Sunday, September 8, 2013

Creating a Podcast: This I Believe

The first major assignment in the English language arts methods course I teach at Tech is a little overwhelming at first glance. Students are to create a “This I Believe" Podcast (you know, like on NPR). ReadWriteThink has a fantastic lesson unit on creating and posting these podcasts. This unit presents a good way to get to know ourselves, to get to know one another, and to take a critical look at a unit plan, complete with instructional objectives, state standards, daily lesson plans, and assessment rubrics, as well as modifications for different kinds of learners.

Because I believe (See what I did there?) in learning by doing and also in being able to do what I ask my students to do, I created a podcast, too. I am including it here. I used Garage Band to record and edit (I think I could have done a better job editing--there are a couple of hiccoughs, but hey...), posted to Sound Cloud, and easily inserted the audio track as a widget. I was surprised at how streamlined the process was, all done through my Google account. Composing the piece (doing the writing, always) and keeping it under five minutes (doing the revision, always worse) was the hardest part. In spite of feeling initially overwhelmed, I enjoyed the process. I hope my students did, too. 

Anyway, I hope you’ll listen, maybe offer feedback (even measure my work against the rubric, if you like). I think it’s a good first try. 

2 comments:

Monica Rodden said...

I really liked this! As someone who rode horses for 10 years, I definitely believe that motion is such an inspiration for writing. It gives you ideas and stories, but I never really thought about connecting the two until you mentioned it. And I also agree that we do keep students constrained (indoors, in desks, etc) yet expect creativity. It's a hard balance between freedom and classroom management!

Monica Rodden said...

I think this is really interesting connection: motion and writing. I rode horses for 10 years and often get inspired to write about them because of my experiences moving with them. And I also liked your comment about how we physically restrain students (indoors, in desks, etc), but it's a hard balance between freedom and classroom management!