semester. If the powers that be let me teach the class next year, this will be the first addition that I will make. No blogs for the kids means that they do not all have a good place to post their podcasts. My plan is to, once all are recorded, ask for permission to post them here. I will not be censoring or selecting them in any way. Whoever wants theirs up will see theirs go up. Updates will follow.

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