Karen Thomas

LITR 630
2 July 2015
Podcast Written Component
Purpose
During this lesson, students will listen to a podcast to help reinforce math vocabulary
about polygons. The podcast provides the opportunity for students to be active listeners as they
will be required to fill in blanks or complete a small task while they are listening. After the
podcast, the students will be asked to find an image of a quadrilateral in the real world and post it
to a class Google Docs. Once the students have posted an image, they will be asked to comment
on a classmates image about whether or not the image is a quadrilateral and support their
comment with vocabulary from the podcast.

ILA Standards
The podcast assignment meets the ILA standards because it promotes vocabulary
development. For standard 1.2 Candidates understand the historically shared knowledge of the
profession and changes over time in the perceptions of reading and writing development,
processes, and components, I chose to use a podcast to reinforce the vocabulary lesson, instead
of using traditional lesson from the math textbook. I believe students will benefit from
information and communication technology (ICT) by being engaged and participating in the
podcast tasks. Throughout the lesson, I ask the students to complete a variety of tasks, such as
singing along with a song, mentally complete the sentence, and drawing shapes in the air, in
order to develop their math vocabulary acquisition. These varied instructional approaches meet
standard 2.2 Candidates use appropriate and varied instructional approaches, including those
that develop word recognition, language comprehension, strategic knowledge, and readingwriting connections. Finally, the podcast is portable and can be played multiple times. It offers

the students opportunities to listen to the lesson again if needed. The final task of the lesson is
writing a comment on a classmates image. This activity will help them develop their opinion
writing skills by stating a claim and using factual evidence to support it. Through the student
generated text of writing an opinion piece based on math content, standard 2.3 Candidates use a
wide range of texts (e.g., narrative, expository, and poetry) from traditional print, digital, and
online resources is met.
Since the students are commenting on a classmates image, they will engage in an
evaluation that promotes accepting others viewpoints. The activity also supports that idea that
there is more than one method to solving a math task so there is value in others way of thinking.
This collaboration meets standard 41. Candidates use a literacy curriculum and engage in
instructional practices that positively impact students knowledge, beliefs, and engagement with
the features of diversity. The students will complete the lesson in the computer lab which allows
all the students access to computers with headphones and the internet. The design of the podcast
and utilizing the computer lab meets standard 5.1 Candidates design the physical environment to
optimize students use of traditional print, digital, and online resources in reading and writing
instruction.
ISTE
This assignment meets the ISTE standards. For standard 1.a. Apply existing knowledge
to generate new ideas, products, or processes, the students will apply their knowledge of
polygons as they complete the required tasks while listening to the podcast. They will also apply
their knowledge of locating information when they search for an example of a quadrilateral.
When locating and selecting the image that does not have a watermark, the students will meet
standard 2. b. Locate, organize, analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and ethically use information from
a variety of sources and media.
Throughout the lesson, the students will be interacting with others through media. When
listening to the podcast, the students will be following the directions of the speaker. They will
also get to interact and collaborate with their peers when completing the Google Docs since they

will be commenting on a classmates post. This interaction meets standard 3. a. Interact,

collaborate and publish with peers, experts, or others employing a variety of digital
environments and media and 3. b. Communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple
audiences using a variety of media and formats. With the collaboration, the students will be able
to communicate their knowledge to their peers as well as their teacher. The students will also
meet standard 4. c. Collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed
decisions and 4.d. Use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative
solutions because they must make informed decisions when selecting an image to use an
example of the quadrilateral and develop an opinion with evidence from the podcast. As the
students are commenting on a classmates image, they will realize that there is more than one
example of a quadrilateral (the solution to the task).

KTS6
For this lesson, I used technology to plan and design which meets standard 6.1 Uses
available technology to design and plan instruction that supports and extends learning for all
students. I found engaging videos on Youtube that will hook my students. Also, I created a
lesson that will utilize a podcast as a method of developing and reinforcing the students
vocabulary and a Google Docs so that they can collaborate and communicate their new
knowledge. Students will have access to return to these tasks as needed based on their learning
needs. The podcast is a research and technology-based instructional strategy which has been
shown to increase student vocabulary acquisition. With accommodations and modifications, I
can implement the instruction to facilitate the learning of all my students, standard 6.2 Uses
available technology to implement instruction that facilitates student learning.

During the lesson, the students will have varied opportunities to use technology to further
their learning. First, the students will sing along with a video to activate prior knowledge. Then,
they will actively listen to a podcast by following the directions given. Finally, the students will
find an image that shows a quadrilateral and comment on a classmates post. These activities
meet standard 6.3 Integrates student use of available technology into instruction. As the students
listen to the podcast, I can assess their response to determine if they comprehended the new
vocabulary. Also, students can be assessed based on the image they chose and their response to a
classmates post. It is important that the students use the vocabulary from the podcast to
demonstrate their vocabulary understanding. Since the collaboration activity is completed in
Google Docs, it can be shared with parents to show the classs learning. These assessments meet
standard 6.4 Uses available technology to assess and communicate student learning. To promote
ethical use of technology, standard 6.5 Demonstrates ethical and legal use of technology, the
students are not allowed to use images with watermarks since those are copyrighted. To provide
a safe, secure, and equitable classroom environment, the podcast allows students to listen to it as
many times as needed without fear of responses from other students. I have also secured the
Google Docs with privacy settings so only those who have the code may access it.

