Spotlight: Paula Díaz at Timberline Elementary School
Last semester, there was a blog post about encouraging student voice through podcasting. To Paula Díaz, a second grade teacher at TES, creating a podcast was also an opportunity to empower students from her culture.
"Some Hispanic people are very shy...they are scared to try new things and voice their opinions. I heard Dr. Ryan doing his podcast and I thought that would be a very good way to increase and motivate my kids to express what they want to say."
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| Interviewing Principal Hilcher |
To start her class podcast, Díaz saw a tweet from a fellow GCISD teacher who used the Anchor app to record the podcast. She then introduced podcasting as an extension activity for her advanced readers. In Google Classroom, Díaz sent the students a bio of the person they wanted to interview. Then, her students created their own questions.
"They showed me their questions so I could approve them. Then, they practiced using Garage Band so they can hear what they were saying and fix pronunciations."
Afterwards, they sent an email to set up the interview date. Her students first interviewed their principal, Liz Hilcher, last November. Two weeks ago, they interviewed GCISD Superintendent, Dr. Ryan. Díaz incorporated student choice during the editing process as well. The students look forward to listening and voting for the background music for the podcast episodes.
With their next podcast episode, they hope to interview a local government official. This time, the second graders will take more control over the interview process to help them learn how to communicate with adults.
Díaz's goal is to equip her students with effective communication skills to "express themselves, ask questions, and gain the confidence to go for everything they want."
She also mentioned how utilizing an instructional coach helped her prepare for her podcasts.
"It's good to have the help of the coaches because sometimes you are scared to try new things and to have support was great."
Read more from Paula Díaz in her own words.
For more resources on how to start or enhance your own class podcast, check out the GCISD Instructional Technology website and click on Podcast.
"They showed me their questions so I could approve them. Then, they practiced using Garage Band so they can hear what they were saying and fix pronunciations."
Afterwards, they sent an email to set up the interview date. Her students first interviewed their principal, Liz Hilcher, last November. Two weeks ago, they interviewed GCISD Superintendent, Dr. Ryan. Díaz incorporated student choice during the editing process as well. The students look forward to listening and voting for the background music for the podcast episodes.
 |
| Interviewing Dr. Ryan |
Díaz's goal is to equip her students with effective communication skills to "express themselves, ask questions, and gain the confidence to go for everything they want."
She also mentioned how utilizing an instructional coach helped her prepare for her podcasts.
"It's good to have the help of the coaches because sometimes you are scared to try new things and to have support was great."
Read more from Paula Díaz in her own words.
For more resources on how to start or enhance your own class podcast, check out the GCISD Instructional Technology website and click on Podcast.
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