Podcasts and HPI

This chapter fits what teachers do almost to a "T." It talks a lot about how to enhance the performance of humans and what motivates them to do better. Correlating this to a classroom is a very logical process. As I've mentioned before I work in an ASD classroom and much of what we try to teach them are functional skills in order to normalize them into society as much as possible. Thus we are trying to enhance their performance, not necessarily to produce a product in a company, but to help produce functioning members of society. While most of my students are unlikely to ever be independent, getting to know them I know they have made an impact on me and the other people they come into contact with in our school. They have a lot to offer and motivating them to do better is a big part of my job. We use a rewards system in our class, rewarding them for completing a task well or completing it without any tantrums. After four 'squares' on their 'square charts' they receive a reward, which for most of them is time on the computer. This is a good method for our students because it is very visual and gives them frequent gratification for their good behavior. It tends to make things run more smoothly, at least most of the time. The better their behavior, the more we are able to teach them and the more likely thier performance will improve in life.
I can see podcasts being useful in the classroom. When studying certain topics, especially right now with the election process going on, there are many good podcast on the Internet for students to listen to. It is a great way to give students a news update to keep them up to date in regards to current events. Sometimes the students need to hear the information from a different source and it's always good to keep some variety in the classroom. As far as using podcasts in my classroom, I don't see them being very practical. My kids are very visual and unless I had prepared pictures or icons to go along with the podcast I don't think it would be very beneficial for them, but like I said I can see them having educational benefits for other situations.