Bridget and I made our first podcast! It was really fun to be able to publish something that was our own. Unlike the journal-y feeling of blogging, podcasting felt more like reporting and, I thought, was a lot more exciting! We decided to present an unbiased view of the presidential candidates' stances on education. We decided on our topic during a discussion of our frustration that issues we were concerned about, such as educational policies, weren't being discussed in the debates. Bridget researched Obama's stance while I researched McCain's, and then we did our podcast to help our fellow "SMACers" learn more about what they were voting for.
Something I was a little disappointed with was that both candidates were for merit pay for teachers, but without much explanation as to how that merit would be awarded. I have to assume that if they don't have a new plan, they will be sticking to the current form of merit recognition that is based on students' performance on standardized exams and not necessarily the ability of the teachers. The second a former teacher runs for president, I'll start campaigning for them. I just wish they could get a giant panel of teachers together that could decide all of the educational policies for the government.
On a technological note, McCain's website was the only one that mentioned anything about allocating money for technology (where that money, or any other that's being given to education by either candidate is coming from, I don't know). McCain mentioned online classes for public schools, entire online schools where students could use their vouchers (from failing schools) to transfer to. I was glad to see someone finally recognizing the good that online education can do for high schoolers as well as college students.
Check out our podcast to hear more!
My frustration with the podcast came from trying to get it up onto our class wiki. This was my first time uploading something onto the wiki, but I just didn't understand all of the mp3 vs mp4 stuff and why one would work and one didn't, and how to move things from Garageband to iTunes, and everything else that goes along with it! I was proud of myself for even figuring out how to record on Garageband in the first place! (Although I must admit I watched the tutorial on the apple website- it was really helpful!). Well, in the end it all worked out and the podcast is (finally) up on the wiki! I hope people listen!
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2 comments:
Alli, forgive the belated response, but I do want to tip my hat to you (and Bridget) for the great idea and for the killer Palin impersonation. You may want to stay in practice on that one, as it looks as though the Governor is going to remain a big presence on the political scene. A propos your comment about a teacher running for office, Barack Obama (while not a K-12 teacher) apparently developed quite a reputation as a prof, and it was at U-Chicago that he seems to have honed his style of approaching discussions where he tries to hear from multiple perspectives before making a decision. I should add that although it doesn't seem to have had much impact on his thinking regarding education, one acquaintance of Obama's has written several books about teaching, and even came to the UM at least once to discuss teaching issues...Bill Ayers.
(With all due respect to Governor Palin, I was really impressed with what he had to say).
Alli, check with Laura to see if she's twittering. She has a link on her site to a blogger that's featuring The Twitter for Teachers
Have a look (and thanks, Laura!!)
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