Tuesday, November 27, 2012

hello! hello!

Hello! Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends.

Today, I would like to share with you my very first, podcast! This was a homework assignment if you can believe it,  and in it, I tried my hardest to merge a few of my passions: education, parenting, and children's books.  In this groundbreaking podcast =), I very obviously read from a script briefly discuss issues of raising children with technology and profess my love for hello! hello!, Matthew Cordell's newest picture book.



(Please forgive my stutters, squeaky voice and lack of know-how. =) )  Props to Katie Davis. HOW DO YOU DO IT?!

Just so you know, the generous Matthew Cordell is giving away free signed stuff for buying his newest masterpiece, if you contact him by December 1st. GET ON IT! Here is a peek at my personalized bookplate.



EEK!

In order to help us prepare for the podcasting experience, my Digital Media and Online learning professor asked us to watch This American Life host, Ira Glass discuss storytelling.

It is a MUST WATCH. 

There are four segments and I found them all to be so validating as a children's writer! (The third segment especially resonated with me, as a professional banana peeler and doubty writer.







Next up, I would also like to announce the winner of Linda Boyden's amazing, Giveaways: An ABC Book of Loanwords from the Americas.

Congratulations Julie Hedlund!


Aaaaaannnnd lastly, I am SO EXCITED to share that this week's Banana Peelin' author is none other than Marathon Mouse's, Amy Dixon! I just love her and am so excited to have her on the blog. PLUS, she has agreed to give away a copy of Preston and his little Marathon Mouse-self to one lucky commenter. Check in on Thursday for more details!

xoxo

22 comments:

  1. I loved it, Elizabeth! I hope it's not your last! :)

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  2. Yeah, I second that! I love it! Make it an actual regular downloadable podcast so I can fold laundry at the same time! (For what it's worth, I ALWAYS read my reviews -- I just don't know that I could speak extemporaneously like that -- and I also often say the same phrase 12 times and edit it to pick the best one.)

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    1. Yay Julie! Now, one question... how the heck does one make a regular, downloadable podcast?! I used Garage Band on my iPad and I was looking for some kind of online place to store the recordings that of course would be at the just the right price, eh hem...free! =)

      Glad to know you read your reviews as well. You sound so natural to me. I guess it takes practice. And EDITING. Editing takes so much patience. I was too afraid to go back and try to re-record some blunders because I thought I would ruin the entire thing and have to start over AGAIN.

      This was a great learning experience and I really admire you guys who do it so often. Thanks so much for checking it out!

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  3. Also I would like to say that, ironically, I wrote that last comment while talking on the phone and telling my kids they should go up and take a nap (did you even READ Hello Hello, Julie???).

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    1. Ha! I hear ya. While I was typing the script, my daughter was drawing rollercoaster tattoo sleeves up her arms. =) "Hello! Hello!" has become a staple phrase in our house since we got the book.

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  4. Um, I don't know! I can tell you that I make my reviews in Audacity, which is a free software program (you also have to download something called the Lame MP3 something something so you can export to MP3 files). Ok, wait. Audacity is here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ and instructions for the Lame thingie are here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/faq_i18n?s=install&i=lame-mp3 It's a VERY easy program to use. I learned about it when I took Instructional Media in library school. I also got a fancy shmancy microphone when I started doing the Brain Burps reviews regularly. It makes me feel like an old timey newscaster: http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Microphones-Yeti-USB-Microphone/dp/B002VA464S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1354041268&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+yeti

    I think my "with practice" experience is that I can tell when I'm speaking if something is going to sound wrong, so I just repeat the sentence of phrase until I think I've got it, and move on. Then I can just delete all the bad-sounding attempts at the sentence. Sometimes I do have to rerecord something after the fact, but I always have trouble getting the volume levels to match.

    I bet if you google "how to podcast" or "how to upload a podcast to itunes" there will be 70 gabillion tutorial pages.

