E11 - Student Produced Podcasts in Science Class with Anne Rizzacasa

She said that during this process, she was able to pay more attention to the small things that students were doing in class that are usually overlooked in traditional set-ups.  She gave the example of recognizing that her high school students didn’t know the short-cuts for copy/pasting information - she wouldn’t have otherwise noticed that students were missing this skill if she had not flipped her classroom which helped to get her out of the “sage on the stage” role and into the “guide on the side” role in her classroom. We discussed the importance of weaving in digital skills no matter what grade level or content you are teaching.

When I asked Anne about the best blended learning approach, she immediately dove into how she’s been blending in podcasting with her Dual Enrollment students.  She discussed how the traditional methods of writing a report and doing a Socratic Seminar type discussion did not truly allow her to hear ALL the voices in her classroom.  So she decided to try podcasting with her students!  She began by walking them through how to create and post their podcasts on Anchor (which is now Spotify for Podcasters).  She challenged them to create 8 podcast episodes over issues or relevant social/political topics related to the curriculum they are studying in class.  They started small with short episodes and they worked up to episodes that are 30 minutes long.  Along the way, she challenges them to try different things like interviewing or adding a commercial.  Anne then listens to her students' podcasts as she’s driving to and from work!  Check out some of their podcasts below and follow Anne on Twitter at @annerizzy!