Podcasts and Multiliterate Youth

As my group worked on a podcast last week, I began to think about how I can incorporate emerging technologies into my classroom. In her chapter in Adolescent Literacy, Donna Alvermann discusses how multiliterate youth embrace technology and use it to help navigate their world. Reading, for instance, has become a digital experience. Literacy is just one of many areas in adolescents' lives that has been changed dramatically by the Net movement. Video games alone, Alvermann notes, can "sit beside [books], interact with them, and change them and their role in society in various ways" (BPR 25). As a teacher, it will be important for me to view young people as having expertise in areas that are specific to certain situations and places. My hope is that I will be able to give students many opportunities to explore their special talents.

It is no surprise to me that podcasts have found their way into the English classroom. Podcasts can serve as a creative outlet for all students as they are given a voice to discuss literature and poetry in an intimate and comfortable way. Podcasts extend far beyond the standard analysis paper and book reports as they give students the opportunity to make their work public on the Internet. Podcasts connect students with the global classroom as different classes share their pieces. Also, students both young and old can benefit from the podcast experience as podcasts vary widely in their complexity. Personally, I find that the most exciting part about podcasts is the way that they prepare students to talk with one another about reading. Podcasts provide students with excellent practice in articulating their thoughts, feelings, and ideas about English before an audience.