Podcasts!?

There are so many ways in which I feel that I could use podcasts in my classroom. First I think using already made podcasts would do well. I think students could pick a "english" podcast, with it being about literature or grammar or something having to do with our course work. Then then could listen to a few of the podcasts and do a project on what they learned from them. They could go into how learning from a podcast was more or less helpful to them then another teaching technique. I think this would be a good way to gage how podcasts would work within a certain class. I also think it would be a good way to introduce the idea of technology to them. The next idea would have me making a podcast. I think I would take my notes for the day or even a project that needs to be introduced to the students and have them listen to my podcast before class. Then I could either ask them to teach me what we were doing that day or I could start them on whatever project we were going to start in the beginning of the class rather than taking the time to explain it. This could be a nice way to show me how many of the students did their homework, how involved they were with said homework and if they got anything useful out of it. It could also be a nice saver of valuable time in the classroom. Finally I would make the students make their own podcasts. I believe it would differ depending on what we were doing in class at that time, but I think it would be an amazing way to have students use and play with technology. I love the idea of students making their own podcasts, it is a way to alter the same old day in day out routine they are used to in school. Also different students can show their strengths which before technology was used in classrooms, a lot of students missed out on. I believe that these ideas of course tweaked and diversified could really be interesting and exciting ways to make my classroom more rich and valuable for my students.