As an instructional coach, I want to push myself on the fact that I rarely take the time to celebrate “bright spots”. I’m definitely the type that can find a flaw in the midst of the brightest 10 carat diamond and once I see it my eyes and attention are stuck. So this post is all about celebration!
And at it’s core is a project that we built from the ground up. In collaboration with our CCS 5th grade humanities teacher extraordinaire Katie Fraser.
Before you jump into creating a podcast, get familiar with the format. Here are a few that are friendly for middle school students and their teachers:
Podcasting takes the best of a classic medium — radio — and puts that power in the palm of your hand. And in the palm of your neighbor’s hand. Heck, everyone’s hands. Podcasting makes great conversations, research, and storytelling available in an on-demand, on-the-go format that fits well into busy lives. All you’ve gotta do is tell a story, get it on tape, put it online, and share it with others.
A6: I teamed up with the amazing @AmyKolbNoyes to do a workshop on podcasting with teachers last spring. There are some resources for starting with elementary and middle school students here: https://t.co/x47LodYDbV #vted
— UVM Tarrant Institute for Innovative Education (@innovativeEd) February 16, 2018
In realistic busy teaching terms, let’s look at how to get started podcasting with students by planning, recording, editing and sharing a podcast.
First off, figure out why you and your students want a podcast. What’s the payoff? What stories are y’all trying to tell, and why is podcasting the perfect fit for them?
Different stories require different structures, and thus different ways of planning. Here are some examples:
Stories like a This I Believe essay, a book review, or a narrative require a script. Students will want to draft and revise their story, starting with a hook to really capture their audience. These types of podcasts often start with an introduction to the host and a conclusion thanking the audience for listening.
StoryCorps is a great example of an interview or conversation style podcast. These types of podcasts require some thought about the questions you will ask. Students will want to draft some questions, but they’ll also want to practice follow-up questions.
Podcasts like Dorothy’s List use many voices to tell a story. These require both a lot of planning and the flexibility to incorporate the words and ideas of others. Students will want to script portions of the podcast that introduce guests and their ideas and summarize and synthesize their words. They will also want to have great questions and prompts for those they interview. This format will require a lot of editing!
NPR offers a plethora of resources for teachers and students, including the Teaching Podcasting: A Curriculum Guide for Educators. In it, they share these questions for focusing student stories:
What is my story’s driving question?
What is the story NOT about?
How will I ensure my story is fair to the people and ideas it represents?
How will I engage my audience — and hold them?
What are my dream ingredients?
What will the audience remember when it’s over?
There is also a guide for students, perfect for self-directed learners!
If this all seems like too much planning to start with. Start with a very small class podcast like one of these:
Do it do it to it do it.
Podcasting is so much more rewarding than I thought it would be. https://t.co/4SriUGttEQ
Also, consider vlogging! https://t.co/ca3SIWQP9U#vted
— Jessica Lahey is on Threads as teacherlahey (@jesslahey) January 5, 2018
There are a ton of ways to record your podcasts, depending on the equipment you have on hand. Here are a few:
While software and apps are always changing, you can find some basic step by step instructions and pros and cons of each application here.
Create a "podbox" for students to record podcasts in a busy 21st century classroom! @nickschiner @innovativeEd pic.twitter.com/2F5hpaAxlq
— Tricia Stokes (@tricia_stokes) May 19, 2016
Because classrooms can be a little noisy at times, and it can be challenging to find a quiet space to record, we recommend trying out a podbox. This snazzy device is modeled on the type of mobile sound-dampening enclosures used by professional voice-over artists and designed by our very own Mark Olofson.
Once students have recorded their audio, they’ll find they need to edit it to make it sound great. Here is a step by step process for producing a podcast.
Some students may master this process quickly, for more advanced mixing check out NPR’s Producers Handbook to Mixing Audio Stories.
Once you’ve begun creating finished episodes, it’s time to release them out into this big beautiful world of ours. Which begs the age-old question: how?
At the most basic, a podcast is a series of audio episodes you make available online. Soundcloud allows you to upload 180 minutes of audio for free. PodBean also provides free podcast hosting.
Once you have your podcast uploaded to an online service, you can share it with the world via social media, email, QR code, or adding it to your website. Be sure to use multiple formats so it can find an authentic audience, otherwise, what is the point?!
Would love to see a #vted winner of @npr 's podcasting contest!
Due end of March. Check the announcement for fab resources, including a student guide and lesson plans for teachers.
Special help from @vprnet? @JaneLindholm & But Why workshops for Ss?https://t.co/UO9reUZWSO
— Life happens offline (@lifelegeros) November 16, 2018
Brattleboro, Vermont was incorporated back in 1753, a former military fort that embraced trading, commerce and the power of nearby Whetstone Falls to spur mill production. It’s been home to countless tiny, fascinating episodes of Vermont history — episodes that current residents now listen to each week on the radio, being described and re-enacted by students from Brattleboro Area Middle School.
These students partner with the Brattleboro Historical Society in researching and recording 3-4 minute long episodes. And local radio station WKVT airs those episodes weekly. The community’s response to the episodes has been astounding, and the series is closing in on its 200th episode. Partnering with a resource-rich organization like a historical society provides a rich stream of content and expert knowledge. And approaching your local community radio station with educational content actually helps stations stay on the air, by partially fulfilling the terms of their FCC licenses.
I’d like you to think back to your days as a student. What kinds of writing did you do? Who read it? What made it important to you? And what made it important to the world?
If you’re like most people, you’re probably drawing a blank right now. Some of today’s students, though, can clearly articulate just how and why their writing is important. And we don’t mean writing as you might imagine, but rather digital composition: digital stories, digital portfolios, documentary films, and of course, podcasts. For each of these, there is a real audience, one beyond the more typical audience of one, the teacher.
Podcasts have been around for awhile now but can be a little intimidating in terms of knowing the technical aspect of how to launch one. Thinking of starting one for your school but need a little help unpacking the tech?
Here’s how to get started podcasting, the technical version.
Continue reading How to get started podcasting with SoundCloud
As students use technology to explore and capture projects that show both their emerging proficiency with skills and snapshots of who they have been, are and may become, tools that allow students to add their own human voice to multimedia can be invaluable in the discovery and showcasing process.
Here’s why voice recordings work for young adolescents and 3 tools we like for creating them.
