Podcasting with students
Our podcasting unit is off and running! At this point in the year, the wheels are turning and students and IN! They are fully immersed and ready to plan a class podcast. For a full description of the unit, check out my blog post here.
How we got to this point?
I invite you to check out the “Year at a Glance” below to get a sense of the big picture and how our current point fits into our year. From September to now, we have built a classroom community of readers, writers and thinkers. Students co-construct meaning around texts during whole class, small group and partner conversations. We have listened to numerous podcast episodes and discussed their content and structure. I added a few new podcasts this year.
The Yarn by Colby Sharp. We listened to Colby’s interview with author Jarrett Learner about this book, A Work in Progress. We are in the middle of novels in verse book clubs and a few groups are reading this amazing text. Listening to Jarret Learner describe his process and inspiration for the book helped my students connect more deeply with it AND inspired them to reflect on their own writing process.
KId Lit Love- We listened to Stephanie Affinito’s interview with beloved children’s book author Kate Di Camillo. Many students have read The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and Because of Winn Dixie in earlier grades so I shared this episode in which Stephanie and Kate discuss her latest book, Ferris. This serves as a wonderful advertisement for the book and plants the seed that we could do something similar; create episodes sharing texts we love so that readers will pick them up!
Where we are now
This past Friday we had a wonderful class brainstorming session about a possible class podcast. In the past, I have structured this conversation so that students get on board with my podcast vision. This time I took a step back to see where the conversation would lead. Not only did my students get to the idea I envisioned, they came up with ideas I had not entertained. Here are a few:
“We could have a podcast where we interview each other about stories we have written!”
“We could have a sign off like Nate [Show about Science] does. We could have a bell go off and say, ‘Okay time to get to our next class.’”
“What if we make podcast episodes with our book clubs? We can talk about the books we read!” (Okay, so this is what I was going for but still, it came from my students not me. There is power in it being their idea).
Next steps
Our next step is to write our first episode as a class. The first text we review is a short film (because it is accessible to all students regardless of reading ability). Students indicated their choice of short film to review on a Google Form and we go with the majority choice. We will write most of the first episode together (with shared writing) and then record in small groups using Soundtrap (our platform). Once students have learned how to write and produce podcasts in this shared experience, they will repeat the process with a second film in small groups. I’ll let you know how that goes!
Final thoughts
My class planning session reminded me of what I love most about teaching. Every year is different because every group of students brings new insights, ideas and experiences to our curriculum. This unit is ever evolving. Now I catch myself when I say, “My” podcasting unit because it is really “our” unit. Our podcast this year will look different from previous year’s podcast. Maybe this is the true test of responsive curriculum. While the foundation is the same, the nuances depend on the learning identities of any given group of students. I can’t wait to see what this group has in store!
