Juice as a Teaching Tool

Teacher-librarians, if they’re smart, are always looking for ways to help teachers teach in new and innovative ways. You can see a good relationship between school media specialist and teacher when the teacher consistently seeks the input of media specialist and media specialist seeks out ways that the teacher can be assisted.
The use of Juice in classrooms or media centers is one way that this give and take relationship can be utilized. For instance, there are several podcasts which can be used as teaching tools. Mignon Fogarty’s Grammar Girl podcasts cover a different concept of English grammar in every episode. Teachers could use Juice to subscribe to this podcast then provide opportunities for students to choose from a list of activities including listening to these podcasts during class.
Another way to use Juice in a school media center would be to create a podcast for the school and subscribe to this feed using Juice for future classes to listen to the podcasts of previous year’s students in order to learn the same material. This would create a cycle of students learning by listening to the podcasts then making one of their own.
Of course, school media centers are not the only types of libraries where learning takes place. Public libraries are a great place to use Juice as a teaching tool as well. The library I currently work in, Gardner Public Library in Gardner, Kansas, works with the community college in it’s county to assist high school drop outs to obtain their GED so that they may go on to community college and beyond. The use of several podcasts related to the studies necessary to pass this test would be a valuable tool for librarians there to use. With the use of Juice librarians could subscribe to these podcasts and provide another way for patrons to garner the knowledge they need to move forward with their education.
Other ways Juice could be used in a public library are nearly limitless. Think of the community outreach classes you see offered in libraries across the nation. Computer classes, financial aide, small-business ownership, tax preparation; these all could be enhanced with the use of subscriptions to podcasts regarding that particular subject. Think of patrons who have a portable listening device but no computer at home to get new downloads. If each of the patron-use computers was outfitted with Juice, people could come into the library to download a selection of podcasts and listen to them at their convenience.
Like I said, the possibilities are nearly limitless. I’ve barely scratched the surface here. What are some ways you can think of that Juice could be used in a library setting?