Podcast

This was a surprisingly easy assignment.  I will be more likely to use the quick, simply tools in my future classroom because of limited time.  I anticipate preparing for my lesson plans to consume most of my time, especially in my first year.  I am not going to simply adopt a previous teacher's or goggle "lesson plans" to form my whole curriculum.  I have no problem taking parts from all different sources and compiling the most effective activities and ideas.  But that requires research and critical evaluation, which will take a lot of time.  After a few years, I will have a repertoire of great, effective lessons suited for a variety of learning styles.  But as my class, and their needs change, I must continue to actively critique my lessons.  I want the majority of my time to be devoted to this research and preperation.  Along with grading, assignments, assessments, parent contact, etc, I will not have a lot of time to address "extra" projects.  Podcasting, however, is a quick, painless tool that can update and integrae technology into a traditional lesson.  Even though the information will be still coming from me, the teacher, it will vary my methods of instruction to keep the class engaged.  It is important that the teacher is not the only source of information.  Since this is not me in person speaking, it can act as another source for the students.
Also this tool is easy enough for the students to use themselves.  The class can work individually or collaborate in groups to create a podcast.  This could be a form of assessmet at the end of a unit or be used to report a research porject. 
It would be nice to make a monthly podcast, or even weekly if the class is really interested in it, to chonicle the classes favorite lessons and what they learned.  These could then be posted on a class website or blog and parents, community members, or other educators.  Although these are just a few examples, I can see a lot of possibilites for podcasting and since it is simple to use (I used garageband on a Mac) it will be easy for my to integrate this technology into my classroom frequently.