Jonathan, not John, who seems to end all of his sentences as if they were a question wanted to make sure I edited his mistakes. “Mr. Weinberg could you make sure you edit out my mistakes?” Jonathan was also my student helper. Using the free program Audacity, we recorded students reciting their poems in the style of Dr. Seuss. When I pointed to Jonathan he would click the record button and 
when I pointed to him again he hit the stop button. These mistakes that Jonathan makes mention of have to do with Podcasts that we created.
Nancy Walters’ first grade class, every year on Dr. Seuss’ birthday, write poems in the style of Dr. Seuss. This year Nancy and I decided to Podcast these poems. What is the advantage to Podcasting these poems? Now, that these poems are digital more people than the students’ parents can read them. If the student brought home his or her paper only the people in that household would have seen the poem. With the poem online grandparents, friends, and aunts and uncles can see the poem. Not only can they see the poem, now they can listen to the poem. Listening to emerging readers read their own poetry is much different than viewing paper versions of them.
Students seemed to be very concerned with what their poems sounded like. They seemed to put more pressure on themselves when they realized that the whole world could hear their poem. To listen to the students’ poems go to http://waltersfirst.blogspot.com/ Feel free to comment on the students’ poems. You may get a response from a first grader telling you what they were thinking when they wrote their poem.
For more information on how you can create podcasts with students, please contact Rick_Weinberg@caboces.org.
