TeacherCast Podcast with Jeffrey Bradbury

Staying connected with one's Professional Learning Network (PLN) is a critical component in the ongoing pursuit of improving personal teaching practices.  To take full advantage of your PLN however, it is important to maintain a consistent pattern of engagement.  For some educators, establishing that habitual routine can be difficult unless an universal resource is available.  In the first post of the "Staying Connected with TeacherCast" series, it was explained how TeacherCast fulfills the needs of educators by offering a plethora of educational resources in a variety of formats.  Resources such as TeacherCast University, LiveBinder Gallery, TeacherCast TV and much more offer educators a wide range of information to expand their pedagogical practice.  The key attribute of these fantastic resources is that they are all offered in one, easy to use location.  As a result, educators can easily connect with the global teaching community by utilizing the numerous resources TeacherCast offers!

In Part Two of this three part series, we now turn our attention to the merits of the TeacherCast Podcasting Network, a vibrant library of audio presentations hosted by Jeff Bradbury for the purpose of offering yet another medium for educators to access professional development resources.  Essentially, TeacherCast podcasts are lively discussions with the most respected educators from around the globe who share their knowledge and expertise about some of the hottest topics affecting education today.  TeacherCast podcasts are organized into three main formats.  

1.  TeacherCast Podcast is a round table type show featuring teachers and administrators who discuss educational topics they specialize in such as EdCamps, curriculum development and leadership.  Jeff welcomes all interested teachers who want to share their expertise to contact him and invite themselves on the show.  In the past, the show has featured great guests such as Steve Anderson, Tom Whitby, Jerry Blumengarten, Angela Maiers, and over 200 other leading educators from around the world.  Below are three sample round table discussions you will want to listen in on: 

"How to Begin Teaching with Technology"
"Skype and Google Hangouts in the Classroom"
"The Many Hats a Principal Wears"

2.  App Spotlight is an interview style podcast where Jeff  invites web businesses, app developers and other educational vendors to discuss how their apps work and how teachers can best use them in the classroom.  Past guests include  "KidBlog",  "Socrative",  "EasyBib",  "My Big Campus", and  "Poll Everywhere".  Please check out some more excellent app reviews below: 

"Remind101"
"EduTecher & EduClipper"
"Schoology"

3.  TeacherCast University is a show that focuses on the pressing questions and concerns of today's busy educators.  Teachers can email or call into Jeff and he will offer support and direct teachers to the resources that will best suit their needs.  The TeacherCast University podcast also features @GrogtheZombie or "Grog's World" as well as ASKITT with Jeff Herb  (@InstTechTalk) who will also assist colleagues from around the world with pedagogical issues.  Below are a few sample TeacherCast University podcasts you will want to listen in on:

"Taking Control of Your Professional Development"
"Podcasting in the Classroom"
"Taking Your PowerPoint Presentations with you"

The TeacherCast Podcasting Network is an incredible educational resource for teachers as the breadth and depth of the topics covered is truly exceptional.  However, the best part of the TeacherCast podcasts is the convenience as the podcasts can be listened to anywhere, at anytime.  The TeacherCast Podcasting Network can also be found on iTunes and Stitcher and is also available for download on every Apple and Android mobile device.

The final post of the "Staying Connected with TeacherCast" series will focus on the TeacherCast Educational Magazine, a collection of blog posts written by notable educators who share their wealth of knowledge and teaching experience in their specialized field of expertise.  

Staying Connected with TeacherCast

With the month of August in the rear view mirror, so too is Connected Educator Month.  Over the past several weeks, countless educators have expressed great appreciation and enthusiasm for the new teaching connections they have made as well as the new learning resources they have acquired.  With the new school year now upon us, the goal is to incorporate those innovative pedagogical ideas into our current teaching practice.  

To continue to grow as an educator however, it is important to stay connected.  Not only is it essential to nurture current teaching contacts but it is also important to continue to build your PLN (Personal Learning Network).  Doing so can be difficult for some educators however.  To aid in this process, a wide selection of resources in various formats in a central location is needed.  Consequently, a website educators must try that offers these services and much more is TeacherCast.  TeacherCast is the brainchild of Jeffrey Bradbury, a music teacher from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  Jeff's passion for connecting educators and sharing educational resources is clearly evident through his ongoing work with TeacherCast.  In fact, the underlying principle of TeacherCast is to build 'a place for teachers to help other teachers'.  With a reach of over 400,000 followers and growing, the collaborative nature of TeacherCast is truly motivating and engaging. 

Jeff's enthusiastic support for his teaching colleagues does not end with just the TeacherCast website, however.  Jeff has recently added TeacherCast University, an educational consulting service for teachers who are looking to expand their teaching practice with a more hands-on approach.  Jeff is a frequent workshop presenter at Edcamps, TeachMeets and other educational conferences with the workshop topics ranging from technology integration to learning about Web 2.0 tools.  Virtual workshops are also available for those looking for a more cost-efficient way of benefiting from Jeff's expertise.  The goal for each workshop is to provide engaging and relevant material whereby each attending colleague leaves with something new to add to their teaching methodology.  TeacherCast University provides additional professional development opportunities as well such as conference keynote presentations and technology integration consults.  For those teachers who are unable to attend a TeacherCast University workshop, Jeff also shares his expertise through highly engaging webinars.  Below is the first TeacherCast webinar on Sandvox, an easy to use website creation tool for Mac.



TeacherCast offers a wealth of information on various educational topics.  Below is a brief summary of some of the excellent features TeacherCast provides: 

1.  TeacherCast Mobile App - Simply put, the TeacherCast iPhone/iPad app is "education at your fingertips"!  This free, time-saving app easily allows educators to stay informed about the most current pedagogical practices, technologies, educational trends and much more.  In fact, students can benefit from the TeacherCast Mobile App too by accessing a myriad of popular web tools and applications such as KidBlog.  It is evident that this app is designed to be "the one app educators can use everyday."  Click here to download the TeacherCast mobile app.   

2.  App Reviews - These very popular teacher-tested app reviews are a definite educational treasure for teachers!  TeacherCast's dedicated app reviewers, current classroom teachers themselves, recommend the best educational apps and suggest possible classroom activities for each.  Click here to sample one of dozens of app reviews TeacherCast offers.

3.  LiveBinder Gallery - A wide array of educational resources are shared by educators from around the world in this nicely organized LiveBinder Gallery.  Click here to view the more than 15,000 LiveBinder resources!

4.  TeacherCast TV - A library of educational videos are available ranging from tutorials on the latest technologies to keynote presentations.  To sample one of the many screencast tutorials, refer to the video below.




5.  Career Center - Looking for a job?  The TeacherCast Career Center offers a central meeting place for both employers and employees to connect.  To further assist prospective teachers, a search engine is available to help narrow down your choices.

6.  TeacherCast Pinboard - A collection of educational links organized by topic that every educator will find very helpful.  Links range from information about upcoming professional development opportunities to blogging tips.

Without a doubt, TeacherCast makes the task of staying connected very easy!  

This is the first in a 3 part series about the benefits of staying connected with TeacherCast.  Next week's post will focus on the TeacherCast Podcasting Network - a network of very informative and highly engaging presentations featuring respected educators who share their knowledge and expertise on the most pertinent topics affecting education today.