School Races to Promote Reading Through Podcasts By: Cara Bafile

Brandeis Elementary Located in Louisville, KY A very diverse school with a large ESL program. Some students have been in the United States for only a year. Some are previously from refugee camps. Some spend as much as 45 minutes on a bus to go to school because it is a math, science, and technology magnet school.

“Race to 500” Malissia Bell- student technology leadership program coordinator/library media specialist Meg Wilson- computer teacher Challenged every student to create a podcast about their favorite book

What is a Podcast? -A multimedia digital file made available on the Internet for downloading to a portable media player, computer, etc.

How It Was Done Pt. 1 Used Grant to Purchase Flip Cameras

How It Was Done Pt. 2 Audacity-free audio and recording program Movie Maker-added video, sounds, titles….

How It Was Done Pt. 3 Uploaded podcasts to school website

Encouraging Reading/Writing Skills Students recited and studied lines for their podcasts Some wrote scripts

Inclusion of All Students Early childhood classes, ESL students, kindergarteners, the hearing impaired, and struggling readers made some of the most memorable podcasts

Inclusion of Community Teachers, staff members, and parents were urged by the students to create their own podcasts about books as well

" This technological world is changing every day, and we can hop on and join the kids and connect with them, or we can sit back and miss the show completely. Podcasting and technology is their world. I choose to join them.” -Malissia Bell

Bibliography Bafile, Cara. "School Races to Promote Reading Through Podcasts." Educationworld.com. Education World, n.d. Web. 16 Sept