Mr. Walker wins coolest teacher EVAR award for pimping podiobooks to his students
Mr. Walker teaches English IV at a high school in Florida. That means most of his kids are seniors, ready to make the transition to higher education, the work place, or backpacking around Europe1. My recollections of high school English are poor, but I seem to remember a heavy emphasis on “the classics” and a complete avoidance of anything written after WWII. But Mr. Walker isn’t taking that road.
For extra credit, he’s encouraging kids to experience serialized audiobooks from us here at Podiobooks.com. And knowing that not all kids are aural learners, he’s also guiding others to print versions of books by one of our authors, Scott Sigler. Talk about a forward-thinking teacher! He’s helping kids understand that the world of “reading” is a lot bigger than they may have realized.
This is a Good Thing, as 1/3 of students won’t ever pick up a book again after high school. It’s also a bit dangerous, as over-zealous helicopter parents have turned against more than one teacher going outside of the norm.
1 – I always heard of kids doing this. Never happened to me. Damnable responsibilities and Type-A personality!
December 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Don’t underestimate how forward thinking some teachers are. There are many teachers whom I personally know believe that podcasting is one important branch of the future (and the now) of writing. The number of teachers who believe that the five paragraph essay is the ultimate purpose of education is happily dwindling. The various states Departments of Education on the other hand are far behind on this. They still want to evaluate students’ writing as if students were still writing with ink pots and quills.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Wow, I’m honored that the Podcasting Yoda himself thinks that I am cool.
I’ve been a fan since the earliest incarnation of Wingin’ It and am also listening to Evo @ 11.
I’ve had several students who chose to read the print version of Infected for their Outside Reading projects – after I’d promoted it, of course. I should, however, also point out that this is for their CHOICE project – which is partially how I can promote something that is for mature audiences. That and they are seniors. Maybe someday when the FDO takes over, Podiobooks will become required reading, but until then we are actually reading Macbeth in class.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:29 am
You’d think after all these years she could get that damned wicked spot out.
Thanks for the follow-up, Chad. With teachers like you and Charlie in the world, the future of our youth is solid.
December 17th, 2008 at 10:34 am
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