So, this week I chose Lou De Bello to interview for our Podcast assignment.  Lou and I are colleagues and hold essentially the same position as technology coordinator as well as technology teacher/incorporator (as he termed it).  The reason he uses the term incorporator is both Lou and I push into the classroom as opposed to a stand-alone technology class.  I know from previous conversations that he and I have a similar approach to how we would like to see technology both taught and used in the classroom.  I thought having Lou introduce himself was a great way to allow him to choose how he described his background, but what he did leave out is that in addition to his main role as technology coordinator (which includes fixing everything in the building) and technology integration specialist, Lou also is an adjunct professor at Montclair State University.  He is a professor in the Early Childhood, Elementary and Literacy Education program and he is often trying to guide potential new teachers in how technology can be infused into their lessons.  Overall, short of interviewing my technology director, I couldn’t think of a person that I knew that met the requirements of the podcast and I thought he did an amazing job.

So, the interview process was not an easy one mostly due to schedule conflicts.  We don’t work in the same building obviously and the few times that we had available didn’t seem to match up, so we had to speaker phone it.  The sound quality wasn’t great (I did not stay between 9 and 6 as the tutorial video I watched told me)because I was talking too loud and then he didn’t sound nearly loud enough compared to me, but in the end, I think the content was great.  If I could do that over, I would make sure that I was able to sit down with the person I was interviewing.  Now, our content was great, and I felt like we had a conversation that flowed well, but then I started to see the time and couldn’t figure out how to politely cut him off.  So, I ran way too long and in the end (another reason interviewing in person would have been better as I could have given visual cues), I did end up abruptly pausing which I am sure you all caught onto and had him finish up with the last question.  We were both on prep so we only had time really for one take which bummed me out, but I have a feeling real podcasts probably aren’t doing multiple takes.  I love the content that we developed (even if we did get a little off topic), but I do think it would have been much better if I had a chance to interview him in person.  I was hoping that my podcast felt more like a conversation with a good friend rather than an uncomfortable interview, and I do think I was able to accomplish that.

So, this was not an easy podcast for me to prepare for at least from the perspective of teaching with Web 2.0 tools and social media.  As Lou stated and I affirmed, our school district is not very open to a lot of what is available because of Coppa and Ferpa, which I know is becoming an annoying theme in my blog posts.  I was happy to learn that his building was able to use Glogster as it is something for me to look into (although the cost could be prohibitive).  As for social media, it is a big no, no in our district and there is a board of education policy against the use of it by teachers for educational purposes.  I liked how he addressed that if social media or Web 2.0 tools are being used for teaching, that first the students need to understand why they are on them and the learning objective associated with it.  I also particularly agreed with when he was discussing how technology needs to happen organically and should not be forced and that it should enhance instruction and support learning instead of replacing teaching.  Lou really reflects on what I was saying last week about “With great power comes great responsibility”.  Overall, I think that Lou and I both have a very similar approach to how we use these tools, but I do think I need to reach out more to my colleagues and see what they are using and start incorporating that into my teaching.