Copley-Fairlawn Introduces Podcasting in Classrooms

Next year, students in Andrea Andryscik’s senior composition class will not be using just pencils and papers.

They will be using iPod Touches and podcasts.

The new technology, provided by a state grant, will allow students to edit their work in a different way. Instead of just reading their and others’ work, they will hear it as well.

Andryscik said said that hearing their work instead of just reading it will help students with sentence fluency and writing for flow. By hearing the written text, they can catch things that would be missed by just editing by reading.
“It’s much more powerful to hear their writing,” she said.

The classes will start by looking at a writing sample and a podcast from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men.” Later, their own work will be used, incorporating 21st century technology into the classroom.

Andryscik said many students use this type of technology for entertainment, but now she is trying to capitalize on using that technology for education. “The new thing is mobile technology,” she said.

The $2,000 grant is from eTech Ohio, and will be used to purchase the equipment, since the school already has teachers who are versed in the technology, said Principal Cameron Ryba.

ETech Ohio is a state agency that promotes the use of technology in kindergarten through 12th grade, said Katy Coy, communications manager of the program. The podcasting is an innovative project to use in schools for assessment purposes, to show a mastery of the subject, she said. The also funds professional development for teachers, Coy said.

In other school news:

• Copley-Fairlawn’s Board of Education met last week and approved a new five-year forecast for the district. It also approved administration salaries for next school year, which were frozen for the second year in a row.
• Copley-Fairlawn Middle School will have its spring fine arts/band/choir festival concerts at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the school, 1531 S. Cleveland-Massillion Road, Copley.