TPACK
For this lesson, I demonstrated the TPACK model. The students will be using a teachercreated podcast as a new and engaging instructional activity (TK). To communicate their
learning, they will use a Google Docs which will allow them to comment on their classmates
post. I will use my pedagogical knowledge (PK) that the students need repeat exposure to
academic specific words to guide my instruction. The lesson has been organized so that the

students are active listeners when they are being exposed to the vocabulary about polygons,
which are words that I have found my students struggle to remember and use properly (CK).
Without the use of technology, this lesson would not be as effective. The students would not
have the access to listening to the vocabulary activities. Also, they would not be able to find
images for their quadrilateral examples- instead they could only draw them. Without the Google
Docs, the students would not have the privacy of using a computer to comment on a classmates
image. The technology use in this lesson is required to accomplish the learning target.

KCAS
This assignment is connected to KCAS for language, writing, and mathematics. For
L.3.6 Acquire and use accurately grade-appropriate conversational, general academic, and
domain-specific words and phrases, including those that signal spatial and temporal
relationships, the students are acquiring and using vocabulary words that are related to geometry
unit in mathematics. The students need to be able to use math specific words, such as
quadrilateral and rhombus, as well as general academic words, such as attributes and categories
which connects to 3.G.1 Understand that shapes in different categories (e.g., rhombuses,
rectangles, and others) may share attributes (e.g., having four sides), and that the shared
attributes can define a larger category (e.g., quadrilaterals). Recognize rhombuses, rectangles,
and squares as examples of quadrilaterals, and draw examples of quadrilaterals that do not
belong to any of these subcategories. To demonstrate their learning at the end of the lesson, the
students will write a response to their classmates post and use vocabulary from the podcast.
This writing task meets standard W.3.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for
research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a

range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences. By requiring the students to write
during math instruction, it reinforces the principles of writing as a method to clearly and
effectively communicate with others.

Literature
My students are growing up using technology daily, and I must rethink my instruction to
incorporate technology, especially information and communication technology (ICT) (Putnam &
Kingsley, 2009). To reach my students during a math lesson on vocabulary, I created a podcast.
Since podcast are a Web 2.0 technology that allows user generated material to be portable
through the use of media players, such as mp3 players and computers (Smythe & Neufeld, 2010).
A podcast will allow my students who have access to media players to listen to the recording at
school and at home. They offer the opportunities to the general population as a means of
introducing and reinforcing vocabulary during regular instructions; however, they also offer the
opportunity to remediate student learning by providing additional exposure to the content
(Putnam & Kingsley).
Research has also been conducted on the effects of using podcast to increase vocabulary
acquisition. Podcast and other ITCs provide the opportunities for multiple exposures to words
which do not always have to occur during the normal school hours (Putnam & Kingsley, 2009).
When creating my lesson, I used the structure provided Putnam and Kingsley (2009) as my
guide. At beginning of my lesson, I started with a song that hooks the students and introduces
and reviews vocabulary. Throughout the podcast, the students will be required to complete
mental and active responses such as mentally completing the sentences with the correct
vocabulary words or drawing a polygon in the air (Putnam & Kingsley). This structure of the

podcast will keep the students at a high engagement level since it is not using the traditional print
instruction of learning vocabulary from a textbook (Smythe & Neufeld, 2010).
The final task of the lesson is for the students to locate an image of a quadrilateral and
then comment on a classmates image. I chose to include this task because it will continue to
reinforce the gatekeeper skill of locating information (Carroll, 2011). With other lessons that I
have created, the students have been practicing locating information so now they will explore
locating images using keywords. The Google Docs provides an authentic audience (classmates)
for the students to collaborate to apply and evaluate their knowledge generated from the podcast
(Leu, et al, 2011). I hope by creating these podcast lessons I will be meeting the needs of my
21st century learners, especially with their vocabulary acquisition.

Carroll, J. (2011). From Encyclopaedias to Search Engines: Technological Change and its Impact
on Literacy Learning. Australian Journal Of Language &
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Leu, D. J., McVerry, J. G., O'Byrne, W. L., Kiili, C., Zawilinski, L., Everett-Cacopardo, H., & ...
Forzani, E. (2011). The New Literacies of Online Reading Comprehension: Expanding
the Literacy and Learning Curriculum. Journal Of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 55(1), 514.
Smythe, S., & Neufeld, P. (2010). "Podcast Time": Negotiating Digital Literacies and
Communities of Learning in a Middle Years ELL Classroom. Journal Of Adolescent &
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Putman, S. M., & Kingsley, T. (2009). The Atoms Family: Using Podcasts to Enhance the
Development of Science Vocabulary. Reading Teacher, 63(2), 100-108.