WK2 - Discussion

WK2-Topic #1

My husband bought me an IPod for my birthday a few years ago and all I thought was “Why would I want this?” Good thing I didn’t say it out loud because it became the best gift ever. You only realize how much you miss listening to music when it is blasting in your ear. I can’t imagine making it through a workout or walk without it. I love that I can be in one environment and be in my own world at the same time. Listening to music brings me to all sorts of places and memories. Sometimes I’m even the rock star singing.  I have purchased all of my music from ITunes for my IPod. My husband spends more time purchasing music and adding to his library so I download his music to my IPod as well. I don’t think I have purchased music in over a year. Now that it has been brought to my attention, I think I will get back on it. My IPod could use a little update.

WK2-Topic #2 

The first song that comes to mind when I think about a song that touched me on an emotional level is Chicago’s “You’re the Inspiration.” I was in sixth grade and we had such a great group of friends, girls and boys, and we use to listen to that song over and over. It was our song. I remember sixth grade as a time when everything started to change and I always thought I was lucky to have the friends I did to experience it all with. I think I’m even luckier to still have all of those friends. I imagine that on the rare occasion that “You’re the Inspiration” is played, my sixth grade classmates are brought back to that time the way I am.

WK2-Topic #3

I think podcasts for teachers and students are a wonderful resource. Not only can they provide information, entertainment, and education, but they also encourage the development of listening skills.

This is podcast for teachers discussing topics in education as well as supplying them with resources. This podcast allows teachers to listen to different perspectives, get information, and perhaps spark new and innovative ideas. The archived podcasts as well as the new ones have a little blurb to tell what it is about.

http://www.podcastforteachers.org/

Storynory provides free audio stories for kids. There are original stories, fairytales, classics, and educational podcasts that can be downloaded. I chose to provide the link for the site because there are so many podcasts on the site that I would use for my students and my own children, for both educational an entertainment.

http://storynory.com/

Inkless tales provides stories, songs, and poems for kids. This is also another place where I would visit with my students. Students have the opportunity to listen to a story and use their imagination rather then look at pictures. I love the idea of my students being able to have their own interpretation of a story because they are only listening to the words and not seeing pictures.

http://inklesstales.wordpress.com/

Another terrific site http://www.zencast.com/channels/showchannel.asp?mc=2&cid=8989

This site provides books from a public –domain of children’s literature. The books are read aloud. The list of podcasted books on this site is educational and entertaining at the same time. I think this is a wonderful site for students who may have difficulty reading.