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    1. Yay! So great Julie! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I can't wait to check out Audacity and Lame MP3 something something. =) I am so grateful for my MA program. I feel like it has really brought me into the 21st century. So long horse and buggy! Now all I need to do is get one of those hip microphones! Although I don't think I could ever tear it away from my husband and kids though. Roger. Over and out. =)

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    2. I also use Audacity + Lame thingy for voiceover stuff + this MXL 990 USB microphone, right here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MXL-990-Powered-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B000P5LWQG

      I've been looking into how to do podcasts, too. You can start with this "How to Podcast in 4 Easy Steps" post: http://www.how-to-podcast-tutorial.com/00-podcast-tutorial-four-ps.htm

      There are free ways to go about it, but always with limitations. Let's share info as we go along!

      As for making it sound like you're not reading from a script, Julie's right - practice, practice, practice. I could give you some pointers on that whenever you're ready!

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  5. Loved the podcast and I read HELLO, HELLO! this week and was thinking of reviewing it on PPBF if it hasn't already been done!

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    1. Thanks Joanna! Ooohh...Great idea for PPBF. I would love to read your review!

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  6. Wow! I can't believe I WON the book - yay! I'll email you my address.

    I LOVED your podcast! You really must do more of them. I haven't watched the Ira Glass videos yet, but I was very touched by your podcast and am planning a (board) game night with my kids tonight as a result. :-)

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    1. So happy for you Julie! And I am so glad you enjoyed the podcast. If I do decide to do more, I know I will definitely up the level of personal banana peel moments ten fold. =) So happy to hear that you will be spending some quality gaming time with your kiddos tonight. As I write this, my son is hypnotized by Thomas the Train narrated by Ringo Starr. So much for hello! hello!, right?! Thanks so much for your kind words!

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  7. Ira Glass's pieces on storytelling are some of my favorites. Whenever I'm feeling like a total hack, that's what I watch.

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    1. Kirsten! Isn't his stuff golden?! Sheesh. So wonderful. Glad to know you enjoy him as well. =) Thanks for your comment!

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  8. Excellent, Elizabeth! Your subject resonates with me in a BIG way. Life can be a true device dilemma! We want to connect online, but it take sooo much time! I have been busy substituting at a school for the last two days and I have literally spent 4 hours just now trying to connect with all the blogs I want to support and comment on!!! Have I written a word on any of my manuscripts???? No! Have I been out of the house???? No! It's frustrating and I don't even have young children at home any more.
    Maybe I should've listened to your podcast before I did anything this morning. I may have had a more productive offline morning :-)
    Thanks..............and do more podcasts! (Of course, you will be spending time with devices :-0

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    1. Thanks so much Penny for your kind words! The device dilemma. UGH! I hate them...but I love them. What to do?! =) Glad to know that I am not alone. =)

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  9. Loved your podcast, Elizabeth - so many excellent and very true points. I find it scary and disturbing the extent to which some parents are absorbed in their electronic devices. My husband teaches in NYC, and sometimes when I'm down there I see nannies pushing strollers talking on cell phones in Spanish and mothers walking alongside talking on their cell phones, while the child in the stroller is ignored by both of them! And yet I am certainly guilty of spending a lot of time on line. And what Penny said above totally resonates with me! I can't wait to read Hello Hello, and I think your podcast is a good reminder to all of us that the amount of technology and how we use it is a topic for discussion!

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    1. Thanks so much Susanna! Hello Hello is just wonderful. I hope you like it. =) I think it's hard to find that balance because our trusty devices just suck us into the tech-vacuum. I think it just becomes a habit that we don't realize. Over Thanksgiving, I hardly checked my iPad...well, it ran out of batteries, and I felt kinda free. It was a great feeling. I wish I was better at restraining myself when the batteries are charged. =) Thanks so much again!

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  10. Great job, Elizabeth! And yes, what you says resonates loudly with me as well. Hello seems like a timely and important book!

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