6. Podcasts

When it comes to listening to things vs reading things there is both pros and cons to each. For me it really depends on the subject that is being taught that determines which is better. Reading an article can be a necessary tool. When you are reading you are not only looking at the words but your mind is creating a picture and you can read over things more than once until you understand. You can look back and refer to things that really help students out with their studies. The downside to reading is it can be immensely boring. I have had moments where I really needed to just stop reading because I got to the point that I couldn't understand it. Listening to an article gives you that engagement. Listening lets you relax and not really focus on the words but focus on the message. Listening to articles (depending on the speaker) really has the potential to really engage an audience through persuasion, humor, thought and many other tactics, but it also is hard to keep track of the information. Unless you are completely dialed in and have a pause button its almost impossible to get all of the information and if you missed something its a pain to go back. I listened to two TED podcasts and I know for a fact I wouldn't have been as engaged if I would have read the information. The first podcast was done by Ken Robinson and he discussed how schools kill creativity. His argument was extremely persuasive by pointing out that our schools are strictly focused on academics. Kids learn to be afraid of having a wrong answer because it so pushed in the school system, and some of the brightest most talented students never think they are worth anything because what they were good at acknowledged and was put down. The quote I will always keep with me that he said is that, "if you are not prepared to be wrong you will never come up with creativity". He basically describes how the creativity we are born with is educated out of us. His message was amazing and something I will keep with me but it was also hilarious. To keep the listener engaged he constantly was adding humor to the story and that is not something you can read. The second podcast was done by Christopher Emdin and his point was that we should teach teachers how to create magic. His discussion was not funny but the way he talked and presented the information made me completely dial in. His whole podcast was about how teachers today that are in school are learning the information. They are studying this and studying that and are focused on lesson plans and standards and so much more. These teachers are the ones that the students avoid. The teachers all of us hated growing up. The teachers that we loved, many of them didn't learn how to teach through education but from watching other people in engaging churches or at concerts so they could watch how they get the audience to respond to them, to stay engaged. He wanted us to see that the magic that a teacher needs in order to have a successful classroom cannot be taught with a lecture but through action and observation and practice. I myself have really gotten overwhelmed by all of the standards and what to do and how to do things but none of that will help me teach. Yes it will give me the information but in order to learn how to teach I need to watch and learn from people who already know what to do and how to keep students engaged and excited about learning. Again I couldn't have gotten this message through reading. So if you asked me which I would like better, reading or listening, I would tell you that it really depends on the person that is writing or talking.