Lisa+Parisi

Name__:** Lisa Parisi For myself, I created my own personal blog this summer. I began in Classroom 2.0, blogging on my page and being amazed when I received comments. Then I moved into Blogger and created LisasLingo.blogspot.com. Each time I post a blog, I send out a twit to my twitter friends, letting them know they can read my new blog. Once again, I am amazed and excited when I receive comments to my blogs. I get my ideas from discussions I have with colleagues and teachers online. I find it exhilarating to connect through blogging. //**Podcasting**//: Podcasting is another very tool new for my classroom. Our first foray into podcasting was an unusual one. My co-teacher and I had listened to Radio WillowWeb, incredible podcasts created at the Willowdale Elementary School in Omaha, Nebraska. We loved what the children created and decided to give it a go in our classroom. Our students wrote scripts and created accompanying websites centered around the fantasy books they had been reading in reading groups. Each group created one page on our website. This assignment was time-consuming. We didn’t know what we were doing and, in fact, only created pseudo-podcasts. Really they were mp3 files uploaded onto our website. But the children didn’t care. They were excited, worked extremely hard, were very motivated to complete the task, and had a ball recording their scripts. We watched students with special needs excel. We witnessed children with speech and language classifications take control of their groups and run the show. We gloried in the laughter and joy of the students as they listened to their podcasts. And we won grant money through Cablevision’s PowertoLearn Grant for this assignment. Since then, we listened to many other podcasts, Bob Sprankle’s being top. We used our grant money to purchase a few hand held voice recorders, a Snowball Mic for recording groups, and a webcam for recording voice and video. We have many ideas for this coming year. We will continue with book review podcasts. We will also have the students do a monthly newsletter-type podcast based on the class events. We plan to record guest speakers and the comments of the students afterwards, field trip assessments, and general class discussions. Alice Mercer’s class has been a big inspiration this year, demonstrating the brilliance of children when they are handed a mic and told to speak. Editing is not of utmost importance here. Just raw talent. The sky’s the limit. G-cast and Podomatic will be put to the test. Who knows? Maybe in a few years, we can create DentonWeb. The children, I’m sure, would love it.
 * __[[image:LisaParisi.jpg width="150"]]
 * __Website__:** [|lisaslingo.blogspot.com], my classroom website is [|http://herricks.org/webpages/spcollaborative/.]
 * __Educational Institution__:** Herricks UFSD/ Denton Avenue Elementary School
 * __Teaching Environment__:** Grade 5
 * __Web 2.0 Focus__:** Blogging, Podcasting
 * __Description__:** //**Blogging**//: Blogging is a relatively new tool for me albeit a very powerful one. Our class blogsite ([|http://classblogmeister.com/blog.php?blogger_id=88116)] was started last April with my fifth grade class. My co-teacher and I started it up, introduced it to the students, gave them their first assignment, and watched it take off. The students became avid writers, adding blogs not assigned to them, commenting to each other’s blogs, making blog friends in other districts. We assigned weekly blogs, replacing paper and pencil assignments with blogs. The children blogged about social studies lessons, commented on math activities, and ran book discussions. They practiced writing skills, adding voice and vocabulary, working on editing, expanding their ideas. The Clustrmap we included on the page made the idea of an audience very real to them, increasing their awareness of the importance of editing and writing for an audience. This year we look forward to starting in September, improving writing skills even more by using this great tool all year.
 * __Teaching and Learning__:** //**Blogging**//: Improves writing skills, especially editing. Clustrmap demonstrates need for editing…the whole world is your audience, not just your teacher. //**Podcasts**//: Great for giving children a different venue, other than paper and pencil tests to synthesize concepts learned in class and demonstrate knowledge. Gives them the opportunity to teach others. And, of course, both blogging and podcasting are great motivators for mastering skills prior to recording ideas.
 * __Preferred Applications__:** //**Blogging**// – Class Blogmeister for kids, Blogger for me. //**Podcasting**//: Either just posting mp3 files on my school website or gcast/garageband for posting. Podomatic is good, too. Nicer interface than gcast. For recording, Olympus Digital Voice Recorder, converted to mp3 with Switch, edited in Audacity. Also, just bought a Snowball Mic for recording group discussions. Haven’t tried it out yet. Can’t wait to use it.
 * __Mentor(s) and Hero(es)__:** In the Beginning: Bob Sprankle, Willowcast. Now: In addition, Alice Mercer
 * __Favorite Web 2.0 Applications Right Now__:** What isn’t? I guess I like VoiceThread. But also Google Docs and wikispaces. I use wikispaces the most. But really just learned all of these great tools this summer so, right now, I’m just imagining how to use them with kids. Envisioning making collaborative lessons much easier. Also looking forward to collaborating with teachers around the world.